The University of Michigan Years

My time in Ann Arbor began in the smart-but-weird Residential College and ended with a degree in American Cultures with honors.

I clerked at a record store, tutored at The Sweetland Writing Center, released five albums (with a band and a solo project) and interviewed Natalie Merchant along the way.

Verona High School

Editor-in-Chief of the newspaper. Captain of the varsity volleyball team. Spent the rest of my time getting high marks, playing music, going to local punk shows, fending off my guido football captain arch-nemesis and doing my damndest to be some kind of alternative high school girl superhero.

H.B. Whitehorne Middle School

 I'd rather not talk about it.

Laning Avenue School

Reading, writing, 'rithmatic, TV tag. These were good years for being a kid. I majored in bike riding around the neighborhood with friends and minored in writing rhyming poetry about classmates.

My biggest achievement: giving a fifth grade graduation speech about why our school shouldn't be closed down. Outcome: 20 years later, Laning Ave. School's still open. Conclusion: effecting measurable change starting at the age of nine. How's that for a track record?

Birth

In 1983, I was born. This was very lucky for me.