Myself. I didn’t know how to protect myself adequately when I was younger, and I think I would have experienced my youth differently if I had.
Who most deserves an apology from you, and why?
Question
What would you like to be remembered for?
Death & what remains
Question
When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do?
Daily life
Question
Which book are you ashamed not to have read?
Taste & recommendation
Question
What scares you about getting older?
Time & hindsight
Question
How would you describe yourself in three words?
Identity & self
Question
What happens when we die?
Death & what remains
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
A fixed Guardian Q&A prompt asked directly across respondents and years.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
My soon-to-be ex-wife, Amanda. I wish I’d been able to do whatever would have been necessary all the way back to keep us as a unit. Probably the worst thing I did was not tell her how miserable I was, certain that I could turn this around somehow.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 21 October 2023 source ↗
Others on this question
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Julia Ormond
English actress
To Sophie, for not being a better parent.
Felicity Jones
British actress
No one, I’m pretty good at saying sorry.
To Gorka Márquez, who was my Strictly partner, for not winning the glitterball in 2022.
More from Neil Gaiman
View profile →As someone who left the world slightly more interesting than he found it.
And when things get tough, this is what you should do. Make good art. I’m serious. Husband runs off with a politician? Make good art. Leg crushed and then eaten by mutated boa constrictor? Make good art. IRS on your trail? Make good art. Cat exploded? Make good art. Somebody on the Internet thinks what you do is stupid or evil or it’s all been done before? Make good art. Probably things will work out somehow, and eventually time will take the sting away, but that doesn’t matter. Do what only you do best. Make good art.
Recorded
134th Commencement, University of the Arts, Philadelphia, University of the Arts (uarts.edu), via the Internet Archive, 17 May 2012
source ↗
I’ve never read Proust.
Mostly the pain. I don’t want to be trapped in a body that hurts.
Imaginative, dull, amiable.
I like the idea of being atoms that other people can breathe in, and fabulous worm food.
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