Melinda Camber Porter interview with Joyce Carol Oates took place in 1987 at her Princeton University Office at the time of the publication of her book On Boxing. They noted it as a highly unusual topic for a female writer. Joyce Carol Oates grew up at an early age attending boxing matches with her father and thus the book. Their conversations ranged from boxing to her writings, writers, and her writing process and styles. This title includes the differences noted in American and European writers. In 1987, Joyce Carol Oates notes the American infatuation with celebrities and names as examples Henry Ford, PT Barnum and Donald Trump!In the Foreward Cathy Suter, writer and artist, notes the metaphor for the creative writing process and writer¿s block described by Joyce Carol Oates, when she compares it to, ¿mowing very wet, chunky grass with a hand mower, pushing through big patches of lawn and having to go over it again and again, until getting it just right.¿Melinda Camber Porter passed away of ovarian cancer in 2008 and left a significant body of work in art, journalism, and literature. The Melinda Camber Porter Archive wishes to share these conversations with the public to ensure the continuation and expansion of the ideas expressed in her creative works.