Fen Aldrich

Describe yourself in five or fewer words

Optimistic Nihilist, Joybringer, People lover

Describe your ideal day

Pet animals in the zoo, and later a movie, too, drink sangria in the park, and later when it gets dark, we go home. – or, sorry, that’s Lou Reed’s answer. One of my favorite things is doing Nothing (according to Christopher Robin, this is when people ask you “what are you going to do today?” and you reply, “oh, Nothing” and then you go out and do it), but what I like even more is doing Nothing with good friends, maybe with good food and good drink and good games to pass the time, everything else is secondary.

What's your favorite book and why?

There are so very many good books that it is hard to pick just one. But perhaps my most recommended book is one by two of my favorite authors, Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchet, Good Omens. Two authors incredibly talented at using the fantastic and divine to really drive at what it means to be human and interact with other humans. If you haven’t read it, do. If you prefer watching things, the Amazon Prime series was actually quite good too.

If you could time-travel back to a single point in history, where would you go and why?

I’ve always maintained that time travel, especially backwards in time, is really too dangerous. And I assume nothing about my opinion has or will change or I will have had already told me by now.

If you could be any animal other than human for a day, what would you be and why?

Probably I would be some type of Dolphin. I spend enough time on the land and in the sky that I think the thing I’d most like to explore most is the ocean. And as a social creature, I could always just end up hanging out with other dolphin buddies catching fish or doing whatever it is dolphins do. I think I’d return with a whole other perspective on life.