JOCI SIRAK

Photographer,
British Columbia, Canada
Website:  http://www.sirakphoto.com

Latest book: My Vancouver in Black and White

(A collection of 45 stunning black and white photos focusing on Vancouver, B.C., accompanied by Norm Tucker’s poetry)
Available at: http://www.sirakphoto.com/myvancouver.php
In Press: My Vancouver in Color

HARRINGTON QUICKIE INTERVIEW:
      

Q: Do you have a day-job, and if yes, what is it?
Joci Sirak: Yes, I’m a full-time gardener.

Q: How much time do you spend on reading and writing, respectively?
Joci Sirak: 30 minutes daily on reading; 30 minutes weekly on writing.

Q: Do you have a library card? Explain.
Joci Sirak: Yes. I’m using it mostly for borrowing travel books and music CD-s.

Q: Which book did you absolutely loathe reading in high school or college? Did you ever grow to appreciate it later?
Joci Sirak: I was crazy about reading in high school (and since then to this very day), never hated any book. I remember one thing though: I started reading Kafka’s Castle, and did not understand it at all. Stopped somewhere around the 30th page, then started again a few weeks later. By the time I finished, I was thrilled by his genius.

Q: How would you react to a 12-year-old who states that he/she hates reading?
Joci Sirak: This is a hard question. I think I would have to know that 12-year-old in person, and then I might start a conversation to somehow reach him/her.

Q: Do you like playing video games? Explain.
Joci Sirak: No, I don’t get the entertaining part of it, and would feel regret for the wasted time.

Q: What’s the best advice you have ever received, and who gave it?
Joci Sirak: Sorry, but I cannot recall any “best advice” I have ever received.

Q: What’s the top item on your bucket list?
Joci Sirak: Bucket list? I truly believe I have everything that is worthwhile in this 3D world of ours. Every day is a blessing, and I feel very lucky for having been able to find something every day of my life that exhilarates me.

Q: Are you older or younger at heart than your age?
Joci Sirak: Typical modern-world question. I think, and I hope I’m in the center of the time frame designed for me.

Q: What time do you usually get up in the morning, and how does your daily schedule look like?
Joci Sirak: I get up 6 am, work 7:30-4:30, home at 5:30 or later, do housework, cook a simple dinner for my son, make my lunch for the next day, spend one hour on checking emails, creative work, and phone calls. I cherish the simplicity of my life.

Q: What would you print on your favorite T-shirt (and wear it)?
Joci Sirak: I do not like to wear T-shirts with anything printed on them, but if I really had to choose, I’d go with the Feldmar Institute’s slogan: “Do, Dare, and Be Silent”.

Q: Which character’s life from a classic novel would you like to live? Explain.
Joci Sirak: Stavrogin from Dostoevsky’s Demons. He challenged every possible boundary and obstacle induced by human nature in his life and that of others on the planet.

Q: What do you wear when you are the most comfortable?
Joci Sirak: The best answer probably would be a tutu, but I’m conservative in this, so my answer is t-shirt and shorts combo.

Q: What is your top choice of a book you’d like to turn into a movie?
Joci Sirak: Kafka’s Castle. But somebody already thought of it: Michael Haneke.

Q: What’s the coolest place you’ve placed an autograph besides the first page of a book?
Joci Sirak: I did not have the opportunity yet, but I would carve it into ice, and watch it disappear slowly.

Recommended Readings:
Click on cover images
    
HHarrington,
Editor