I AM: MITCH MASON

If you have watched a scene, ordered a DVD, or received an e-mail from Treasure Island in the last two years, you have come into direct contact with the hard work and dedication of Mitch Mason.

Julian: Hey Mitch, how’re you doing today?

Mitch: Haha, fine, thanks. You?

J: I’m good. It feels a little weird to be interviewing you, since you’re my boss and I see you everyday.

M: No worries, you’ll be fine.

J: Haha, thanks. So, could you give our readers a little background about yourself?

M: Yup. I’ve been working for Treasure Island for a little over 2 years. I work with my brother Matt, he deals with the business side of things, while I handle the marketing and customer experience stuff. I’m a few months from turning 30 years old, which is funny because there was a point in my life where I really didn’t think I would live to see a 30. I’m pretty excited for that milestone. I was born in Japan, and moved back to the U.S. when I was about a year old, where we lived with Matt’s family. We have the same mom but different dads. I have lived in more places than I can keep track of: San Francisco, Portland, New York, and that’s just in my adult life. I moved to the west coast when I was 18 years old, which is when I was thrown out for being gay. I fell in love with it, it’s where I found myself. I lived with Matt who had already been thrown out for the same reason, and he took me under his wing.

J: You said that you didn’t expect to see 30. Why is that?

M: I was deeply unhappy and unhealthy growing up. I was overweight, I didn’t get along with my mom, and I knew that being gay wasn’t an option with her based on what I had seen with Matt. I knew, even at a young age, that if I didn’t leave that environment and change my health that I wouldn’t be here today.

J: I’m glad everything worked out in the end for you.

M: Yeah, it took hard work and a lot of love and luck, but I’m satisfied with what I’ve done so far.

J: What do you like to do for fun?

M: It’s funny, that answer has changed so dramatically in the last few years. For the first 25 years of my life I was really quiet and shy, I think it probably had a lot to do with the way that I grew up. When I moved west, I started to ride my bike. Everyday I would go on really long rides to just think. I lost a lot of weight that way and it was a good way to work out my issues. For the longest time I used to think that I hated gay men. It was an attitude that just didn’t agree with my attitude, but during those bike rides, I came to realize it wasn’t a hate or dislike, it was an intense sense of intimidation. More time and bicycle rides went by as I realized that there was nothing to be intimidated by. Once I was able to break myself past that point I became a lot more social. I don’t think anyone today would guess that I was ever that way. Now I have more friends than I know what to do with.

I love music and good people. I like to surround myself with good energy and tend to find those things by traveling. For most of my life I had no idea what love truly was. It wasn’t until I met some of the amazing guys who live, for lack of a better phrase, the circuit party life. It was their love and friendship which showed me what love really was. 

I like to keep myself healthy. I go to the gym a lot. I would love to ride my bike more. And, to be honest, I really love my job. I love coming to work, accomplishing things, and being good at what I do.

J: How did you get started working at TIM?

M: Matt got me a job doing contract work. I did data entry for a while. The first time I met Paul, he looked at me and said, “Who the fuck are you?” We spoke for a while after that, and we really clicked. After that, Paul spoke to Matt and told him that I had potential, and thought he should give me more responsibility. So from data entry I took over social media, from that I took over the marketing department, and then from there I took on the customer experience role.

I would say that Paul is one of the things that I miss the most about San Francisco. I can tell Paul anything. He’s very calming to be around. I miss talking to Paul late at night about philosophy, and life, and boys, and whatever recent pop culture Joey shared with him. When I’m stressed out about any number of things and we’re talking online, he calms me, even if he doesn’t know it.

J: What’s your favorite TIM scene?

M: There’s a TIMFuck scene, it’s a threeway with Marcus Isaacs, Morgan Black, and Dominic Sol. I have a small crush on Marcus, and you can really feel the energy. They’re all in it together and they’re all into each other, connected physically and mentally. You can really feel the sexual chemistry coming off the screen.

J: What are your thoughts on enforcing condoms in porn?

M: I don’t think that anyone has the right to step into a sexual experience who isn’t taking part in that experience. I also don’t think that anyone can comment on what we do. The government shouldn’t be able to dictate the ways to enjoy a sexual experience, and that’s what porn is; in it’s own voyeuristic way, viewing porn is a sexual experience. It really makes me question what could happen next.

One of the common arguments for condoms in porn is, you know, what are we teaching people by producing bareback porn, and that’s ridiculous! People, children, whoever shouldn’t be learning from porn. If you want to teach kids about sex, it should be coming from parents. I think we’ve formed a society of people that relies too heavily on others to raise our children. The problem is that it creates a false sense of comfort.

J: What do you find sexy in a man?

M: A good personality goes a really long way with me.

On the physical side of things, I tend to like extremes: tall nerdy white boys with a beard and short beefy Brazilians seem to top my list. I really narrow in on extremes. It’s funny, I will sometimes get a crush on these girls who have a lazy eye, hahah.

But without a question, guys with a good head on their shoulders and the ability to hold a conversation get my attention. If we can’t converse, it probably won’t be a good fit. I get in trouble sometimes for talking too much during sex, but it’s like, if I can’t connect with you I’m going to have a hard time having sex with you.

J: What about turn offs?

M: I hate douchey personalities. Arrogance is a major turn off. Guys who don’t take care of themselves leave me cold. I don’t necessarily mean fat, but you can tell when someone doesn’t take care of themselves. I don’t need physical perfection, just someone who respects himself enough to take care of his body.

J: How are you adjusting to New York?

M: I’ve been here a little over 6 months now. The first few months were definitely challenging . I didn’t realize how different San Francisco and New York are. I’ve had several we’re not in Kansas moments since I’ve been here.

Everything I do here, I do differently than I did in California. People engage differently here. I notice that no one walks up the street smiling here. If you smile, people think you’re up to no good. Once, just to see what would happen, I said hi to a woman on the street, and it was so shocking to her than she scurried away. It’s funny, though, because  in California I met some great people doing that, saying hi to strangers. In San Francisco my boyfriend and I would go to this Starbucks by the TIM office, and there was this one woman who was always there with her cat. We called her cat lady. One day, I decided I really wanted to know her story so I said hi. We ended up having a long in depth conversation about her life philosophy, she coined it mind-over-matter. The basic principle being if you believe something and continue a positive thought pattern about it, it will happen. She really put into words how I live my life. I have a saying “what about getting upset is going to make anything better.” You can either live in the negative or let it roll and live happy.

Jeb and I remind each other of the cat lady now and then, if something is going wrong in our lives we ask each other, What would cat lady do?

J: Besides Paul, what do you miss the most about San Francisco?

M: I miss my friends. A lot. When I was getting ready to leave, it felt a bit like we were all going to college. There was a core group of us, and I was leaving to New York, another of my friends was moving to Germany, and Matt was keeping on in San Francisco. It was really hard to leave them all.

I miss the small town feeling that you get in San Francisco. I absolutely miss driving.

I haven’t found my Black Rock in New York yet; my place to run to if I was having a bad day, my place to escape and just think.

J: Where was your Black Rock in California?

M: It was in Santa Cruz. It was nice. The drive there was pleasant, and I would just sit on the beach to watch the surf and changing tide. It was the first place I moved to when I first came to California. I don’t think I could live there but it’s somewhere I need to be close to to be fully happy.

J: Your blog mentions hot men and good music. What are you listening to at the moment?

M: My friend D.J. Grind mixes a podcast every month, and it’s just really happy vibes. It’s really great for a good workout, a good workday.

J: And how do you know D.J. Grind?

M: He’s dating a good friend of mine from Portland. 

The best way that I can describe it is that his music is as good as he is a person.

J: There’s a rumor that you and Matt aren’t really brothers. What do you think of that?

M: I mean, it’s like I said, same vagina, different daddies. People can believe what they want, but they can’t challenge the love I have for my brother.

J: How do you prefer to meet the guys you hookup with?

M: I find that meeting guys at parties or just out and about, and feeling that chemistry happening is more charged for me than anything else. Yea, I really prefer meeting guys in a social setting. If I’m on Grindr or Scruff or whatever, 90% of the time I’m just chatting. Usually if I meet a guy online it would be chatting, then meeting in real life, then sex if everything and everyone involved in vibing right. I’m not typically on the hunt for sex.

J: You’re the most public face of Treasure Island Media. I would think that that requires a bit of exhibitionism on your part. Would you say that follows in your private life, too?

M: There are a lot of words that could be used to describe me: ridiculous, determined, social, which all circle back to what I do for work. I’m not 100% sure that exhibitionism falls neatly in that list. I will say that I am a natural leader and I am constantly in that mode: professionally and personally. So it really gets me off when somebody else takes charge. But trust, if no one steps up or if they’re doing it wrong, I will take over.