Quirkyalone

Weighing in on the “extraordinary rise and surprising appeal of living alone”

May 08, 2012 - Written by Sasha Cagen  |  Filed under: Uncategorized

I will be on KCRW’s national news affairs program “To the Point” tomorrow Wednesday 11-12 with sociologist and fellow examiner of the modern human condition Eric Klinenberg. We’ll be talking about his excellent book Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone. The topic will be the growing global phenomenon of people living alone. As the author of Quirkyalone: A Manifesto for Uncompromising Romantics, I provide the on-the-ground commentator perspective as well as a global view from having interviewed so many quirkyalones. Let me be equally clear that although I am a kickass commentator on this trend and an advocate for quirkyalones and quirkytogethers everywhere (and I actually really love living alone), my heart is very open to finding my beloved and a future in which I might not live alone. Just had to throw that personal note in there!

I have a review of Eric’s book coming up and I have been so busy writing a book of my own I haven’t been posting much, but this too will come.

UPDATE: Here’s an audio link to the show. Great discussion, very illuminating, and well worth a listen!

Alone on the Holidays? Here’s How to Turn Loneliness into Solitude

Apr 08, 2012 - Written by Sasha Cagen  |  Filed under: Uncategorized

The Huffington Post Mindful Living editor asked me for advice on what to do if you find yourself alone on the holidays. Here’s what I told her about turning loneliness into solitude. Essentially my advice is that you can turn any holiday into Quirkyalone Day if you set the right intention. Read more here about how.

Welcome to the quirkyalone movement newly identified quirkyalones!

Feb 23, 2012 - Written by Sasha Cagen  |  Filed under: Uncategorized

Welcome to the quirkyalone movement, all of you who just read about quirkyalone.net in the New York Times’ story on the freedom and perils of living alone. We are glad that you have joined us. Let us know if you have questions. You can meet and greet in the forums, and follow us on Facebook. And be sure to sign up on the mailing list to stay on top of quirkyalone events and other news. The mailing list signup is just to the right under the CNN video.

Remember the quirkyalone movement is a grassroots movement, don’t ask when it is coming to your town, bring it there yourself.

One Is the Quirkiest Number

Feb 22, 2012 - Written by Sasha Cagen  |  Filed under: Uncategorized

When did the media get so into quirkyness? I thought that was my sole territory. Now the New York Times plays up the quirky habits of solo dwellers in the Home Section. The reporter may be confusing the quirky behavior of living alone with other kinds of issues, like, forgetting to put your clothes on when you leave the apartment. But I do adore being quoted in the New York Times talking about eating “discrete objects” for dinner.

And this piece has brought the quirkyalone movement to many readers who had not yet heard of it, and for that I am glad.

When Secret Single Behavior is No Longer Secret: A Report Back from IQD 2012!

Feb 22, 2012 - Written by Sasha Cagen  |  Filed under: Uncategorized

This year’s Bay Area Quirkyalone Day party was a wild card–and in the end, awesome.

For the last two Quirkyalone Days, I was away in South America. This year, I decided, let’s bring IQD back. I nailed down the venue–the gorgeously quirky, gauzy Cafe Van Kleef in Oakland– just two weeks before. I hoped that Malcolm, our IQD mascot, would come. Malcolm is a former Googler and wacky soul who has come to every single IQD since I started hosting them in 2003. Would anyone else show?

The quirkycrowd of all ages showed up, in their glory. This was the ninth annual IQD the longer I throw these gatherings, the more I fall in love with the people who come. They are totally open-minded, with good hearts, and ready for anything.

The highlight of the evening was the spontaneously organized Share Your Secret Single Behavior Contest. My longtime quirkyfriend Kenneth helped me create the contest, totally improv and on the fly, which is my favorite way to collaborate. Secret Single Behavior was the theme of this year’s IQD. SSB are those weird behaviors that you indulge when you are alone–and that you don’t necessarily don’t want a significant other (or a rommate) to know about. I wrote about SSB in Quirkyalone in the chapter “Loneliness vs. Solitude.”

Kenneth went to buy notepads and pencils and we distributed them to people in the crowd, asking them to write down their quirkiest SSB on one side, and their names on the other. My friend Amrita, Malcolm, and I read the SSB and invited the audience to applaud for the weirdest ones. Kenneth was the judge.

Here were some good ones:

“Eat ice cream with Kahlua on it in the bathtub without feeling cramped or pressured to share”
“Dance naked, while singing into a mirror”
“Reclean the kitchen after my roommates cleaned it”
“Talk to myself and my cat”
“Fart really loud and long at night (especially during my period)”
“Make sounds that no one in the world makes or has ever made”
“Read random discussion forums about my favorite TV shows and ones I don’t watch”
“Talk to stuffed animals”
“I walk around the house wearing nothing but underwear on my head”
“Getting a pet” (This one is a little weird–I mean, how many times do you go get a pet?)

The winning SSB was stunning in its no-hold-barred go-for-it quality: “When I am too lazy to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, I frequently urinate in a pint glass and toss it out the window.”

Carly wrote the winning entry. She blew us all away with her candor. She is so sexy too. This combination is killer. Such potency! She should have her own TV show, something like “Girls Behaving Badly” but even better.

“How are you even able to get it in the jar?” I asked, “I got good at peeing in a jar on lots of road trips,” she told me.

The prize was a Greyhound, a grapefruit cocktail Cafe Van Kleef is famous for. Carly doesn’t drink alcohol. Instead we got the bar to make a yellowish drink: a mix of lemonade and ginger ale.

These quirkyalone events are so fun I would consider doing more of them–but at the same time there is something really special about a once-a-year gathering. When quirkyalones get together the sparks fly.

The Commodified Version of Quirky on Saturday Night Live

Feb 19, 2012 - Written by Sasha Cagen  |  Filed under: Uncategorized

Funny enough, but true quirkyness can never be pinned down!

Bein’ Quirky with Zooey Deschanel from Sergei Yahchybekov on Vimeo.