All of a sudden, I feel like many of my friends are famous. I started thinking about it when Chris had me listen to this podcast he’d heard while making dinner (you can read the text of the story, if you prefer). That’s Jenn, who I’ve known since third grade when her Mom was our Brownie troop leader. Now Jenn works for the FBI, doing super-cool forensics biochemistry. Of course, that means she has to work in D.C., so, while I’m envious of her work as a scientist . . .
Then there’s Melynda, with whom I went to grad school. We were very sorry when our outdoorsy (and adorable, Chris would remind me, if I’d given him the chance) friend moved to the drier snows and cloudless skies of Montana. Since then she’s managed to combine her outdoor experience with her desire to write. She wrote a book for which her research consisted of cross-country skiing in Montana, and she’s penned and sold a number of articles as well. She’s working on her next cross-country ski guide, I think — or at least she’s doing more “research.” Yeah, I’m just plain jealous — and impressed by her drive.
Then I was listening to a re-broadcast edition of This American Life via podcast and came across my college roommate, Robin, talking about a girls’ quiz show for which she used to write (Robin’s in Round III). Thank goodness for podcasts, or I’d know nothing about what my friends are up to. Robin has also written and published a novel, Shaking Her Assets, a number of magazine articles, and quite a few episodes of various sitcoms.
No discussion of famous friends would be complete without a nod to Sandra, who exercised her rich tenor (sometimes alto) in an a capella group in college, belting out Annie Lennox songs. I recommend the “Do you have a lover?” video.
And Chandra, who, along with her husband, Eric, invited us to their annual Oscar bash last night, made it into the New York Times last fall through her job for Oregon Wild, an organization that advocates for Wilderness and forests, among other honorable activities. You can find Chandra measuring a tree in the New York Times slideshow. She also recently wrote a column for the Eugene Weekly.
Emma, who was in Chris’s eating club at college, might be the most famous of all, spreading sex advice and information far and wide. Please watch em&lo’s reel of TV clips, if only so you can appreciate how charming it is listening to Emma’s British accent on Anal Airlines (NOT for the office and NOT for my Dad).
Go, girls.
I bet that there might be a few that have the same feelings toward Jul……..