Chew-Bose: I was watching an interview with you from around the time White Girls came out, in which you talked about being a hopeful person. How do you remain hopeful despite– Als: –despite the world… I think it’s in my DNA. I used to call my mother The Happiness Nazi. Through all of her hardships she never made us feel like life was closed off to us. She never made us feel that because we were poor we lacked an imagination about becoming something. I love your question because it makes me want to thank her for giving me the quality of pushing beyond haters and negativity in order to see and feel, you know? Don’t let the small people—even if they’re in your own family—rob you of the experience of being open and free. There’s always going to be siblings or relations who don’t love you because bigness as a person makes them feel small. I think there is something really beautiful about trying, and small people don’t want you to keep trying. They want you to settle for life’s limitations. Don’t ever settle because life is hard enough and limiting enough without people telling you to stay in a cul-de-sac or wherever.
Hilton Als











