Interview with journalist and writer KRiSTOPHER DUKES

Published in Bunker Hill Zine August 7, 2005

Before she was 20, she was published in the bestselling book series Written in the Dirt and was a staff writer for a couple of Los Angeles biweeklies. Kristopher Dukes is a silver tongued journalist with edge, bite and playful beauty. When I think of Miss Dukes I think of mink fur stoles and observational wit that makes its point clear, like a stiletto on your neck. Writing and getting paid is a dream come true for most aspiring and even prolific writers…and when one of the good ones breaks through into the mainstream clutter of the varied and unpredictable world of publication, I feel inspired and hopeful.

BUNKERHILL ZINE: Well well Miss Kristopher Dukes, where do you live?

KRISTOPHER DUKES: Well well well, Ms. Mercedes, I’m currently in Los Angeles.

BHZ:How long have you been writing and what inspired you too?

KD:I’ve been writing since I learned how to spell — saved in some box are stories about frogs and spiders from when I was probably six years old. And my mom always says I need to thank her because when I was very little she would push me on the swing and listen patiently as I’d jabber stories to her for hours. So maybe I’ve been telling stories since I could l put words together. I decided I wanted to “be a writer” when I was eight: for a project I wrote a Halloween story called “The Jack-o-Lantern,” and when I turned it in I suppose it was long because my teacher exclaimed it could be a book. I don’t know why that caught my attention, but after that I gave up wanting to be a veterinarian, and decided “to be a writer.” My first step into journalism was actually more on the publishing side — when I was nine I created this muckraking magazine called Young Gossip. I wrote most of the articles and edited them and illustrated the mag and… just about everything. I don’t even know how I knew Q&A interview format and how to write a news article, but I still remember the very dramatic “10 a.m., at ___ Elementary playground…” I think Young Gossip lasted one issue. Similarly, in high school, between editing the school paper
and staffing at this Los Angeles teen biweekly, I ran my own web ‘zine. After I started writing for publications that had more fans than just me, I dropped it.

BHZ: Your main focus is non-fiction, and your reviews [which means your getting paid!] are vibrant and sultry with colour and imagery which makes reading about a skirt almost mouth watering, but, do you write any fiction?

KD:Thank you so much for the compliments; I’m glad you enjoy my writing. I used to write fiction when I was younger, tons of short stories, and I still write some for fun if I have time. My first nationally published piece was actually a short story that ran in Teen Ink and then in part of Teen Ink’s bestselling book series, Written in the Dirt (still out in Barnes and Nobles, nudge, nudge.) I also dabble in lyric
writing, again, when an idea hits me and I actually have time. My passion is really wordsmithing, at large, so I love anything that comes along with that, even just editing. And since I’ve spent more than two months in LA, maybe you’ll catch me talking about a script while drinking a $7 soy latte at Urth Caffe.

BHZ: Whats on your bookshelf?

KD:Right now I’m re-reading Gone with the Wind, which is an amazing, amazing work of art, so much more than just a beautiful melodrama. I adore Rhett Butler. Scattered around my shelf and bed are usually tons of things checked out from the library, like Atlas Shrugged, the Fountainhead, and I adore Ibsen and Arthur Miller and Oscar Wilde…Two of my favorite books are The Alchemist and the White Boy Shuffle, which is by Paul Beatty. Usually I check out three to five books of some author I’ve decided I need to (re)discover. For a while I was reading tons of Edith Wharton, who was so smart, such an artist, chick lit so beyond Jane Austen.

BHZ:What are you working on now?

KD: Right now I write some columns/newsletters, which is exciting — I write “Behind the Design” with independent design community Trunkt, www.Trunkt.com. Every week I muse about an independent designer and interview them. I also write TopButton.com’s national email “Street Walk” — every Thursday — which is a tiny bit on street fashion, and I write their “Runway Your Way” and “Star Style” columns. Between that, I have a couple of other regular clients — like FashionWireDaily.com — and do various articles, usually on independent designers or LA designers. I’m also blogging regularly now, turning KristopherDukes.com — yay, more plugs! — into its own online publication, instead of just a portfolio.

BHZ:What is your writing method? Do you beat up prostitutes and force them into a desk position so you can write? oh wait, that’s me….it’s okay,I do PAY them…

KD:Yes, yes, I do that too! But when I couldn’t afford call girls, I’d just sit down and write. That’s really what I do — even for fiction, and for pieces that involve more careful architecture, while I may muse a bit about what I want the piece to be or how I want it to sound, I just sit and write. I don’t really outline, or anything, but I do revisions and read-overs.

BHZ: Do you have a favorite author?

KD:Like I said before, I really love Ayn Rand, Arthur Miller, Henrik Ibsen, Oscar Wilde, F. Scott Fitzgerald… Steinbeck is amazing, of course, too. I also think Eminem is an amazing voice — I really adore and admire artists who have such range and depth and keep their individualism and artistic core while still speaking to and being successful in mainstream culture.

BHZ: Where can we read your work?

KD: www.KristopherDukes.com — I post articles almost every day, along with blogs. Click, click, increase my web traffic! My growing “visitors” bar graph on StatCounter makes me happier than fruit tarts and scones and espresso, and God knows how much my heart aches for those.

BHZ:Your personality reminds me of a 1920’s flapper. Do you feel any affinity towards that era? If not what era speaks to you most.

I actually adore 20’s flappers! You probably got that it’s a bit of the image I was going for with my photo on my website — short hair, vampy make-up (even though that’s all an everyday thing) and the dress I’m wearing is actually a 1920’s dress. I really love the freedom and fun of the era — I loved that girls were enjoying their bodies, enjoying individualism and independence, speaking out and coming into their own in pop culture, dancing and smoking and working. I love the flapper’s
image — very vampy and lean and actually rather boyish, with short hair and practically no hips, which again, was part of this really fun, light feminism that was coming into pop culture. Similarly, I love the mod/pop 60’s, girls like Twiggy. It was the same thing — clothing and hair was all about freedom and movement and enjoying your body and independence and celebrating sexuality and life and living outside of house wifedom and motherhood.

BHZ: Your a little controversial in your writing and observations, what is the weirdest or funniest response you have received from some miffed reader?

KD:Oh, I love any response I get out of people! In high school, I wrote this editorial on political correctness and whether or not it helps promote honest respect of minorities/peoples/cultures. I titled it “PC Is Gay” — the editor-in-chief cackled and cackled, only ending his laugh with, “You know we can’t publish this, right?”

Most recently, someone emailed me: “We get it, you have a boy’s name. Get over it.” Also, I recently wrote something about how the land between the east and west coasts is simply for the harvesting of soybeans for my overpriced non-dairy lattes, and got a message: “Yep, you’re a snob. Stay in New York, you belong there. Can I get a Kristopher Dukes Barbie Doll?” My family is also tres supportive — when I blogged about wasting time taking a “free” IQ test and hinting how stupid I was not to realize that I’d of course I’d have to pay to get my actual IQ results, my dad left an “anonymous” comment: “Before you started doing fashion journalism, your IQ was 142.”

BHZ: Your walking in a park and come across a small pond, you stop and look at the reflection on the water and what resides eneath…what do you see?

In New York and LA pond water is bound to be black, so I’d have a dark little reflection of me — and I’d probably fluff my hair. But if I did see fish, I’d probably start dreaming of sushi or fish tacos.