--I’ve heard that you have traveled quite a lot, almost like a gypsy. Could you tell our readers a little more about this?

Well, I can start by saying that all my life, ever since I was really young, I'd always wanted to travel. Even at three years old, I would sing to myself snippets like "Far, far away!" I always wanted to go over the mountains and beyond the sea. Far, far away. To see people living in places different from Los Angeles, where I grew up. So, after I left home at sixteen, I moved to San Francisco. Then, when I was nineteen, I was playing in a punk band and we toured in Europe and the U.S.

--Is it true that you lived in Europe?

I stayed in many countries. First, I was in Denmark for about ten months, where I lived in a small town in the north, and then later I met up with my brother who was living in Amsterdam. We began making a living as part of a traveling circus theater troupe, which took us all around Europe. We went to so many places. We weren’t traveling as tourists, we were just living. It was indeed gypsy-like. I did that for a number of years really, while living communally with my friends. We were in Switzerland and traveled a lot in Eastern Europe, because most of my friends were Polish. In fact, our common language was Polish and I learned to speak the language by living with them. My grammar isn’t perfect, but I can hold up my end of a conversation.

-That's terrific that you can speak Polish! What was life in Poland like?

Well, we spent a lot of time in the villages, or living outside and cooking over fires. It was incredibly exciting to see how people lived before capitalist times - to see how they lived in these villages and how they grew food and how they related to one another socially. Things like that fascinated me. At the same time, my friends and I were learning how to do that as well. We were working on creating something completely anarchistic, where no one is the leader and everything is managed fluidly. At a certain point, my girlfriend and I went traveling alone. We went down to Greece and stayed on the road for a year. Actually, we just lived outside with the elements and traveled with the seasons. Not always though, once we were in Romania in the middle of winter.

--I read about how you lived in India as a man. Were you traveling as a man before then?

Not consciously. But then, when I was in this one village in Romania, I started to realize that everyone was relating to me as a guy. Honestly, I think they couldn’t tell on their own whether I was a girl or a guy. I thought it may be easier for me and my girlfriend if people thought I was a guy. It’s not very safe for two women on the road. In that part of the world, people tend to think there's something wrong with you. The have questions like, “Why are you not with your family? Are you prostitutes?” You can be very vulnerable and, even though I'm not necessarily the type to feel afraid, sometimes it can be dangerous. So I began to let people see me as a man. In doing that, I was left with this feeling that I became part of the world, like I was a member of the world for once. When I was growing up, I didn't feel that way. Partly because I was such a little tomboy, I was made to feel like an outsider.

I noticed that in these villages and non-capitalist cultures, people judged each other less by what was on the surface, by how they looked. I was able to be more myself in certain ways. But there were other sides to me, like myself as a gay woman - or an independent woman - that didn't fit into their societies. However, when it comes down to it, people were pretty forgiving of the foreigners. They’d look at us as if saying, "Oh, they have their own weird thing." So, there was a certain additional freedom there.

--So you were switching genders at this point?

Yes, but not with any certitude. That was just when I first started to sense the advantages to it. Once we got into the warmer countries, we wore less clothes and it became more obvious that we were both girls. I remember this created more problems for us. We didn't let that stop us, but we were definitely vulnerable when hitchhiking or playing music on the street.

--So what led you to try life as a man again?

Well, five of us from this same group of friends decided that we wanted to travel outside of Europe. We tried to go overland to India, but we had trouble getting Iranian visas. To get around that we flew from Turkey to Pakistan, and went to India from there. At some time in Pakistan, in the north, my friends and I all decided to wear traditional clothing. I got the women's clothing and my one friend - a woman with short hair - got the men's clothing. Suddenly, everyone just related to her as a man. She was given all these freedoms as a guest in people's homes. For example, they didn't want us girls walking around too much, and the last thing you want to do when you’re traveling is sit around a house, all day long. You want to go see things. So, after seeing what happened for her, I just realized that it would be more advantageous and more me, really, to be dressed as a guy. I saw that I could gain certain freedoms - to be able to talk to strangers, and things like that. But, some aspects were funny. Like if I should catch myself smiling at a woman on the bus. Since it’s not part of their culture for men to smile at women randomly, she would probably think "Oh, this guy is being totally inappropriate and trying to pick me up." Just little things like that were interesting for me to experience.

--Indeed, very few people are able to experience these things. Out of all the countries that you lived in, which were your favorites?

Well, one thing I would have to say is, I don't think I've ever been to a country that I didn't like. Probably because I wasn't traveling as a tourist, but actually living there. Each place has its advantages and their disadvantages. For example, when we were in the Kurdish part of Turkey, we were staying with some Kurdish people there. We got along very well with them, but then suddenly the police came and removed us. They told us the Kurds were terrorists. So, there are some places that - even if you want to stay for awhile - it’s realistically very hard because of the culture. In the case of the Kurds, they have to live under a police state. But still, I loved the people and I loved my time there before we were removed by the police. But I guess Poland is the place I’d choose as a favorite, because I speak the language and I did spend most of my time there. I have the most friends there, too. It's a home away from home to me.

--Do you speak any languages other than English and Polish?

No, but I can understand what is being said in a lot of them. I understand some German and some Spanish, or at least enough to get by. I was learning some Hindi as well, but I haven't practiced that at all recently.

--You just arrived in LA yesterday. Where were you up until now? Do you expect to stay here for a while?

I just came back from visiting my brother in England, and I spent about two and a half months in Berlin last spring. Also, from there I made a little trip to Poland for their Gay Pride. They have a gay rights' march in April. But, right now I'm just happy to be back in my home city. I haven't lived here since I was sixteen, so a lot is coming back to me. I don't have any plans for any big travels. Maybe, I might take a trip to China next time. But it’s hard to say with their problems with Tibet now. I think I’ll just stay around here for awhile.

--Have you ever been to Japan?

No, but I would really like to go!

--How do you imagine Japan to be?

Well, for a fact, I know that there is really good fashion - which I love. Even though I do realize it's an industry, which makes it kind of suspect. But I really do love fashion. Then, of course, I've seen films so I have some images in mind. It seems very modern and, at the same time, there exists a lot of tradition. Maybe it’s like Europe in that way,- and has the advantages of both. But, usually I try not to put too many expectations into what a place is going to be like before I go there. That said, Tokyo is certainly on my Top Five list of places to visit.