A Conversation with Annie Gallup (continued)

PM: Would you say something about your take on spirituality or faith, or your alternative, or just how you view that part of life?

AG: Yeah. Oh, I'm on this little internal meditation at the moment. Coming from a family where religion was not even a topic, I got to invent my own perspective on it. It's really just a little internal conversation with myself, who we are, why we are here--all the big questions. I think all of these thoughts, spirituality and faith, I exchange it with the words "survival instinct."

[laughter]

AG: Looking at the kind of biological, psychological origins of religion, this is my inner meditation. [laughs]

PM: I know you to be an avid reader with, past and present, a life devoid of television. Read anything inspiring lately?

AG: Yes, I have. No, I've read a lot of things lately. Susan Sontag's In America--interesting writing. And I've been reading Annie Proulx' Wyoming Stories.

PM: Oh, that's a good one.

AG: Yeah, really interesting writing.

PM: The boxing metaphor in "The Contender" was very surprising and beautifully played. How did that come up? And was there a certain male friend or friends that you went to for, like, "Give me a little lingo"?

AG: Yeah, I did.

PM: Because I remember that we've had this conversation before about--not boxing, but like, "Give me a little lingo on X."

AG: Yeah, yeah. No, I definitely do research when I'm talking about a topic that I know nothing about. [laughs]

PM: And this boxing one, like who did you call and say, "Give me something"?

AG: I know I talked to my friend Ewart in Ohio.

PM: And is he a boxing fan?

AG: Yes. Yeah, definitely a boxing fan. And I had picked up a book in a used bookstore just because it caught my eye, and it was a photo book of Muhammad Ali and his career.

PM: Just amazing, some great pictures of his career.

AG: Amazing pictures. So, yes, that's why I was thinking about boxing. And Ewart gave me the Jack Johnson book for Christmas. Yeah, so I think that song came up about the relationship between all these boxing pictures that I had in my head.

PM: Yeah. That one amazing picture of Muhammad Ali standing over Sonny Liston with that look--oh, God, I love that! I mean, that's one of my favorite pictures of all time.

AG: Yeah, that's in that song for sure.

PM: I've watched that fight many times. It's a classic.

AG: Yeah, boxing is such an archetypal idea. There's such an archetype in there.

PM: I'm amazed that, on a regular basis, late Saturday night I'm often watching the fights.

AG: That's the beauty of TV, these things come right to you.

PM: Are you now, or are you sometime planning to write a novel?

AG: I've started writing some short stories--unintentionally, but there they are. I used to write stories and then call them songs and put a guitar track to them.

PM: [laughs]

AG: But there are some now that just belong on the page. So will I write a novel? Who knows. Who knows what I'll get tired of not doing next.

PM: Right.

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