Meet Jeni

An Interview with Jeni, Editor-In-Chief

By Jen's Brain

Interviewer: Jeni, thank you for agreeing to sit down with me, tonight. 

Jeni: Thank you for inviting me. 

Interviewer: Let me say, right off the bat, that I think I speak for many, many people when I say, “I’m impressed.” You built this whole house with your own two hands, while you traveled around the country, solo. Now, you’re living in it, full-time, off-grid. A lot of people would love to throw it all in and do what you’re doing.  

Jeni: Whoa! Save the romance for the movie script. [Laughs.] This is probably the hardest thing I can imagine anyone doing. 

Interviewer: Then why do you do it?

Jeni: [Long pause.] Sometimes, I don’t feel like I have a choice. 

Interviewer: How so?

Jeni: It was my idea. I’m more than a little obligated to see it through.

Interviewer: What was your idea? The Project?

Jeni: No, not really. Not the whole project. Just the purple house. It’s for Little Jeni. It’s the purple princess playhouse she always begged our dad to build for us, when we were little. 

Interviewer: Is that where you learned how to build things? Your Dad?

Jeni: It ended up there, I suppose, but it started way up the line with my father’s father, who was an umpteenth-degree Mason. If there was something to be built - or rebuilt - a hoard of men would show up one day, and build it. I paid attention.

Interviewer: [Laughs] Isn’t that a line from Pretty Woman?

Jeni:[Smiles] You caught that? Actually, almost everything I know about building, I learned by rehabbing old houses with my husband.  He’s the one who climbed up and put the roof on for me. I don’t handle heights well and it was one of the first things I had to learn to do - ask for help. 

Interviewer: Don’t you mean your ex-husband?

Jeni: [Looks to Jen. Jen shakes her head.] Can we go off the record, for a minute? 

— Off the record —

— On the record —

Interviewer: Thank you for clarifying that. So, when you reference your husband, you’re talking about the man you married in Florida?

Jeni: Correct. Uncle Alex - Alexander Karas - was our photographer. Mia says that, if you look closely at the photos, you’ll see beautiful spirits sparkling from every raindrop that fell on our wedding day. She says the raindrops were the tears of angels, and the rainbow sealed the promise. 

Interviewer: That’s beautiful. 

Jeni: It was. It still is. I agree with Jen when she says, “If it was God then, it’s God now. He’s not going to change his mind, just because you did.” But sometimes I really do wish she’d told me sooner, what she’d committed us to. 

Interviewer: The marriage?

Jeni: No. That, I blame on Mia! [Laughs, uncomfortably. Looks to Jen. Jen nods.]  I mean, Uncle Alex. He’s one of those men that set a high bar, then lifted me up so I could reach it. Now, I’m committed to always reach higher.

Interviewer: Alexander Karas? I’ve seen the photos. They really are gorgeous.  

Jeni: Aren’t they? Did you hear the story behind them?

Interviewer: No, please tell me.

Jeni: [Looks to Jen, again. Jen shrugs.] No, not here. That’s a topic we’re throwing around and I don’t want to get ahead of myself. But, believe me, the story is one you’ll want  to hear. 

Interviewer: Okay, no spoilers, then. How about a tiny little teaser?

Jeni: A teaser? 

Interviewer: Please? Just a little one.

Jeni: Okay..let’s see…“It was the fairy tale wedding of every little girl’s dreams, and only Uncle Alex could have captured the spirit of it on film.”

Interviewer: Wow! You’re pretty good at turning a phrase, yourself. 

Jeni: Thank you.

Interviewer: Well, I really appreciate you sharing this time with me and your readers, and I look forward to checking in with you and the other members of the committee about the progress you’re making, as the project moves along.

Jeni: Thank you. And I really appreciate your candidness when I agreed to sit for this interview.     

Interviewer: My candidness?

Jeni: Yes. “I’m only here for the science.”

Interviewer: Oh. You caught that? [Laughs uncomfortably]

Jeni: Don’t worry, I’ve been burned by a hot mic, before. I did hear it, but don’t let it embarrass you. That’s something I tell myself, all the time. It’s what keeps me hanging around with this motley crew.

Interviewer: Thank you for that. 

Jeni: Anytime.