published in VenusZine.com on 7/14/08
When she decided to shave her head, Marjorie Perry said she just bit the bullet one day and went to Supercuts. That’s it. But for Perry, going with the flow seems to be her M.O. From living in a foreign country to living in her own country without electricity, the 22-year-old is naturally inclined to living life in the moment. The rental clerk at That’s Rentertainment, the last locally owned video store in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, talks here about killing with kindness, living without electricity, and how to eat sea urchin.
What have you been up to?
I guess the most newsworthy thing I've done is the Hug-In. A friend of mine was attacked last semester as he was walking home one night because he was perceived as gay. I wanted to do something really positive in retaliation — a kill them with kindness thing. So, a bunch of us queers took over the same bar-strip space of the campus where he was attacked on a Friday night, and handed out hugs, flowers, balloons, and candy. I organized it, but I had a lot of help. I thought it was really successful because I wanted to get the word out about what happened, since my school really did not address it. I really want to do it next year even bigger and better.
You mentioned in your email you’ve been living without electricity for awhile. How have you been managing to function?
I've been going without electricity since the semester ended — so, about 2 months? I have another month to go, but it's not even an issue any more. I am pretty ecstatic to move into my new apartment though. I know it's going to feel like moving into the Hilton. I will definitely appreciate the things the first world takes as a given: hot showers, reliable power, and modern refrigeration.
You're quite the trooper — and also quite the traveler. What was it like living in Hong Kong for a year?
That was great. I'm kind of a foodie, and I got the chance to try some crazy stuff. I unwittingly ate congealed pig's blood — it was cubed up and put in a soup. I also ate live sea urchin. The lady chops the shell in half and you quickly suck out the inky, spongy inside.
A great perk of living in another country is the change of perspective on what is truly a worry or a problem. When I was living in Hong Kong, I had to figure out a lot on my own and how to work through different problems. So, when I came back, the problems I encountered at home were not so daunting.
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Read the article here.