Fresno Famous

All the cool people are on Famous. We know this. But maybe we don't know them. Famous plays e-mail interview with one of its favorite (and in this case, most prolific) users.

May we introduce...Out of the Void.

With limited editing (from his fingers to your eyes).

The basics:

Name: Eric Field
Age: 43
Occupation: Woodworker, builder, furniture restorer (as well as) bicycle and home-gym and home-recreation-equipment builder.
Location: I'm sort of off of First and Shaw, (not the best, not the worst.)
How long you've lived in Fresno: It will be two years this September. (I still have a NY cell number…)

How'd you get hooked up with Fresno Famous?

I'm not really sure, actually, I remember finding the thing on my computer one night in February of '06. I had moved out here to marry someone, they totally evaporated, (we had gotten engaged on the set of Romeo and Juliette, (hence) 'Romeo-Void,' (though I loved the band, it was the satire of the whole thing of my coming to Fresno from NY that was the real source of the name.)

So I was like "…okay, great now what?…" I had always been a writer, I just had never blogged before, thought the premise interesting, and just sort of jumped in.

((Don't blame Jarah, for my blogging, she's an absolute goddess and has been (both,) very supportive, and an erstwhile opponent (depending on the situation.) I've always loved her honesty of character and owe her a great deal in creating this thing.))

Finish this sentence: Fresno Famous is where I...

Seriously? It's where I've found out what is going on in this place, (like TOTALLY.)

It's were I've made some great friends,
It's where I've made some great enemies,
It's just really opened up Fresno completely to me as a transplant.
It's a tremendous place to discuss what's on peoples' minds here in the 'no, and I've been really blessed by some of the folks I've met.
I have had some (ahem,) uncomfortable experiences here and there, (the odd death threat, etc.) but overall, it's been just so freakin' cool to dialogue with folks, and have them really bare themselves and write.
To be a part of someone's thoughts getting going, in communion, or really hashing it out, has been a real honor. I love that people really communicate. It's very very humbling.

It's a Thursday/Friday or Saturday night in Fresno. Where are you?

That is soooooo up in the air.
I had to have my shoulder rebuilt in January, so I wasn't able to work a whole bunch for a few months…
now I'm completely swamped with work (which is good,)
I'm shifting gears a lot as far as what socializing I'm doing and it may be changing more radically as I'm hoping to head back into school in the not so distant future, (I want to go into nursing.)
I can be anywhere, actually, art museums, symphonies, dirt-car tracks, doing laundry.

I'm not a bar-hound, (I don't really have much fun around people who are plastered,) but if I have friends who drag me out we'll sit there yak for hours and nurse a glass of wine.

I am totally in love with the Rogue Festival and care a great deal for the folks involved in it.

As a (lapsed,) painter and sculptor, I am always blown away by the work I find here, and at such young ages, (and with so much "self-taught," talent… that's cool…)

I love live performances of all sorts (and have met a lot of great musicians and actors here in town) so I try to catch them when possible.
I am a bike freak, so I pedal around once the temps are humane.
I am actually very much a loner, so I may just off and blend into the culture and love the human show that is all around, I love people.
California (and this area,) is still very new to me, so I'm still getting to know all that there is to do.

Trivia: Give us an interesting factoid on your life:

Hmm… Lessee.
I have done so many different things and known so many different people that I don't usually tell HALF of what has happened, because people think I'm making stuff up as it is.

I was so bad at typing in high school that my teacher told me that she'd give me a C if I promised never to go near a keyboard ever again — and go out for the school play, (she was directing.) I promised, went out for the part, and got a C.

Years later, while pursuing Journalism, I had to type… (so much for that.)
I also have not worked on a computer (at all,) until... yeesh, 1996?
(I miss my old Royal "Navy," issue typewriter, that thing weighed at least 40lbs… (I still type very heavy keyed… I've had people in computer labs at school wonder if I'm angry or something, or ask me to type quieter… and I can usually hit about 55 words per minute these days.

Um...I've been hit by lightning twice… (both before the age of 20.)
(the typing had nothing to do with that…)
I'm more comfortable in the water than on land,
I HATE hot weather,

And have lived in everything from inner cities to totally isolated gamelands with no neighbors (and a lot of wildlife.) -Sometimes at the same time.
And though I can stand up and address thousands of people, comfortably? I'm actually quite shy.

As Famous' most prolific user, any final thoughts?

I was totally shocked when you said this… I mean, I can't be the most prolific… (oy.)

Okay, well, here goes.

It's kind of like when I've taught people different things, or gotten them to open up and write or paint or something.
Everybody always says: '…I don't have anything to say, and nothing that anyone wants to hear.'

The truth of the matter is: Everybody is an individual, and everybody has a point of view, a heart, and a voice. And each person is worthwhile and needs to be heard.

Some of the most incredible things I've ever heard, read, or learned, often come from people who think that they 'don't have anything important to say'… So please, if you want to talk by all means talk.
(Talk, write, sing, bang on something…. Whatever, just do it.)

Don't think that because your stuff is long, or intense or short and 'fluffy,' (or whatever,) that people don't read what you're saying,
I've gotten some VERY sincere responses from people who I have (honestly, no business knowing,) from writing on here, MindHub, my Blog, even when I was on the radio or when addressing groups (such at church or whatever.)
I happen to believe in God. (okay, not everybody does,) But to me, that means that there is a design we're a part of. It means that our individuality is genuine, and also is meant to be shared.

I think each person is an individual, and each individual has a worthwhile take and that that their perspective is needed by the rest of us, that we're all a part of each other's design.

(So, by not saying what's on your heart? -or disregarding what someone else is saying (or is trying to communicate in any media,)
-you're shortchanging others and yourself.-and that's really unfortunate, (because people are unique, and their views aren't going to be replicated.)
Most of what I write is actually just my way of saying:
"...um, I see this over here, what do you guys think?"

I really do want answers. I may not always like them, (and I may challenge them,) but I want people to really care and not only think about what is happening,
-- but then go out and actually do something with that.
To me? That's the only real hope.
Sometimes I know the answers, sometimes I don't, but I want to know what others are thinking.

Out here you can actually make a difference, because this place is building NOW.

(Back home in the Tri-State Region? Fugettaboutit…
-you think the Sopranos ended with a "non-ending" by accident?
It's because real life for most people back home is sort of scripted and doesn't really have much in the way of differences, possibilities, and changes to be made, it is one great big "It is what it is." )
Out here?

You really CAN do something…
Start with you and work out from there.
Find out whatever it is that you love to do, go get educated in it, and just do it, (don't worry about what others think,) just freakin' do it. (Abraham Lincoln had this great line: 'Whatever it is that you are, be a good one.' )
People get too hung up on what everybody else is going to think about what they really want to do with their lives. That's a big mistake.
Life is too short. You have skills and gifts and desires, Go and Do.
And seriously?
Regardless of whether Fresno Famous and all this writing back and forth has caused me and anyone else to to be happy or less than so, with each other… Thanks, (seriously)

Opening this door 16 months ago was a real first, -- and there has just been an amazing and beautiful bunch of folks that have come through, (and continue to do so.)
For me? Fresno would have sucked without this site.
(Jarah, go do this in Philly, they are going to love you back there… Just watch out for the mummers, and promise me you'll fall for somebody who has a neck.)

Thanks for asking.
Be good.