Always Wear Your Bicycle Helmet: A Q&A with Tony Vigorito

What event in your life influenced you the most?

This is the second most influential event in my life:

On a perfect, early April morning some time ago, as I was preparing to ride my bike, I thought it might be nice to ride without my helmet, to feel the wind in my hair, to whiz unencumbered through the spring atmosphere and all that. I paused at my door for tangible seconds, considering, before deciding I ought to wear my helmet. Minutes later I collided head first into a car at an intersection.

I was going downhill, pedaling as fast as I could go, and the car was traveling perpendicular to me, also speeding. I do not remember seeing the car. I do not remember the collision. I only remember a distant thud. My 25 mile-an-hour body dented the shit out of his fender and hood, so much so that he almost couldn't drive away. My bike, on the other hand, didn't have a scratch on it. It never touched the car. I must have braked hard and sent my body sailing over the handlebars. I had quite a few scratches.

I was greatly traumatized, but except for my shoulder, which still bothers me, I recovered remarkably fast. I attribute this to the yoga I'd been doing just before getting on my bike. Three weeks later I was dancing at a music festival, albeit with beef jerky kneecaps.

What bothers me is that if I hadn't hesitated at my door, waffling over whether or not to wear my helmet, I'd have been through that intersection by the time the car came through. Of course, I am aware that other variables may have come into play between my door and that intersection to conspire the collision anyway. And yet, I can't help but feel that there was more to this than a bicycle safety lesson. For me, the lesson was never to hesitate.

And always wear your bicycle helmet.

Was the main character of Just a Couple of Days (or any character [Sophia]) based on real people?

Just a Couple of Days is a fiction. I made the whole thing up. The astute will find references to historical and mythological personalities and events, but I can't say for certain whether or not that was intentional.

Do you have children? If so what is your biggest fear/hope for your children?

I do not have children. If I did, my hope would be that they would succeed in securing the freedom of their spirit despite the absurdities of a commerce-begotten social world. I would hope that they would spend their time rather than sell it. I would hope that they would laugh hundreds of times a day, every day of their life.

Who should be the next president of the United States and why?

Pardon my pith, but the only good leader is a reluctant one.

Religion?

I have explored and I respect the mystical traditions of most of the world's religions. Assuming you are asking for a category, I'd place myself somewhere between Zen Buddhism and rock n' roll. As ever, I strive to enter more deeply into the immediated moment of my life. Music helps.

When were you born, and where?

I'm told I was born in Pennsylvania. I am a Libra.

How did you obtain all of the background information for Just a Couple of Days?

Research and synchronicity. Some believe in library angels that lead you exactly to what you're looking for or else show you something you hadn't previously considered. That's an interesting way to think about it, but it's not really necessary to posit supernatural forces. For me, my research is an exercise in non-linearity. I enter a book or a library or the internet looking for something, and I come out with something that bears little resemblance to what I intended to find. Since, as Jonathan Miller said, “finding out what something is is largely a matter of discovering what it is like,” I strive to remain open to the analogies that present themselves to me.

What made you sit down and write a book?

The most influential event of my life compelled me to sit down and write Just a Couple of Days. Actually, Just a Couple of Days was the third novel I started, not counting the one I tried to write in second grade. My other two attempts, incidentally, have nothing to do with my current project.

What do you think of reincarnation?

Assuming that reincarnation does not exist leads me to value the finite amount of time that I have that much more. Karma and reincarnation are too easily used to justify gross inequality at the social level or lack of effort at the personal level. Personally, I view life as a raindrop. Once I splash down into the undivided unity of the ocean, other raindrops will certainly exist, but the raindrop that is me will be over. This is not a dissolution into nothingness, understand, but rather a reunion with the source, a dissolution into everythingness. Of course, I'm just thinking out loud here. I reserve the right to change my mind.

If you weren't a writer you would be… Why?

A musician or a visual artist or a teacher or a healer or anyone that in any way seeks to heal our wounded world.

If you were an animal you'd be…. Why?

I am an animal, and I am a human. Assuming a non-human animal, I think it would be interesting to be a coyote, keen and clever. I like how birds fly, but the consciousness would be much too reptilian for me to tolerate. And then there's the dolphin, possessed of a nervous system arguably more complex than that of humans. It would be remarkable to perceive the world through an enhanced point of view. Although ultimately, I suppose there's something remarkable about experiencing life through any point of view whatsoever. I'm glad to be human. I think we're absolutely beautiful creatures.

Why did you write Just a Couple of Days?

I couldn't help myself. I experienced something very personal and it demanded my theretofore slack attention. I stopped the novel I had been fooling with, never to return to it, and immediately began Just a Couple of Days, though I didn't realize that was the title until I had almost finished four years later. Writing Just a Couple of Days was the most challenging, most rewarding thing I've ever done. Persistence is its own reward.

What do the words Just a Couple of Days mean to you?

As you may know, Just a Couple of Days was derived from actual graffiti under a bridge I used to pass frequently. It never meant anything specific, which is why I found it so appealing. It highlights the interaction between subject and object in the creation of meaning.

If there was one rule in the rulebook of life, what would it be?

Love. Not a popular concept these days, I know, but someone has to say it.

Is using language difficult given the limitations of language outlined in Just a Couple of Days?

Using language is as easy as banging on a guitar. Using it well is as difficult as mastering classical guitar. I think the fundamental difficulty with language is that it is easy to mistake the words for the reality they are intended to represent, which is quite like mistaking a guitar for the music. Guitars, and words, are lifeless and inert. They are nothing but what is breathed into them.

Your favorite philosopher? Why?

Alan Watts. His erudition is incomparable. He may have been the last in a tradition of intellectualism that valued the perfect articulation of ideas. He seems to intuitively understand that the mind operates on analogical principles. John Stuart Mill, Georg Simmel, and George Herbert Mead are some others whose work I value highly.