STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

lynnie · Chanel

RE: New St'er of the week...MADDIE!

Maddie · Coach

lynnie wrote:

i'm sort of confused by where you're from- especially the portland thing is throwing me off and the visiting people in mass. were you ever from the west coast? whereabouts? you go to school in maine though, right? does your family live on the east coast now?

So...my parents went to graduate school in Boston. I was born in my dad's third year of law school, but we moved to Seattle when I was three months old, where I lived through high school and my parents still live. When my parents lived in Boston there was a group of four couples they used to have New Years with every year. Twenty years later were still doing it, except the host family lives in western Massachusetts now. So we live in Seattle, but my family flys back east for New Years. I'm sure that seems ridiculous, but we're really close to these people - they're like my second families. I now go to school in Lewiston, Maine. The Portland I was referring too is Portland, Maine (not Oregon, sorry), which is like forty minutes away from my school. I hope that makes sense.

halleybird · Hermes

Maddie, I know you're my ex-yearbookie, so I have some exclusive yearbook-related questions for you.

If your life was a yearbook, what would the theme be? What would the cover look like?

Favorite headline font? Favorite body copy font?

Settle the age-old debate (at my school anyway): circle-shaped photos - cheesy or cute?

Maddie · Coach

halleybird...

If your life was a yearbook, what would the theme be? What would the cover look like?
I'm totally unoriginal and can't come up with my own theme so I'm stealing song lyrics. My theme would be "set you free" from The Black Keys song Set You Free. (Don't ask where I get these ideas from, I'm just a complete genius.) My cover would be pretty much what I wanted to do senior year but was shot down...

So because it's a yearbook about me, those are my (highly contrasted) eyes. That space would actually be a cut out and a picture of my face would be printed on the second page of the endsheets so that my eyes would show through. I thought this was a sweet idea, but what we did ended up being cool too.

Favorite headline font? Favorite body copy font?
My favorite headline font would be Virginie. We used it in our book and it looked hot. Handwriting and artsy, but because of our layout it wasn't overly girl and cutesy.

I am wracking my brain, but I can't remember our copy font. It's my favorite though. I'll find out and post it.

Settle the age-old debate (at my school anyway): circle-shaped photos - cheesy or cute?
My definitive answer is...it depends. We used them in our book and they looked great, but it was very well executed. However, I've seen them look horrible. I'm of the mindset that a yearbook isn't a magazine and shouldn't be treated as such, so therefore sometimes stuff like circle pictures is ok. But only sometimes. If I can figure out how to master my scanner I'll show you how we did it.

-- Edited by Maddie at 10:47, 2005-12-13

mikacat · Coach

Maddie-You are so interesting and mature and fun to read about.

Plus-I love the name Maddie---it was my first baby dolls name. She was a rub a dub dolly.

What was your first doll and what was her name?

First kiss.

First concert.

Have you been in love?

Do you have a secret crush?

Maddie · Coach

Thanks, mikacat! I'm supposed to be packing, but I'm totally procrastinating.

mikacat...
What was your first doll and what was her name?
I have no idea. I used to collect china dolls though. My two favorites were the nun (I have no idea why I wanted the nun doll, I've only even been to church like twice) and the Victorian one. The nun would always be the teacher and she would take the Victorian doll into her office (under my desk) and administer corporal punishment. How f***ed up is that? I promise I wasn't abused as a child. The nun was Sister Katherine Margaret (my name and my sister's name). I forget the other one. Probably Victoria.

First kiss.
In 6th grade this boy whose name I forget kissed me when we were dancing at his Halloween dance party. His parents had rented out a room at the community center.

First concert.
The first concert I went to was Deck the Hall Ball put on by a local radio station in like 7th grade. Apparently the people who played were...Cake, Hole, Cherry Poppin' Daddies, Elliot Smith, Mark Lanegan, Soul Coughing and Garbage. I only remember Hole and I flipped out earlier this year when I realized I'd seen Elliot Smith.

Have you been in love?
Who knows. I think/thought so. I met this guy on my trip to India in May, and then we dated for a couple months this fall when I got back to Maine. He's smart and mature and funny and noble and even more than that we're just so well suited for each other. Both of us are totally weird and I've never met anyone like him. But then he moved to Sri Lanka on a Fulbright Fellowship. So anyway I thought I loved him ever since like a week into our trip to India. Which strikes me as slightly crazy, so I basically think I have no idea what love is. And I wasn't able to have a long enough relationship with him to really figure it out. Other than him, nothing's even come close.

Do you have a secret crush?
I'm totally hung up on the previously mentioned guy (maybe I should stop talking to him all the time). I'm trying to branch out, but right now the only two guys I'm interested in have girlfriends. I'm pretty sure I'm only interested because they're inaccessible.

-- Edited by Maddie at 10:46, 2005-12-13

asf · Kate Spade

i'll join the crowd of admirers - you are one cool chick!

i think your magazine sounds fantastic - i'd definitely read. let us know when you start publishing

let's see if i can come up with some questions...

oh - i know - first - where in western mass will you be spendingf new years? (i'm originally from western mass - south hadley)

what's one thing in life you're looking forward to - a milestone that you haven't reached yet?

what's one thing you'd like to change about the us? the world?

Maddie · Coach

You guys are so sweet! Thanks, this is totally making my week.

asf...

oh - i know - first - where in western mass will you be spendingf new years? (i'm originally from western mass - south hadley)
I'll be in Worthington. It's tiny. It's like 45 min from Northampton and my friend who lives there went to Gateway High School if that tells you anything.

what's one thing in life you're looking forward to - a milestone that you haven't reached yet?
So many. I'm really excited to graduate college and live on my own, although kind of not because my friends who graduated last year seem to be having a shit time of it. I'm excited to get married. I've really been wanting to get married recently, I don't know why. I'm excited to study abroad. I think I'm mostly excited to graduate college, actually kind of be on my own for the first time, and see what I make of it.

what's one thing you'd like to change about the us? the world?
In the US I want to get rid of "don't ask, don't tell." I always forget that exists and then it blows my mind that we are still blatantly discriminating against people based on their sexuality. I would also allow gay marriage. These are just no-brainers to me. I think that religion should be taught as an academic subject in school. It's so so so important. I'm not religious at all, but it's undeniably a driving force for a lot of people's actions and is crucial in terms of understand how a lot of the world works. Other than that, I have no solutions to any problems although I think we have a lot more to fix.
On a global scale I also have no idea how to fix anything. There are defintely a lot of things that are wrong, but I have no idea how to make them right.

small fry · Chanel

okay maddie here are a few from me

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Would you change something @ yourself, if so what and why?

What is your most embarrssing moment?

Is there something that really just burns you butt?it can be anything

oh and will post on stylethread for us?? please

-- Edited by kaykay at 11:19, 2005-12-13

mckenke · BCBG

Hi Maddie,

I just saw that you want to study Islam. I got my masters in Arab Studies now I work in international human rights, but since there aren't too many of us out there I thought I would let you know you aren't alone. My friends from graduate school are doing a host of different things from oil to human rights to their phDs, so if you have any questions feel free to pm me.

Maddie · Coach

kaykay...

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Hmm. I think I would either like to in graduate school in London (or possibly New York) or maybe living outside the US working for an NGO or something.

Would you change something @ yourself, if so what and why?

I wish I had more self discipline. I'm horrible. I procrastinate far longer than you would think it was possible. I never work out. I don't do anything I plan to during the day. I'm flying home with a huge bag of laundry because I couldn't get my act together to do it at school. And I never read for class.

What is your most embarrssing moment?
My life is an embarrassing moment. I had a couple bad ones this year though. They're long, you don't have to read them - I'm just bored in the airport.
One was a couple of days ago. So my friend has been trying to eat healthy and he's been having salads for dinner and stuff. This has prompted me to make fun of him for being anorexic (sorry). So I'm getting milk from the machine thing and he comes up behind me. I see that he has two chicken patties and some pizza on his plate, not what he'd been eating lately. So I go, "What? Not ano anymore?" I look up and it's not my friend at all, it's some guy I don't know. He's like, "What?" and I was just mortified so I go, "Uhhhh I thought you were my friend," and ran off. It's awkward enough when you wave to the wrong person or something, but I accused the wrong person of having an eating disorder. What is wrong with me?
The other one was earlier this year. There was some mass email to our whole school about starting up a TV network. This sounded pretty sweet, so my friend and I spent the day developing a TV show about celebrity gossip. Our business plan was really quite extensive. Then when it comes time to go to the meeting, my friend forgot and got high. I was pissed, but made him go anyway. We get to the room we think it's in and there's a sign on the door that says BCTV G65. So we go in. I know/know of most of the kids and it seems like kind of a serious political crowd for a TV channel, or at least the kind of TV channel we're thinking about. We decide they probably want to start some sort of mini-CNN, which is just stupid because they would never be as good as CNN. So the girl who's in charge starts talking. It pretty quickly became apparent that we are in the wrong place. This is the meeting for students who want to start a policy review journal to distribute throughout Bates, Maine, and government everywhere. Which pisses me off cause this is totally the crowd who saw Crash and now think they know how to fix any problems with race in America. But anyway, the situation is slightly hilarious because we intended to go to the most superficial meeting ever and ended up with these serious douchebags. So my friend (who is still high) starts laughing quietly, which prompts me to laugh too. We end up laughing through the whole twenty minutes or so that she talks. At then end, after making this far, instead of just signing his name on the email list and leaving, my friend stands up and says, "Sorry, we were in the wrong meeting!" I'm mortified and jump up and yell, "Sorry!" and run out. Some guy shouts after us, "You could've left earlier!" And now the kids I knew in that room that I said hi to, but never really hung out with don't say hi to me anymore. So embarrassing and so funny.

Is there something that really just burns you butt?it can be anything
I don't like college students who think they know everything cause they took one class in something. I don't like dumb people. I don't like people who marry for money. I don't like people who complain about their situation but do nothing to fix it. I don't like delusional girls who think He's Just Not That Into You doesn't apply to their situation because their situation is different. Right.

oh and will post on stylethread for us?? please
I might when I'm home. I don't have a digital camera at school so I can't, but I might steal my sister's over the next couple weeks.

mckenke, that's so cool! What's the job market like for an MA in Arab Studies? Are your friends from your graduate program happy in their jobs? Are you? Do you have a specific area of interest?

tri_sarah_tops · Marc Jacobs

I don't have any questions for you right now but I also wanted to comment on how cool and interesting you are. You are just the kind of person I always hope to meet!

mckenke · BCBG

I would say that the job market for an MA in Arab Studies really depends on what you want to do. I graduated shortly before Sept 11th and I could have easily gotten a job translating for the government, but that really isn't my thing. I have some friends that do it. I have two friends in the oil industry and knowing Arabic always pays off. I have a few friends in NGOs, it is hard to get your foot in the door, but a region of expertise always helps. I wouldn't call a degree in Arab studies an automatic ticket anywhere, but I do think learning Arabic gets you pretty far. I personally don't work on the Middle East anymore, my area of focus is HIV/AIDS, but my masters got me here. So, I would say it opens the door for a lot of possibilities. Let me know if you have any questions.

small fry · Chanel

maddie i just wanted to say it seems like you a bold and out spoken person and will tell you like it is, speaK YOUR MIND , is that right?

which I think is great

-- Edited by kaykay at 16:38, 2005-12-13

Maddie · Coach

tri sarah tops, thanks, that's such a nice thing to say!

mckenke, thanks, that's interesting. I'm sure I'll PM you at some point demanding career advice.

Maddie · Coach

kaykay, haha that's probably a pretty fair assessment. I'm not a really extroverted person around people I don't know, but I'm not really shy either. I do say ridiculously inappropriate things all the time though and have no problem arguing with people who try to boss me around or say dumb things.
And I just edited this post cause I gave an example of me being inappropriate that was just completely inappropriate and unnecessary.

-- Edited by Maddie at 16:39, 2005-12-13

small fry · Chanel

you crack me up

Lilykind · Hermes

Awesome!

I just wanted to know if Addy was your first choice American Girls doll and why? If she wasn't then which other girl would you have picked?

Maddie · Coach

lilykind...Addy was totally my first choice for a variety of reasons. I'm sure I thought I was being edgy by choosing the black ex-slave instead of the prissy white ones. Also, although none of the American Girl dolls were very prissy, Addy appeared the least so because she didn't have all the fussy clothes and stuff. And I was certainly not a prissy child. Plus she was new that year. Confession...I sometimes still read the American Girl Chirstmas books at Christmastime; Molly's is particularly good.

lynnie · Chanel

Maddie wrote:

lilykind...Addy was totally my first choice for a variety of reasons. I'm sure I thought I was being edgy by choosing the black ex-slave instead of the prissy white ones. Also, although none of the American Girl dolls were very prissy, Addy appeared the least so because she didn't have all the fussy clothes and stuff. And I was certainly not a prissy child. Plus she was new that year. Confession...I sometimes still read the American Girl Chirstmas books at Christmastime; Molly's is particularly good.

oh i love molly's christmas book. i loved samantha's christmas when i was a kid too! i dont particularly remember kirstens, and i was getting too old by the time josephina, addy, and even felicity came out. maybe i'll find mine and read them too.