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| Interview by Adam Shutz |
Early last week I had a brief meeting with a colleague for reasons so boring that I won’t bother committing them to print, but we met outside the University of Baltimore where he briefly went to law school until he was drafted to Vietnam. Before we finally shook hands he left me with an antidote about his time at UB: “It was around 1964. I just started law school. My first lecture class had about 140 students in it. It was in a big room. Then someone went and started a war. By the time I was drafted there were only 30 of us left. The room was empty… It was a lot different back then.”
It’s hard not to compare such a story to the general effect the Iraq War had on our generation. I was in college throughout “Operation Iraqi Freedom,” and can’t say it affected my life much, save the slight trickle of disturbing statistics and images peppering the political hyperbole that we call news. I must admit, it took some effort to remain conscious that these numbers represented real things, people, and were not just quotes from the stat sheet of a professional Call Of Duty gamer.
And this is where Justin Sirois’ new novel, “Falcons on the Floor,” comes into play. It is another reminder that there were people on the other side of that TV, that there were people on the other side of those guns. People who did in fact have lives that got all fucked up cause someone went and started a war.
"Falcons on the Floor" (Publishing Genius Press), $12 from PGP's website. Justin will also be reading from his new book tomorrow, March 26th @ Worms (Metro Gallery).
Artichoke Haircut: Why don’t we start this off with a stock question… Why do you write?
Justin Sirois: That’s a tough question. I feel like I have so many motivations to write. If I didn’t have a creative outlet, I know I’d be in huge trouble – I’d either be doing something dangerous to myself or others. Writing expels a lot of my anxieties and energy. So yeah, it’s a healthy practice and without it I’d be absolutely lost. I also love creating stories and characters. It’s always happened naturally for me. As a kid, I’d make up weird characters – monsters and aliens and whatever – and I’d draw and act them out, talking out loud and probably making an ass of myself.
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