1. Tell me about yourself.
Well. In relation to school, I've done really good in school with very little passion. This is supposed to be honest, yes? Well, there you go. School came naturally to me, luckily, and I did what I had to do. In other aspects, I'm fiercely creative in every aspect of my life, from art to clothing to my kaleidescope room. I love to cook for people, I'm not sure how that helps, and I compulsively write, I have to write everything down because my memory is terrible. People tell me I have ahhh-mayyyzzzing handwriting, but it's probably all the practice that helped. A psychic once told me I have "long, creative fingers" so I'm taking that as a compliment.
2. Who in your life has most influenced you?
Probably my dad. My dad and I are carbon copies with different genders. Seriously. We can talk to eachother and understand how the other speaks, we are emotional, sensitive, creative people. This has angered my mother to no end. Oh well. He could always find something I loved, whether it was a scooter or a Spin Art set. He introduced me to art, took me to loads of museums, and gave me any of his expensive art supplies if I wished to make a watercolor of our cats. Even now as I take photo classes he gives me tips and tricks and inspiration. He keeps me in line but also understands why I sometimes do erratic things-artists are all basically insane. It sounds like a generalization, but trust me.

As I'm walking through Bryant Park, an airport, or even the local Muddy Cup, many people have their noses stuck into a magazine the way some have their noses stuck in Hemingway. Many people have scoffed at my friends and I reading magazines in school. The thing is, I don't treat a magazine as a bunch of pretty pictures (well, it depends) but mainly I read magazines for content, the part many disregard. Magazines such as Vogue or i-D have relevant cultural, political and health articles that teach me more than I learn in the average day of school. It's important for kids now to be up to date on current events, and you learn so much more from a fashion article than most would imagine. An article about a new Ralph Lauren store opening might be about all the pretty models drinking champagne, but on another level you learn that the hot business zones are Moscow and Tokyo (this is true, open up i-D sometime) and about culture of countries that aren't just your own. Also, magazines embrace my ADD, changing the topic every few pages so I don't lose interest. Not to say I can't tackle a thick novel (East of Eden anyone?) but I love relaxing with a cup of tea and an article before I have to go somewhere. So next time you see a cute girl reading a magazine *gasp* SHE MIGHT ACTUALLY BE READING. And it might just be an article about new ninja moves, so watch what you say.

Summer Reading 2.0

I used to dread getting my summer list and seeing not one book that looked remotely interesting. And not only that, but students had to choose at least three so that was three out of a list of about thirty. And none of them looked good, or I had read them on my own and a) hated it anyway or b) enjoyed it-great, but that's not the assignment....
This summer I wanted to make my own reading list with a few close friends so that we could read what our good friends are reading, many of which we were already dying to read, like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Trainspotting. With a summer Book Swap we can not only get great reading for all the trips that we're all taking, we can all talk about the concepts of the books since we're all familiar with them. Plus, we're reading what we like, so we're more likely to finish the novel with a smile or notes or quotes scribbled allover post-its.
The Book Swap is most effective with three people, although it can be done with more. Three people gather and bring the books requested by their friends as well as books they'll think they like. After they all trade, they go on their merry way. After trips/summer camp/visiting grandma you gather back together for coffee and a book talk and then trade again, taking whichever books you haven't borrowed (if there are any.) Then repeat with the new cycle of books. The more books, the merrier! This can take time and is a casual thing, so don't pick War and Peace unless...well...unless you really want to.

"Girl is born, girl learns to talk and walk, girl mispronounces words and falls down. Over and over again. Girl forgets to eat, fails adolescence, mother washes her hands of Girl, scrubbing with surgical soap and a brush for three minutes, then gloving them up before handing them to experiment at will. When they let her out, Girl rebels."
-Laurie Halse Anderson, Wintergirls

Correction: the Acid Test was written by Tom Wolf. My bad...

INSANITY. DAY-GLO. LSD.

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Peter Wolf
Although seeming like a fiction novel, Wolf documents the adventures of Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters through several years out of the Psychedelic 60's as they travel from L.A. to New York in a painted bus doing a variety of drugs including marijuana, hallucinogenics and methamphetamines, travel California performing Acid Tests where beatniks, hippies and sometimes cops were esentially LSD guinea pigs, and Kesey's exile in Mexico. It's as insane as it seems, written in a sporadic and spontaneous style enjoyable by teens and Baby Boomers wanting to reminisce about their-wait, of course, your parents never did drugs.
photo: the Prankster's 'Acid Test Graduation' via Britannica.com

Le book, c'est chic.