Questions by Joanna Celeste, Answers by Angela Shelton
What were your first impressions of Ooleeoo?
After that nasty splat of a landing from what I dare say was a crash, Ooleeoo has the most excellent grass. The fields were orange on the planet I was on right before I fell to the one I now adore. To see fields of green was serene, and now that there is chocolate grass and strawberry too, I love it even more. Wouldn’t you?
What concerned you the most about losing your memory?
I was not concerned about anything really, outside of the strange bent bump on my head that lit up the room red around my bed. I must confess though, I did have a sense of a horrible duress, but could not figure out where it came about. I certainly did in the end. That kind of evil is hard to comprehend.
How did you deal with the sense that you didn’t fit in with the other Ooleeooans?
It is a terrible thing to feel you do not belong somewhere. Some are very good at pretending not to care. Due to my ability to make such beneficial hats, I avoided many spats. But really all credit is due with the children. They have the ability to see more clearly and look past any misconception that their parents’s perception may have implanted.
As someone who was stranded without recollection of your past or family, how would you define “home”?
Home. Earthlings have a saying I’ve heard from my friend Randy after his surveying, that home is where the heart is. My heart lies with my home planet, which was destroyed, leaving my heart in a bit of a void. Some in some ways I am homeless, though I do love Ooleeoo, yes.
Tell us about your friend, Quinn Quisquilious. How does he see the value in what others throw away?
There is value in all things, despite what some may say, especially certain aliens who toss everything away – even butterfly wings. On Earth, you have a saying that what is trash to one is another one’s treasure. This is true with Quinn with his personality so grand, his heart is hard to measure. He has an ability to not only see the good in all, but can even create an abacus out of detritus.
How do you craft hats out of various elements?
Hats appear to me out of the things that surround the hat wearer, like a woman appears in raw marble to the sculptor, without error. There are always elements around with a great many uses. It’s the mixture you use, inspired by muses – that makes magical hats. If I gave away all the secrets, magic could be used for things far more tragic than hat-making. My ability comes from something hard to write – it is from a connection to the Light.
What do you consider is your most special talent?
Light Throwing of course is a talent I have the best, for which I am extremely blessed.
You chose to create hats for people who had been cruel towards you. Why?
Beings are on their own path. It is not up to me to meet their cruelty with wrath. People who are acting out in violent and mean ways are reenacting something bad that happened to them along the way. An act of kindness can sometimes snap them out of their violent blindness.
In other words, what they do to me has everything to do with how they see and rarely anything to do with me. Meeting meanness with light leaves room for all to be bright.
What is something that very few people know about you?
Some Star Jumpers know, but no one on Ooleeoo, that it was my mother whom I never knew. My father sent me away to school.
What drew you to teaching?
Those who teach, teach themselves – that is as true as the ringing of mystic bells!
Who is your favorite student, and why?
Maggie Mae Mudpie caught my eye the first time I saw her pluck notes from the air, conducting music without a care. She is a delightful child and although afraid and mute, she is awfully cute.
You chose to teach your students about perception. How would you define it?
You may think you know what you know, when that can change as you allow your mind to grow.
What is the way you like best to learn?
Reading and listening gives your thoughts inspiration – which makes for a much better nation. When you don’t feed your brain, you leave your thoughts with nothing to do but complain.
You’ve spent most of your life battling KOD. What makes it all worth it?
KOD would swallow all the planets the Star Jumpers have brought water and vegetation to. He is quite rude and seeing to it that a tree thrives or a fish remains alive is what keeps me going.
What’s it like to change your age at will?
That is a skill I cannot do at will, it must be done while I travel. We Light Throwers, protectors of all Star Jumpers, must resort to a younger age in order to get past the nasty pain of moving past the speed of light. If we were older, the pain would be a fright.
What was your childhood like?
As a child I was in training most of the time. Some had more playful childhoods – I did not have that kind. It is nothing I complain about, I was pushed harder because my talents stood out. I had the ability to help many, so I had to work as hard as a hundred and twenty.
Did you ever wish you could be someone else?
Being yourself is a gift of the Light. To be anything else than what was given to me is not a wish, although I would love to bring some things back to life, even fish.
You said you didn’t have any friends or loved ones yet you’re considered the most valuable member of the Star Jumpers. Please elaborate.
When you are put on a pedestal as protector, you are not listed as friend or loved one or party director. You are placed in a different category all together, which sadly brings all kinds of emotional weather. With a childhood and life like mine, I made very few friends since most just want me to fight evil and work on Light retrieval. Animals are the dearest to me, from judgment they are free. Randy is my closest dare I say – friend.
Who had the most positive influence on you?
Outside of my Father, Penelope Pinkerton, who took me in, is the one who wins. You won’t find anyone more kind.
