by CHRIS BARRY

Name: Sarah Goldberg

Age: 30

Occupation: Proprietor of L’echan G swap

Bio: Spawned in suburban NYC, this ethereal yet no-nonsense Plateau broad just last month opened L’echan G swap, “a new concept in used clothing,” which can be experienced at 19 Mont-Royal E. A former teen drug addict, Sarah used to hang with Chloe Sevigny and all of those swell kids from the 1995 Larry Clark film entitled, uh, Kids, before eventually embracing spiritual “healing work” to better combat the crippling depression forever messing with her head. A self-described “urban priestess—although I don’t really like the way that sounds”, she’s almost as passionate about trapeze as she is spiritual matters and says a big factor influencing her migration to Montreal was easy and affordable access to the circus schools and trapeze training centres—although she has no immediate plans of turning pro.

What makes L’echan G swap any different from any other fripperie? “Because everything I stock is fabulous! You bring in your own stuff and choose between taking 20 per cent of the resale value right there on the spot or 40 per cent in-store exchange. The store totally promotes a socially conscious lifestyle. I want to create a niche in Montreal that doesn’t presently exist—a community closet, with a level of actual retail therapy, where you can actually make yourself go out and look cute for the night for the same price that you’re going to spend on beer. And it’s really accessible, so you don’t have to go way out to Village [des Valeurs] and spend three hours just to find one thing that probably smells horrible anyway.”

Something Sarah has done that many other people haven’t: Had her ears stretched.

Was that in the effort to look more like Dumbo the Elephant? No.

Can she fly with them nevertheless? Apparently not. “Anyway, now it’s so fuckin’ common. I had it done years ago.”

Her tattoo artist: Pierre from Tattoomania.

Is she pierced? “My nipples used to be, along with my tongue and belly button, but the piercings just got in the way so they all came out. Nipple piercing is so annoying, I’m so over it. It hurts like a bitch and then it takes, like, a year to heal. And then you’re all sensitive and you have sex and it’s, ‘Okay, they’re feeling great,’ and then somebody licks them and they’re all irritated again. It was, like, enhancing nothing and I couldn’t even get my boobies played with anymore.”

Was her special girl spot ever pierced? “No, never anything below the belt.”

Is she of the opinion oral sex is better when performed with a pierced tongue? Not especially. “I used to think so but I didn’t really know my body sexually then. I was too young and just thought it was cool.”

Childhood ambition: To become a ballerina.

Musical preferences: Nina Hagen, Jane’s Addiction, Peggy Lee.

Last book read: Ecotopia, by Ernest Callenbach

Words of wisdom: “Live loud and juicy.”

Comments? dimwit@hdot.net