Interview with Daniella Mae Lee, Goth Aficionado

Interview with Daniella Mae Lee, Goth Aficionado
Interviewed by Paul Dale Roberts, HPI General Manager www.hpiparanormal.net
President – www.jazmaonline.com

Question: How long have you lived in Sacramento?

Answer: I was born in Sacramento and unfortunately, as much as I have wanted to get out and travel I have been unable to due to school. Once I have completed school I hope to travel more, but I have lived in Sacramento for 21 years.

Question: Before we get into the guts of this interview, can you tell me something personal about yourself, your hobbies, recreational activities, etc.

Answer: I love to read. My favorite book is ‘The Unbearable Lightness of Being’ by Milan Kundera. I also love Virginia Woolf and Elizabeth Wurtzel. I am also an avid watcher of movies. I love playing videogames. My favorite videogames are Final Fantasy, Fable, Fallout and Puzzle Quest. I like Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines. I love tabletop RPG’s. Other than that, school and my two children pretty much preoccupy my life.

Question: What attracted you to the Goth culture?

Answer: Honestly, I didn’t even know that the gothic culture existed. I was a very sheltered child. My parents were very much into religion. I wore black a lot because I was a very depressed child and teenager. I wasn’t allowed to have friends. I wasn’t allowed to have an opinion or express myself. I wasn’t allowed to speak. I had no friends because I wasn’t allowed to hang out with anybody or talk on the phone even. We didn’t even have a computer until I was in 10th grade. Everybody thought that I was avoiding them, but really I was just not allowed to be near people to really form meaningful relationships.

I absolutely loved Depeche Mode. That led me into finding other similar music such as Industrial, Darkwave and EBM. I learned about the gothic culture as I got older and I was attracted to the open mindedness of the people. There was finally a group of people I could relate to; people who understood me and didn’t judge me or think that I was strange simply because of the way I was raised.

Question: Do you think Sacramento has an adequate Goth culture? Do you think Sacramento will catch up with the Bay Area when it comes to Goth?

Answer: Ha. I think that Sacramento has a very adequate Goth culture. I don’t know if we will ever catch up with the Bay Area, but that doesn’t really matter. There are tons of events to go out to in Sacramento. I am more impressed all the time by all the new events and clubs opening. Club X opened not too long ago. I was very surprised. I am glad there is such a demand for these new events and clubs in Sacramento. It’s a great opportunity to meet new, interesting people.

Question: What is the purpose of wearing black?

Answer: Everybody has their own individual reasons for wearing black. Personally, I wear black because it suits me. I feel that I am more myself when I am wearing black. It’s also easier to match outfits if they’re mostly black. Initially I wore a lot of black because I was depressed. It was the only way that I could express myself and my feelings towards the world. Okay, it might’ve also started partially because my parents resented it.

Question: Do you feel there is a connection to the Goth culture and the vampire community?

Answer: I definitely believe that there is a correlation between Goth culture and the vampire community. There is an attraction to the concept of immortality and philosophical ideologies such as the concept of ‘eternal return’. It’s just part of the Goth culture. A lot of people in society are afraid of death and dying. To the contrary, a lot of people I know embrace the concept of dying as being the natural course (and consequence) of life.

Question: Being a mother and going to school really occupies your time. What are your future goals after school?

Answer: I have two babies. The oldest is turning two years old in a week and the youngest is 8 months old. I graduated from high school when I was 16. I started going to community college. I am almost done with my General Education and my A.A. in Psychology. Recently, I started going to school in pursuit of a law degree. Inevitably, my goal is to become a lawyer. My focus is in Contractual Law. I am very interested in law, but I want to deal with the least amount of people possible. Contractual Law seems to suit me well in that regard.

Question: What type of movies, TV shows do you like? Because of your association with the Goth culture, do you find yourself gravitating to horror movies or TV shows?

Answer: I am not actually into horror movies or TV shows for the most part. I am more into intellectually stimulating, sci-fi/ fantasy and foreign films and TV shows. Some of my favorite movies are American Beauty, Amelie, Snatch, Jackie Brown, and well, really anything directed by Quentin Tarentino, Hayao Miyazaki and Guillermo del Toro. As far as TV shows, I like Robot Chicken and South Park.

Question: During our break, you mentioned you have vivid dreams and are somewhat intuitive, can you elaborate on that? I am curious, since I am also a paranormal investigator.

Answer: I usually get a very good idea about a person by meeting them once. I spent most of my life observing people and so it seems as I have gotten older I have developed intuition about people and situations. Sometimes I dream about what will happen in the future. I have the uncanny ability to catch people in lies based purely upon my intuition. I also have the uncanny ability of knowing when something bad has happened to somebody close to me.

Question: I learned a lot from this interview, thank you. Now to the fun stuff before closing. If you had 6 dinner guests historical or fictional, who would they be and why?

Answer: My list would include Elizabeth Bathory, Rasputin, Virginia Woolf, Jesus, Siddhartha and Lilith. Elizabeth Bathory, Rasputin and Virginia Woolf would be invited because they have an interesting story to tell. Jesus and Siddhartha for my own personal pursuit of truth and Lilith because you have to admire a woman who refuses to lie underneath a man back in the biblical days.

Question: How can someone contact you? Do you have a MySpace or Facebook page?

Answer: Yes. I do. http://www.myspace.com/492261980


Question: If you were stranded on a deserted island, what would you bring with you and why?

Answer: For survival purposes, fire and a means to purify water. For my own personal amusement, a coin operated boy. Oh, and lots of coins, Mountain Dew and cigarettes.

Question: This ends the interview, any words of wisdom for your readers?

Answer: Well, the best advice anybody has ever given to me is to never apologize for your feelings. It seems so simple, but it was so second-nature to me. I also would say broaden your horizons. Read a book. Travel. Learn as much as you can.

Question: You know, you were almost done, but you said something to me that caught my interest. You mentioned that you were depressed and it had to do with something about your father being in a cult. Can you elaborate on that and what is the name of this cult? Why would this cult make you depressed?

Answer: I grew up going to The Philadelphia Church of God. I was depressed in general because I had limited social interaction with anybody my age. I wasn’t allowed to have an opinion or go anywhere. I was locked away. The only time I ever was out of the house by myself was at school (which I was dropped off and picked up every single day). My parents sheltered me. A common cult practice is to instill a sense of paranoia in their followers. My dad mostly belonged to the church. The rest of my family was kicked out each for various reasons. They basically believe that the world is going to end. The amusing part about this is that they have believed the world was going to end since 1975. They refer to the leader of the church, Herbert W. Armstrong as the ‘End time Elijah’. They celebrate the day that he died. They have many publications out about world ending and they pretty much tell you how to live your life. You can’t just show up at the church and attend. You have to be interviewed. They need to make sure that you can be brainwashed enough to attend. They do not accept modern medicine. I was in a car accident when I was 14. My rib cage broke and it severed my kidney. I never went to the hospital because I felt fine. A month later I was very sick. It turns out that I was slowly bleeding internally since the accident and I was in need of medical attention. I had to go to the hospital. They ran lab tests and told me that I needed to get a shot of some sort and that it was absolutely imperative. My dad refused. He did not want me to get the shot that I needed to thrive. After an anointment cloth and a huge argument my mother stepped up and told them to give me the shot. There are a lot of people who die over these teachings and the resistance over modern medicine. It’s very sad. Some of them are very young. I could go on and on about the Philadelphia Church of God. It’s a very interesting cult. They brainwash a lot of people. They’re worldwide.

Paul: Wow! Did I ever open up a can of worms. Okay, Daniella, I believe we can close down this interview. Thank you so much! Keep in touch.