Who is this Joel Wilke anyway?
A very good question indeed.
Those of you who have had the pleasure to meet me know that I am able to use five or six words when only one or two is needed, especially when approached with an open ended topic.
So, I’ve collected material here from a variety of sources to help answer the larger question as to who I am. Too much, too little? All of the above. Feel free to raise your hand to ask questions.
The Proust Questionnaire
"This has its origins in a parlor game popularized (though not devised) by Marcel Proust, the French essayist and novelist, who believed that, in answering these questions, an individual reveals his or her true nature." Vanity Fair
- 1. What is your idea of perfect happiness?
- Being content.
- 2. What is your greatest fear?
- Not measuring up to my potential.
- 3. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
- Shyness
- 4. What is the trait you most deplore in others?
- Satisfied ignorance
- 5. Which living person do you most admire?
- My father
- 6. What is your greatest extravagance?
- My pottery collection.
- 7. What is your current state of mind?
- Disconnected
- 8. What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
- Detachment
- 9. On what occasion do you lie?
- When feelings are at stake.
- 12. What is the quality you most like in a man?
- Integrity
- 13. What is the quality you most like in a woman?
- Quiet confidence
- 17. Which talent would you most like to have?
- Social butterfly
- 18. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
- Self confidence
- 19. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
- Loving another completely
- 21. Where would you most like to live?
- Fort Collins, CO, Bozeman, MT, Burlington, VT
- 22. What is your most treasured possession?
- Either a Warren MacKenzie or a Matsuzaki Ken pot.
- 23. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
- Loneliness
- 24. What is your favorite occupation?
- Artist
- 25. What is your most marked characteristic?
- An appearance of aloofness
- 26. What do you most value in your friends?
- Understanding
- 27. Who are your favorite writers?
- T.R. Pearson, John Steinbeck
- 30. Who are your heroes in real life?
- Bob Dylan, Martin Luther King, JR, Lewis & Clark, Thomas Jefferson
- 31. What are your favorite names?
- Dashiell, Lucy, Betty,
- 33. What is your greatest regret?
- Asking for help sooner
- 34. How would you like to die?
- Instantaneous with no prelude
- 35. What is your motto?
- Don’t give them what they want, give them what they need.