20 questions for ... transgender author Kate Bornstein

    By Karen Zarker  PopMatters.com
    First Posted: May 16, 2012 - 4:04 am

http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/BOOK-20QUESTIONS_8013725/BOOK-20QUESTIONS_8013725/

"I was a Scientologist for 12 years, which is a lot more embarrassing than saying Hi, I'm a transsexual SM dyke living with borderline personality disorder," Kate Bornstein tells PopMatters on the release of her memoir, "A Queer and Pleasant Danger." Embodying not just gender — but the range of gender — is just a fraction of Bornstein's complex, complete, utterly compelling persona; she is also the embodiment of a mind steeped in pop culture, past and present.

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6. You're proud of this accomplishment, but why?

I wrote a book called "Hello, Cruel World: 101 Alternatives to Suicide for Teens, Freaks and other Outlaws," from Seven Stories Press. I get letters every day, or tweets or comments, or text messages, or any other of the ways people get messages to me these days — thank you for saving my life. That's a hard thing to own when you hear it, but I feel proud when I do own it, so that has to be it.