OK:
1. What is your real first and middle name (if any)? Jason Dylan (after Dylan Thomas, not Bob). Grote isn't my real last name, incidentally.
2. Where were you born, geographically? Lakewood, NJ
3. Where do you reside now (geographically)? Brooklyn, NY
4. What is your current vocation/ job/ area of study? As I write this, I'm an Assistant Instructor in the Rutgers University English Department and I'm scheduled to be a visiting professor of playwriting at Hollins University. And I make about 1/4-1/5 of my income through playwriting. But I'm waiting to hear on my dream job.
5. Desert Island: ONE record I'd rather jettison food and carry a big CD wallet. But probably a mix CD I got from Douglas Wolk in 2007, just for variety and obscurity. If I can't get away with either of those, then I guess the White Album.
6. What is the most impressive thing in nature that you have ever seen in person? Jumbo Rocks in Joshua Tree National Park, California, particularly the top of this one mountain where you can see the entire horizon, 360 degrees, including Death Valley many miles away.
7. What is the most impressive thing in the human-made world that you have ever seen in person? Probably Old Town in Prague, which is maze-like and crazy. Made me understand Kafka.
8. Death Row Pizza: what style/toppings? Probably the chicken, garlic, and tomato pizza from Geno's in Flushing, Queens, right across the street from Queens College. It's the only thing I miss about teaching there. Either that, or I'd get a giant slice from Benny Tudino's and slap it in my jailer's face, blinding him with hot cheese, and escape. And if my plan failed, the pizza is still pretty good.
9. Tom calls you up and tells you that he will be at a cardboard symposium in your town and has a free day off. What will you guys do? A movie of Tom's choosing, and at the end we'll go to a little coffee and dessert place and have some cappuccino and pastries and yap about the movie until it gets late.