4

Comments

In the buzz of releasing Style Statement earlier this year, my assistant emailed me late at night with something to this effect, “Oh my God, you’re going to pee. Rebecca Walker loves your book.” I didn’t wet my thong, but I did say a deep thank you, praise be, sister, to be so acknowledged by a woman whom Time Magazine called, “one of the fifty most influential American leaders under forty because of her transformative views on race, gender, sexuality and power.” Very, very stylish.

Walker shines a light on generational paradigms, snags, and sweet victories – from motherhood (her book: Baby Love: Choosing Motherhood After a Lifetime of Ambivalence,) feminism (the original Third Wave primer To Be Real: Telling the Truth and Changing the Face of Feminism) to spiritual devotion and what it means to be a family. Her forthcoming book, One Big Happy Family: 18 Writers Talks About Polyamory, Open Adoption, Mixed Marriage, Househusbandry, Single Motherhood and Other Realities of Truly Modern Love is already being heralded as a “cage-rattling” view of an “authentic, valuable new reality.” Music to our ears
When she’s not weighing in Obama and multiracial identity, Rebecca helps writers nurture their own voice with manuscript counsel and exclusive writing workshops on her home turf in Maui.

Rebecca’s Style Statement is Composed Organic. You can find her on her own blog or The Root.

What are you incredibly grateful for?
My life. My son. My partner. The coconut palms outside my window.

Whom do you admire?
All human beings who seek to preserve their intrinsic human goodness in the midst of the degenerate times in which we live.

What are the tools of your trade?
My mind. My heart. Wisdom.

Just by virtue of being you, what are you teaching?
Freedom.

What do you collect, or have a lot of?
White shirts and black skirts. Beautiful objects from around the world-a brushed aluminum money clip from Denmark, a reclining Buddha from Thailand, an olive-wood cutting board from the South of France. Very expensive boots.

If Annie Leibovitz were to shoot your portrait, how would you art direct it? Where would you be, what would you be doing, what would you be wearing…what’s the one shot that would say, this is you?
I’d be sitting at my desk, with my huge Vignelli wall calendar and gigantic Tibetan thangkas behind me, and the Noguchi lamp I’ve had since college on the white slab of my desk. My son Tenzin would be on my lap, and his dad would be at his desk on the other side of the room, working on a film. I’d be eating simple pasta with olive oil, lemon, and a little parmesan, and feeding it to the baby, too. Tenzin would be wearing a purple Salvor shirt with a horse on it, with no pants. I’d be wearing a Muji white tunic. Cat Power would be singing her version of New York, New York. The whole room would be bathed in sunlight, and out the window you could just make out the palm and macadamia nut trees. We’d be happy and content—home.

What do you crave?
A gorgeous off-the-grid, one million per cent organic and sustainable house overlooking the sea, without a mortgage. My pre-baby Pilates body. Another baby.

What books have been most useful or inspiring to you?
Style Statement, of course. The Captain’s Verses by Pablo Neruda. Things I Do in the Dark by June Jordan. The White Album Joan Didion. Wounds of Passion by Bell Hooks. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner. This list is truly endless.

What’s your favorite website or blog?
Any site that sells fabulous, expensive boots.

What’s your personal form of genius?
Seeing behind the veil.

What would you like to be a master of?
Liberation.

What would you like to revolutionize?
Everything.