Miser is a “human cannonball” for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, which is currently performing at George Mason University’s Patriot Center.
Is your husband also involved in the circus?
My husband is actually a former performer, and he designed and built the cannon for this tour.
How did you decide to become a human cannonball?
When we were growing up in Peru, Indiana, we participated in an amateur circus they have there for local children. Just like basketball and football, in our town we had circus skills. My husband, they discovered, was pretty talented as an acrobat, so he ran away and joined the circus when he was really young, like 17 years old … [and] he decided he wanted to be a human cannonball. His pickup line [to me] was “I’m building a cannon. Do you want to come to my house and shoot me out of it?”
I was the person who was actually firing him from the cannon, and I said, “Well, if he could do it, I could do it.”
Was this something you always wanted to do?
Well I always wanted to run away and join the circus. … But of course my parents were like “absolutely not.” They told me I had to go to college and get a degree. So I went to college at Ball State University and got a bachelor’s degree — then I ran away and joined the circus.
How does the cannon work?
I can’t tell you. It’s a big secret.
What is your favorite thing about it?
It’s such an adrenaline rush. … When I’m perched on top of the cannon and about to slide in and the audience is screaming … it’s just like no other feeling in the world can top that. And the flight itself is under two seconds, but I’m flying free and it’s probably the closest I’ll ever get to flying like a bird.
– Alana Goodman
