Matt Prins

While having kept a journal for over a decade, Matt Prins is finally compiling the best of his most embarrassing stories into an illustrated book titled, Shtoriesh.


That is, when he's not eating prosciutto and drinking prosecco.



Chief Magazine: Where do you live?

Matt Prins: I’m living in 57 Viale Nino Bixio, Trevisio, Italy with Miren, the Spanish love of my life.

You’re living with the Spanish love of your life?

Well, no she’s not, but if I called her anything else it wouldn’t end up so well.

Who are you speaking about?

Miren.

Oh, how is Miren?

She’s good, she’s loud. She’s going to be leaving this month.

You’ll have to give her my love.

I will. I’ll give it to her right in the face.

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So... you’re originally from Canada, right?

Yes, I am.

Where in Canada?

Edmonton, Alberta.

And now you live in Italy… what are you doing in Italy?

Working for Fabrica, Benetton’s Research Center, and something or other. I write for blogs, for fun, and try to find time for myself.

Is that hard, in the blogosphere? Finding time for oneself?

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Yeah, it’s hard, because it takes so much fucking energy to write. So you send a good portion of that writing for blogs and then by the time you’re ready to do your own thing, you’re kind of drained.

So what is your own thing?

Mostly just writing about myself, I guess. I’m trying to finish that book with an illustrator, Madeline, the book’s called... I don’t know, we’re changing that. It’s been completely edited down since the reading. But did you see the video?

I did, that’s why I wanted to talk to you. I saw the reading. I’m still not sure how to pronounce it though.

Shtoriesh. With a Native American drawl. 

Is that the Cherokee word for short story?

Yeah, more or less.

From what I gather it’s very short, almost poetic, personal…

No, I wouldn’t call it poetic. Would you?

There’s something that happens to words when there’s so few of them grouped together, it makes it a little more poetic than prose, no?

Right. They look like they might be poems, but you know what? They’re Shtoriesh.

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Ok. Stories about what?

It’s mostly about just embarrassing, I don’t know, it’s basically junk and people feel great for me and some of the people think of me as a complete loser I suppose, which isn’t too far off. Yeah, no it’s just personal stories. A lot of them are secrets that I’ve been keeping in, which I wanted to get out, I guess.

For example?

For example there’s a story about me getting my penis licked by my girlfriend’s dog. That was something I never thought I would tell anybody, but you know what, I think a lot of people get that done to them, it’s not something to be so ashamed of.

Just nobody talks about it. Well, did you enjoy it?

Yeah, a little bit, and then I felt like completely sick afterwards, I felt physically sick.

Physically sick with the shame, or…

Yeah I think it must have been shame, I don’t think it was…

Bestiality lust? You were sick with lust.

No, it wasn’t really lust, it was more desperation.

Was your girlfriend in the room?

No, no. She took off after that.

I’m just trying to get the play-by-play here.  You were alone with the dog?

Well, really my girlfriend was there. She was there.

And then the dog licked your…

And, yeah the dog was there as well. She took off, she went to work or something and left me in a bit of a fragile state, if you know what I mean.

Did you hold the dog down, or use peanut butter, or…

No, no. I didn’t molest it.

Oh, so it was out of love?

Yeah, I guess, I don’t know. No it just kind of came up on the bed, and moved around and something happened.

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So these short stories, they’re pretty self-deprecating, or embarrassing?

Yeah, exactly. And part of me really regrets writing them, because then you start having complications with people you really love.

But what’s the impetus behind writing them down in the first place?

I don’t know. I think that most people are freaks in a way, or they think they probably are when they aren’t...We all really have a lot to be ashamed about and there’s no point in really hiding that, because it’s just going to make you feel like shit.

I’ve been reading a lot of comics, like Joe Matt’s Poor Bastard is a good example. It kind of inspired me to like this stuff, because it’s really self-deprecating and goes into a lot of intimate and embarrassing details. Yeah, it affected me a lot. I mean, I really like that kind of writing – really honest people writing about things that really aren’t so important. I’m not really into politics or world economics. It matters to me, but I don’t try to write about it.

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Is this a new thing, or were you one of those kids who were keeping journals when you were in high school?

Yeah, I’ve been keeping a journal for the past ten years, and I’ve always enjoyed writing that kind of stuff. But this is a much more new thing for me. Just in the past two or three years I’ve started writing a lot more about myself. I’m moving away from magic realism, that kind of bullshit, which I did love at one point, but now I can’t get into it anymore.

And is that because you’re all grown up now?

I don’t know what that is. I think I just started trying to explore different writing styles and maybe it is because I’m older, I’m more interested in day-to-day activities rather than shit I would never be a part of. Or maybe it’s just that I’m lazy, and it’s really fucking hard to come up with a decent fictional story.

Maybe you’re writing about these somewhat personal narratives to balance the blog work that you do.

Yeah maybe, because it’s completely impersonal. Although I do like my own blog, which I just started up again. I’m starting to write the same kind of stories on that anyway.

What kind of stuff do you write about for the Fabrica and Benetton blogs?

Bullshit. It’s just other people’s work really.

It pays the rent?

Yeah.

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So tell me about this illustrator.

Maddalena Fragnito De Giorgio. She’s a skinny lady, she does really scratchity kind of work.. I don’t know what to say.

Let’s talk a little bit about the process. Was there a definitive moment where you were like, “I'm going to compile these”?  

Yeah, I gave them to Sara [Head of Writing Dept. at Fabrica] because she asked me one day to give her everything I had written in my first five months here at Fabrica. And she meant everything. I was writing a different book and she didn’t like it, of course, but she enjoyed the little short things. She said she wanted me to continue writing them, so I did and now I’ve been spending the past four months just trying to put them in a proper format, to edit it down and make it stronger.

Do you think living in Italy has had any influence on the stories?

Yeah when I was writing them, most of the stories that took place in the present happened here. Italy hasn’t really played too much of a part in my writing. I’m kind of unaffected by it. It’s not Italy, really. It’s just like you’re living in Fabrica. It’s basically another world, where you live with 25 other students that all speak English. You’re basically too scared to venture out into the real world so you all stick together and experience the same sort of thing you would back home in Canada, only there's salty ham and prosecco.

So is it a good thing?

It’s good and bad. It’s rad to meet all these people and to hang out with them and really get to know them... I guess you do get to see the sites if you manage to save up enough money to travel around.

Have you been able to travel very much?

No, not really. I’ve had the opportunity to eat a lot of salty ham and prosecco.

But it’s good, the ham and prosecco.

It’s fucking great. In the summer I’ll be able to travel, but for the other ten months, not so much.

Would you do it all over again if you had the chance?

The Fabrica thing? Yeah, for sure, it’s fucking great. I can’t complain. Can I complain?

Would you like to?

I think I am a bit.

I think you glossed over it a bit.

Ok. Basically, it’s great but I complain about it all the time.

What’s up with Al Gore?

We did the Sustainable Energy issue of Colors, which was basically for Al Gore coming here. They came up with the details of the issue because Bennetton paid Al Gore to lecture in Milan. So we presented the magazine to the press and then he came out and talked about the world and the temperature. They kicked all the Fabrica students out of the hall and sent us outside to watch it on a TV, in typical fashion.

So you didn’t get to shake hands with Mr. Gore.

No, I got about five feet away from him, and then got pushed away. I’m a supporter of Gore. I say go for it Gore, you doing your thing, you’re doing good things for the world.

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As a Canadian living in Italy, how involved are you in American politics?

Quite a bit, surprisingly. As soon as people hear that you’re Canadian, they automatically bring up America in comparison. Then they tell you that you’re much better than Americans. And then the Bush talk comes out. Really, you just have to listen to it. Obviously, I don’t like Bush and I’m not a big fan of his politics, like everyone else in the world. I don’t really care to talk about it too much, but I think people think you do if you’re Canadian. I think they think that you’re either the exact same or complete enemies, and that isn’t the case at all. It’s nowhere near either of those; I’m in the middle. Basically, I hate Americans, and Canadians are a lot better.

Are all Canadians as self-righteous as you?

No.

Just the ones from Edmonton?

Pretty much just me and my friends.

Do you keep in touch with your Canadian hommies?

No, I never talk to them. I don’t know why, I’m just really bad at keeping in touch with people.

Yeah, it’s tricky.

Yeah, why is that?

I think it’s one of those syndromes. Out of sight, out of mind.

Yeah, you’re right. You don’t really need to talk to your good friends anymore. They’re there for you, when you get back.

So is that your plan, come December?

I don’t know what I’m going to do. I think I’m going to look for work here, or in the U.K. If worst comes to worst, I’ll come home, but I really don’t want to, because it’s fucking depressing and I know I’ll have to live with my parents.

Have you shared the stories with your parents?

No, I told them not to read them.

Because there are stories of you molesting dogs?

Yeah, basically. Except, with that story, I’m more worried about my ex-girlfriend reading it than my parents.

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Why is that?

Because that’s her dog.






Websites
www.fabrica.it/person.php?id=matt.prins
www.rubbishymachine.org

Photos

Matt Prins

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