7SS: Alan Kennedy-Shaffer

Alan Kennedy-Shaffer is author of Denial and Deception: A Study of the Bush Administration's Rhetorical Case for Invading Iraq and The Obama Revolution, and, it seems, a possible Slytherin.  I apologize for giving him a short introduction - you can read more about him in my review of The Obama Revolution.

Step #1
LIGHTNING ROUND

• Mac or PC? PC
• Colbert or Stewart? Stewart
• martini or margarita? Margaritas (plural)
• winter or summer? Summer
• pen or pencil? Pen
• Salinger or Vonnegut? Salinger (Holden Caulfield is awesome.)
• death penalty or its abolition? Abolition

Step #2
TELL US about any of your weird writing habits or idiosyncracies.  (ie, What's one “thing” you need to write, the thing without which the creative juices would cease to flow?)
Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Thank God for WaWa.

I tend to write in bursts, staying up all night in order to complete essays or chapters.

Step #3
TEACH US one or two of your favorite vocabulary words.
Exuberant (adj.: excited, lively, energetic)

Deleterious (ad.: negative, harmful)

Step #4
BOOK BLANKS

• The last book I finished reading was God's Politics by Jim Wallis.
•  I gave it 5 stars.
•  One word to describe it is unexpectedly rational.

Step #5
QUESTION:  Your list of accomplishments is impressive; but what's something boring and normal that makes you happy?
Eating mint chocolate chip ice cream with my girlfriend.

Step #6
QUESTION:  Where/how do you waste time?
Time that is enjoyed through games such as Trivial Pursuit or poker, is never wasted.

Step #7
GIVE US THE SCOOP.  Tell us something about yourself that's exclusive to In Search of Giants (ie, has never been publicized in print or podcast interviews.)
When I worked as a wilderness ranger in Montreat, North Carolina, I grew quite fond of the snakes in our nature center. They are actually relatively clean animals.