Occidental Cultural Critic James Ford

Drinking Orange Juice, Watching Scarface, Grading Papers

Cultural critic James Ford is an assistant professor of English and comparative literature at Occidental College. Before participating in a panel on popular music’s power to effect cultural change, he professed his love of OJ and his hatred of commenters on Internet news sites in the Zócalo green room.

Q:

Describe your singing in one sentence or one word.


A:

Bluesy.


Q:

What word or phrase do you use most often?


A:

I’m reading. [Laughs.] Or I’m writing. One of the two.


Q:

What’s your favorite plant or flower?


A:

Venus fly trap.


Q:

What’s your desert island album?


A:

I can say what the movie is. Even with that it’s a tie. If it’s a movie it’s Scarface or The Godfather: Part One.


Q:

Why can’t you choose the album?


A:

Too many.


Q:

What keeps you up at night?


A:

Good ideas. And grading.


Q:

What question do you wish your students asked more?


A:

What further reading can I do on this topic?


Q:

What’s your favorite thing about Los Angeles?


A:

The underground cultures.


Q:

How did you get into trouble as a child?


A:

When I believed in something, I’d do it, even if I was going to get in trouble. I’d just take the punishment.


Q:

What’s your biggest pet peeve?


A:

Commenters on Internet news websites. I hate myself because I always have to look even if I know it’s going to be bullshit, but I always have to look anyway, in the hopes that there’ll be some genuine discussion, which rarely happens.


Q:

What’s your drink of choice?


A:

Orange juice.