Ask The Author: Jonathan Starke

Writing and bodybuilding, that’s a combination we can get sweaty over. Below Jonathan Starke responds to questions about his piece “Between Them,” published in the June Issue.

1. What was your finishing combination when you were a boxer?

I liked to start slow and then flip the switch and pressure the other guy into the ropes. He’d cover, and I’d start throwing body shots, and when he’d go down to block those or move, I’d switch to hooks and uppercuts to the head. It’s not very easy to withstand a flurry of shots to so many different parts of the body at so many different angles.

2. Why are men always struggling to escape the shadows of their fathers?

In my case it’s men. In my writing it’s men. But I wouldn’t say it’s just men. We’re all struggling to get out from underneath something. The difficulty isn’t that my father is a tough man or a hard man or a confusing man. He is a great man, and I don’t know how to follow that.

3. How has boxing and bodybuilding influenced your writing?

I’ve only written one piece on bodybuilding, strangely. I have references to boxing in almost every story, poem, play, or essay I write. Kind of like how my father or a father figure happens to show up in all my work. These topics have both hurt me and created some kind of love. I’d like to write more about bodybuilding because things I’ve been through and seen in that world are rarely heard of or known. There’s a male intimacy that I miss so much and I’ll never have it again. Men at an incredible physical peak who offer vulnerability so rarely in public, but when you get to see it in private, public, at all, it’s shocking to know that they’re human, they’re not the supermen they appear to be, and this makes their story so fascinating. I suppose that relates 100% to boxing as well.

4. What is the strangest thing you wanted to be when you grew up?

A professional wrestler. I mean, maybe that’s not so strange, but I grew up watching those guys. Even now at 29 when I catch a part of a wrestling show, I want to hop over the top rope and start throwing heavy rights. I think I really just want the awesome entrance–to come out to a rockin’ heavy metal song and wear lots of colorful, crazy outfits and have trademarked catch-phrases and gestures. Where else can you pull something like that off? (except Hollywood).

5. How do you react when being photographed?

I always try to position myself to the left of the person or object beside/behind me because I feel like my left bicep is more fit than my right. I have a fear of looking physically weak in my photos (which of course stems from a childhood of pro wrestling and then a stint in bodybuilding).

6. Who would you like to fight? What would be at stake?

Woody Allen. His famous black-framed glasses. Not really, I love WA! I would love to fight Bill O’Reilly. I think we could both cut some awesome promos. He could call me un-American and say I’m without morals and the backbone they’d ride on. I could tell him I’d take his toupee off his head and piss in it and serve it to him for tea time (or should I say…pee time?). Then we’d fight. What’s at stake? The sore eyes and eardrums of truly good, decent, and open-minded people all over the world. I don’t care about party affiliations. I only care about people being good to everything. Easy.