Aiken
Hop on, because we are flying over to Chicago!
Q.U: What do you like about where you grew up?
A.T: Its big and there are lots of things to do, I don’t think I would have been able to join the circus, let alone two if I lived in a smaller town. People I met were also doing lots of amazing things and came from lots of amazing places. Some people like knowing everybody in their neighborhood but I really like constant supply of new people, doing new things in new places and meeting and talking to different people.
Q.U: Everyday life, a typical day. From when you were in high school maybe?
A.T: I would take a two hour train to school, spend most of my day at school and then after school join some clubs or spend time with friends then be with my family for dinner.
Q.U: How connected are you to your environment?
A.T: I feel pretty connected to Chicago, I have been to different places through the circus but Chicago is definitely home. I’m not sure about living there permanently but it will always be special to me and I think I will come back and visit often.
Q.U: How often do you use social media and what effect does it have on your life? Does it disrupt your studies? Make you think differently about your body or do you only use it for pure entertainment?
A.T: I would say I use it pretty much daily. I use it almost exclusively as a platform to message people, though. I rarely look at posts or stories and I almost never put anything up myself. I do like how easy it is to contact people across the whole world through social media and it makes it easy to contact all my friends. Social media definitely does enforce norms which are harmful but it can and is often used for good as well, more and more I see my friends talking about fatphobia and other issues through social media which is really inspiring.
Q.U: What is special about your name, if anything?
A.T: I was named after my grandmother, Aiken was her last name. She died before I was born so I never met her what I’ve been told about her is that she was always kind and made the people around her happy. Those are the qualities I try to emulate. Since it was her last name, there’s a branch of my family in California whose last name is Aiken which is a little bit weird but quite cool too.
Q.U: What type of music do you listen to? Also, give your top three all time favorites.
A.T: I listen to a little bit of weird mix of rock/folk music. My favorite bands are Fleetwood Mac, Middle Brother, AC/DC. Although I also like really do like Grateful Dead and Paul Simon. Songs have to be: You Shook Me All Night Long, Landslide and Crazy Love, Vol. II
Q.U: What kinds of places do you go on holiday, or would you like to go?
A.T: Well, my family often spends holidays travelling together so I’m super lucky to have my mom who is absolutely amazing at planning trips, laying everything out for us. I’m not sure how much it really matters where I go, I think just about everywhere has amazing things to offer. We generally go to cities because they’ve got museums and those are usually a pretty great way to learn about a place where you are and its hard to bring outdoors equipment on planes but we did have a camping trip in California a few years ago and that was absolutely amazing.
Q.U: What is your favorite dish? Is it connected to your nationality? I’d have to say my favorite dish is A.T: Spaghetti alla Caballa, you may know it as Spaghetti al Carbonara but when my mother was little, she couldn’t pronounce it as Spaghetti al Caronara so it was renamed and ahs lived on that way in our family since. I think the dish is Italian but I’ve had Spaghetti al Carbonara in Italy and it was different to what my mom makes. So I’d say no, it’s not connected to my nationality but definitely connected to my family.
Q.U: Can you imagine yourself living in the opposite part of the world? What do you think you would be up to right now?
A.T: I can and I quite often do. Travelling for me is quite addictive and I do think a lot about all the places I would like to live in my life. I like to think that if I were somewhere else right now, I would be making friends with the people there, learning the language and customs as well as I can and just enjoying the opportunity to experience new things because I think the more you open yourself up to admitting that the way you do things isn’t necessarily the best way, or the only you, the better your life will be.
Q.U: What is the last thing you bought today?
A.T: To be quite honest, I only just woke up a bit ago so I haven’t bought anything today. The last thing I’ve bought is two textbooks for my university classes. Not a very exciting answer, I know haha:)
Q.U: Can you think of something you are not sure about but would have done if you had the chance to?
A.T: It can be a career path, performing at a club, moving abroad or anything. Hitchhiking is something I think sounds awesome if not scary. I met a good friend in Norway who had done a lot of hitchhiking and its been recommended to me by a lot of other people as well. Its intimidating for sure but the more I think about it, the more I want to do it and I think next time I have the opportunity, I’d like to hitchhike somewhere, although, being on an island currently, my options are a little more limited.
Q.U: Do you really think that one day people will just be people? That we will look past skin color, race or whatsoever and live together?
A.T: I certainly hope so. Being a straight, white cis male, I think I am just about the last person who’s qualified to talk about this, but what progress we have made towards people losing their prejudices has been extremely slow. Sad as it is, I think we will have wiped out our planet and ourselves before that happens.
Q.U: About your career, do you already have in mind what you want to do or are you just getting by? A.T: I’m not sure what I want to do. I have some ideas for sure but I’ve only had a weeks’ worth of classes in my first year of studies and I’m becoming interested in jobs I didn’t even know they existed. Don’t think I’ll have a solid idea for a while.
Q.U: What can be said about you based on your style?
A.T: I really don’t know how to answer this question. I normally stick to jeans and a t-shirt with a sweater when necessary. I don’t really enjoy clothes shopping so the clothes I have are mostly hand me downs, gifts, shirts I got from things I’ve done or just whatever fit.
Q.U: When was the first time you got your first phone. Do you remember what it was?
A.T: I got my first phone at age twelve. It was at that age I started taking public transit so it was a way for me to let my parents know I had arrived safely at school or circus or wherever it was. It was one of those phones where the screens slide up and there’s a keyboard underneath, I’m not sure what model.
Q.U: Fun fact about you?
A.T: I will happily play eight hours of cards in a day and tend to play at least two or three hours daily. I speak three languages, English, Spanish and Norwegian ( I attended a folk high school in Norway)
‘We put big emphasis on where we are from and every place I’ve been to, I’ve been privileged. everybody wants to do the same things. Get through the day, hang with friends. We have different ways of doing things, but we all are trying to get through the day”- Aiken.
Aiken is currently studying in England.
That was the end of this interview, do stay tuned for the one!
love, Queen.
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