The Big Q&A With The Big Picture's Amelia Christnot

Writer Amelia Mavis Christnot answers questions so you can get to know our team.

Amelia Mavis Christnot. Christnot family archives.

We have a wonderful team of dedicated authors and editors at The Big Picture. With other publications, you usually don’t get to hear much about the actual people who are behind the product.

So I thought, it’s time you got to know their fascinating backstories and why I have so much faith and trust in their work.

Today, I interview The Big Picture writer Amelia Mavis Christnot, who provides a much needed voice, particularly for Indigenous rights and history, for women and women’s rights, and for the neurodivergent community. 

So please take a moment and get to know Amelia and all that she has to offer.

— George Takei

How did you become part of The Big Picture, and what do you do on the team?

I started following Jay Kuo on Facebook in connection with your (Uncle George's) legacy project, the musical Allegiance. Soon we began interacting online. 

When Team Takei wanted to write about the water protectors at Standing Rock opposing the Dakota Access Pipeline—diverted from White owned property to run through Indigenous water sources—Jay asked if I was available. 

I thought it was a favor for a friend, but then they paid me for my work. This should be standard, but is incredibly uncommon for Indigenous peoples asked to share their perspective. 

This was the first time I was ever paid for mine after a lifetime of providing OpEds, curriculum, lectures, ceremony demonstrations and actual ceremonies, etc…

That Standing Rock article led to a job offer as a contract writer, followed by a spot on Team Takei.

I worked as a writer, the primary copy editor for three of the content platforms and trainer for all platforms/systems for Team Takei. I also worked on process changes and improvements. 

If there were new software, software or strategy changes or new content streams, I was usually in the thick of it figuring out the most efficient methods and reading, testing and documenting the new system. I love that stuff and count myself very lucky to be not only allowed but encouraged to do it.

I am currently freelancing as a writer and editor.

How would you describe your early background and "home" for you?

For the first seven years I lived and traveled all over the United States and parts of Canada. My Father was in the Navy, so we moved based on his assignments. I have a Sister two years older and one 5 years younger.

My Mother is Indigenous Canadian and still has family on that side of the border. Whenever my Father wasn't on a ship at sea, we got in a camper and drove across the USA visiting relatives in South Dakota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, Maine and New Brunswick, Canada.

My Father was ill-suited for parenthood and had little to do with our lives. He was a brilliant man, but a narcissist incapable of putting anyone else's needs before his own.

My Mother was mentally ill, with undiagnosed, untreated bipolar disorder for most of her life. She felt forced to marry and have children because of her family's Catholic faith. 

Newborn Amelia and Father Edward Franklin Christnot and Mother Claudette Castonguay Cowett Christnot. Christnot family archives.

My parents were wildly incompatible and divorced when my Father retired from the Navy. We moved to my Mother's hometown in northern Maine from Arkansas while our Father stayed there, remarried several times and deleted himself from our lives.

My family said I was born a 40-year-old. My Mother used to say once I was weaned and potty trained, I never needed her again. Which was helpful as she had little interest in serving a stereotypical mother's role.

My relationship with her was more like siblings, while my relationship with my Father and Sisters was maternal.

I picked up the mom stuff, Mum picked up the dad stuff and my Father just did his own thing with his succession of wives.

Home is northern Maine, but I feel fairly comfortable pretty much anywhere I travel. Some favorite destinations are Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Germany and Japan.

Was your Team Takei role always your profession? What is your professional background?

Goodness, no. I've worked in retail management (never again) and worked for 13 years in finance for the Defense Department in addition to a few other odd jobs.

Amelia in her DoD cubicle. Christnot family archives.

I actually enjoy retail and excel at it, I just don't like the management side. 

Working retail and a customer service phone line were things I forced myself to do to train myself to interact with people. It doesn't come naturally for introverted autistics, but it's a skill I wanted to develop.

I had my first job at age 9 and have worked consistently since.

I got recruited at 16 by an Ivy League school for pre-medicine which thrilled my parents, but made me miserable. I knew I didn't want to be a doctor, but I spent my childhood and adolescence with people telling me what I should be because of my aptitude. 

You know those viral stories about kids graduating from college before they're old enough to drive? So few of those kids continue to excel because they've almost no input in their futures. Eventually they burn out or crack under the pressure.

All I wanted was a nice, quiet life. My childhood home life was a bit chaotic, so I avoided that energy outside my home.

In college I encountered the nastiest, most in your face barrage of misogyny and racism. I opted for the nervous breakdown at 17 over getting the Ivy League degree.

What are your hobbies and what are you passionate about?

I enjoy science fiction, animé, documentaries and true crime as entertainment. My Mother introduced us to horror, disaster and Japanese Kaiju movies as kids. Zombies are a personal favorite.

I'm working on learning my parents' ancestral languages—Lakȟótiyapi and Kanien'kehá, but doubt I'll ever be fluent. I struggle learning languages.

I do have my own Substack, Auntie Mavis' Musings, where I'm more candid with my opinions. 

I also write some fiction, but haven't had a chance to for awhile. I need to get back to that.

What is something you want people to know about you?

Autism doesn't need a cure. It needs empathy and understanding. 

I think if we approached ASD from that perspective we could better help individuals who are nonverbal or who have coexisting disabilities.

And as a separate issue, mental illness is not an excuse for racism or mass shootings. 

There are millions of us with actual mental health diagnoses and we've never gone on a bigoted rant or shot up a school, church or movie theater.

Stop blaming poor life choices on mental illness.

Which specific social causes do you want to advocate for, and why?

MMIWG2S—Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirits. For Indigenous peoples in the USA and Canada, it's not a question of if we know an MMIWG2S, it's who they are and how many we know.

For me her name is Virginia Pictou Noyes. 

Virginia Sue Pictou Noyes. The Search For Virginia Sue Pictou Noyes/Facebook.

Gin and I met when I was 14 and we were both Sophomores in high school. She was smart and funny and already a mom to two children.

We were in a federal program called Upward Bound together. Virginia disappeared on April 27, 1993. She left behind 5 children, including an infant.

At the time, her disappearance barely garnered any attention outside of her family and friends.

Violence against Indigenous peoples is a crisis.

In the United States and Canada, Indigenous people are most likely to die during encounters with law enforcement out of all racial and ethnic groups, with many occurring during wellness checks. 

The lack of education about us as existing cultures, our use as caricatures and mascots contributes to these statistics.

If you went to space and could bring only 1 of each of these, what would they be?

I'm autistic, so I struggle with absolutes, so I'll go with the first thing that pops into my head. But if I answer again every day for a week, some of these answers—album, movie, TV series, book—will change every day.

1. album - Buffy Sainte-Marie, 1968's I'm Gonna Be A Country Girl Again. My Mother owned it on 8-track and it was the soundtrack of our childhood. I know every song by heart.

2. movie - I still find the first Star Wars film produced, now referred to as episode 4, great fun to watch.

3. TV series - Star Trek, of course! My paternal Grandmother, Father, Sisters, nibling and Christnot cousins are all Trekkies. I wasn't quite old enough to watch it in its initial airing, but my Father and Grandmother did. I saw it as a young child during its first run in syndication. The original series and Deep Space Nine are my favorites.

4. book - I read from a lot of independent publishers and authors, but I'll go with a childhood favorite that I wish more children got to read. How Fletcher Was Hatched by Harry and Wende Devlin. It just makes me happy to see it.

5. food/meal - There's an Indigenous North American recipe that I think is the perfect meal. A sugar pumpkin stuffed with a chopped bison meat, wild rice, cranberry, wild mushroom and wild onion mixture, then baked. You can eat everything but the pumpkin rind and it's delicious and full of nutrients. It of course has to be accompanied by my family's Lakȟóta fry bread (yeast kind) with maple stewed berries. Not healthy, but so, so good.

6. beverage - Everyone will live longer, happier lives if I have coffee daily. Unlike most neurotypical people, caffeine relaxes and calms me. I sleep better with caffeine before bed.

7. companion - either of my two Sisters—Helena or Jacqueline—or Miwákáŋyéja Winn. English doesn't have a non-gender specific word for my Sister's child, so the accurate descriptor for them is Miwákáŋyéja. Really, whoever is down for sci-fi, fantasy and sarcasm, we'll always have fun together.

Amelia with Sisters Helena, Jacqueline, Wákáŋyéja Winn and family friend Rachel Deane Binder. Christnot family archives.

8. animal - Have you seen Alien? I of course need to bring a marmalade tabby with me. I almost always own an orange cat. I am currently, for one of the few times in my life, without a cat, but becoming a cat mom again is at the top of my to-do list.

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   In addition to writing for The Big Picture, Amelia writes Auntie Mavis’ Musings