Yes I am a vegetarian, and have been since I was 14. My character, Leigh, in “Christine” does eat a hamburger, but I cant remember if it was a veggie burger or what! I wouldnt have eaten a real burger, but since it was my first film I dont know if I would have insisted on fake meat. And it was 20 years ago – there wasnt such easy access to soy burgers and the like. What I would have done is just eaten the bun and avoided the meat, if it was a real burger. Hmmm… yours is an excellent question, but I really cant remember!

Apologies for not giving you a complete answer, but thank you for writing!

best,

Alexandra

I have never been to Brazil, but I hope to go someday!

As for the books I read, I usually have a non-fiction book that has to do with the environment or politics that I take to the gym and read on the stationary bike, and something lighter that is on my nightstand. At the moment, I am reading Dr Phil’s book “Self Matters” and a biography of Edgar Cayce, the famous psychic and medical intuitive, called “An American Prophet”. For the last few years, when I went away on location, I would take a bunch of books from Oprah’s book list, and I enjoyed most of them alot. On location, I read over a book a week. At home, it takes me much longer!

I like biographies alot! You learn not only about the person, but about the times in which they lived. The biography I read before this one was called Suits Me, about a woman musician, Billy Hayes, who dressed as a man from the 1920s – 1980s. “She” even had 3 wives and 2 sons who claim not to have known their husband/father was actually a woman. Fascinating. I also like reading biographies on actors. I dont like autobiographies – when you write about yourself it is too self conscious, I find. Except my sister’s book, “Fighting Fire”. Now that is one terrific read.

I like to read mysteries if I am traveling, because they are an easy diversion. I was very excited that, when I was registering voters last week – like I do every Thursday night – I registered Michael Crichton! (Boy is he tall – 6’9″) I have read several of his books and enjoyed them.

I would say that in general I like books about people and relationships, which is why a couple of my favorite books of the past year or so have been, “We are the Mulvaneys” and ” The Book of Revelations”. I like to read environmental books that teach me and inspire me to continue to be an environmentalist – the last one I read was by Helen Caldicott, the anti-nuke activist, called “If You Love This Planet”.

I try and read the Los Angeles Times 4 times a week, and I have a subscription to the Progressive, a very left-leaning magazine.

When I was a kid, my sister Caroline and I read alot, as we lived in the country and the nearest store or movie theater was miles away. Reading a good book is like going on vacation!

Thank you for your letter. Happy Reading in 2003!

Alexandra

For Christmas, Ian and I drove up to San Francisco ( a seven hour drive) to see my dad, my brother Jonathan (who drove down from Oregon), my sister Caroline and her partner Trish. We had a great Christmas! We each gave a present to one other person, as we all feel we have enough and the real joy of the holiday is being together. Ian and I made Santa stockings for everyone with little things in them like soap and chocolate and books etc. and Trish and Caroline did the same thing for everyone so that was very fun. Trish cooked a delicious vegan meal and her brother and his girlfriend came by and Bill, an 80 year old retired firefighter, also joined us. It was a perfect
day.

Ian and I do make New Year’s resolutions every year. We put them under the headings of: Family, Love, Work, Money, Health, Sports. They are quite involved. We looked at last year’s resolutions and we did about 50% of our goals. This year I know that I want to read “Taxes for Dummies” to learn more about my taxes, and I am going to run a marathon. Ian has written a training schedule for me, he is setting the course and putting food and water at various points, and I will be running the 26.2 miles in the Santa Monica mountains in March. I decided to run the distance on my own instead of signing up for a marathon where there are thousands of runners because I have been battling an ankle injury, and this way I can slow down on my training if I have to and reset the marathon date. And I prefer to run on the peace and quiet of trails rather than being surrounded by so many people! !

I hope you have a wonderful new year !

Alexandra