Michele Catalano was born on Long Island in 1962 and still lives in the same town she was born in. She has been a restaurant manager, a music critic, a library supervisor, a stay-at-home mom, a student, a slacker and a bartender. She has carried cables and worked in Chyron trucks for college basketball games and she worked for the New York Yankees where she got to watch ballgames from the owner's office while chatting with Mickey Mantle. She is currently a secretary to three judges in the New York Court system. She is married to Justin Brejwo and has two children, Natalie (14) and D.J. (11). She blogs at A Small Victory and The Command Post.
Why do you blog? > Because I am an opinionated exhibitionist.
What has been your best blogging experience? > Starting Command Post with Alan and watching it grow into a valuable source of news.
What are your favourite blogs? > I don't want to go with the usuals; anyone can see what's on my link list. So, I'll tell you three of the blogs that make me go all tingly when I see they've updated: Silent Running, Electric Bugaloo and Joanne Jacobs. I tried to give you three disparate blogs.
What are you reading at the moment? > I'm always reading more than one book at a time. Fiction: The Night We Met, by blogger Robert Byrnes; Dereliction of Duty: Johnson, McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies That Led to Vietnam, by H. R. McMaster; and The Thackery T. Lambshead Guide to Eccentric and Discredited Diseases.
Who are your cultural heroes? > Ethan Allen (the Revolutionary War guy, not the furniture guy) and Neil Gaiman.
What is the best novel you've ever read? > Oh, man. Tough question. Toss up. Fifth Business, by Robertson Davies; Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. No, it's Don Quixote.
What is your favourite poem? > I never saw a purple cow / I never hope to see one / But I can tell you anyhow / I'd rather see than be one! (Long story.)
What is your favourite movie? > It changes from time to time. Right now it's The Big Lebowski.
What is your favourite song? > The song my blog title comes from: 'A Small Victory', by Faith No More.
Can you name a major moral, political or intellectual issue on which you've ever changed your mind? > Oh hell yes. I am what's called a 9/11 Republican. Or a reformed liberal. I was raised Catholic and now I'm an atheist.
If you could choose anyone, from any walk of life, to be President, who would you choose? > Optimus Prime.
What would you do with the UN? > Burn it down.
What do you consider to be the main threat to the future peace and security of the world? > Appeasement.
What would be your most important piece of advice about life? > Learn how to forgive.
Do you think you could ever be married to, or in a long-term relationship with, someone with radically different political views from your own? > Sure. Just don't ask me to marry a Red Sox fan.
What do you consider the most important personal quality? > A sense of humour. If you don't know how to laugh, you don't know how to live.
In what circumstances would you be willing to lie? > We lie to children all the time - Santa, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy...
What commonly enjoyed activities do you regard as a waste of time? > Golf. Soap Operas. Sleeping.
What, if anything, do you worry about? > I am such a worrier that I worry about worrying. Thank jeebus for Wellbutrin and Paxil or I'd be worrying about worrying about worrying.
If you were to relive your life to this point, is there anything you'd do differently? > Whenever anyone asks me this question, they expect me to say that I wouldn't marry my first husband. But I would. How else would I have learned what I know now? So no, I wouldn't change a thing. I like where my path has led me.
Where would you most like to live (other than where you do)? > Nowhere. Long Island is my home and nowhere else will ever be.
What do you like doing in your spare time? > Blog, read, watch movies, play video games with my kids. Play video games without my kids.
What is your most treasured possession? > A small plastic container of frozen meatballs.
What talent would you most like to have? > Singing.
What would be your ideal choice of alternative profession or job? > Roadie for a heavy metal band.
Who is your favourite comedian or humorist? > Dead - Bill Hicks. Alive - Eddie Izzard.
Who are your sporting heroes? > Thurman Munson. Mike Bossy. Bret Favre.
Which baseball team do you support? > New York Yankees.
If you could have any three guests, past or present, to dinner who would they be? > Jesus, Ethan Allen and Henry Rollins.
[Previous profiles: Ophelia Benson (Nov 7); Chris Bertram (Sep 26); Alan Brain (Oct 10); Chris Brooke (Jan 2); Francois Brutsch (Dec 5); Anne Cunningham (Jan 23); Jackie D (Oct 17); Brad DeLong (Jan 16); Harry Hatchet (Oct 24); Saddam Hussein (Nov 14); Jeff Jarvis (Dec 26); Oliver Kamm (Nov 21); Ken MacLeod (Jan 30); Sheila O'Malley (Dec 19); Stephen Pollard (Feb 6); Glenn Reynolds (Jan 9); Natalie Solent (Nov 28); Roger L. Simon (Oct 31); Michael J. Totten (Oct 3); Brian Weatherson (Dec 12). The normblog profile is a weekly Friday morning feature.]