What Would I Be Without Everybody?

by Becca Kauffman, Harrell Fletcher (Preface)

A Freudian-influenced New York City therapist; the security guard for the biggest souvenir shop in Times Square; a performance artist and comedian; the owner of a small thrift shop in Queens, New York; a minor league baseball player-turned-television host; a citizen action group painting guerilla infrastructure on the streets of Los Angeles; a conceptual artist working in public; the lone mascot of Portland State University. The voices within this collection of interviews are people whose work, livelihood, artform, expertise, and spirit rely on people—us—to be fulfilled. Who would they be without everybody? A therapist would have no patient to analyze, a security guard nobody to protect, a shop owner nothing to sell, a comedian no onlookers to provoke, a host no one to serve, a mascot no team to champion, and the author no one to talk to. These conversations shed light on the many ways to be a social person in this world. They prompt you to look closely, go the extra mile, commit to the bit, aim for transcendence, let the world expand, and ask what would I be without everybody?

208 pages, Paperback

Published May 28, 2023