Introducing the very witty girl behind the blog at the Laurel Gazette.
She's an amazingly talented writer working in politics in D.C.,
living life one day at a time.
HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE NAME OF YOUR BLOG?
This takes us back to middle school. I went to an all girls’ school, and I was always bored and never paying attention (this was before they were diagnosing everyone with ADHD - that came later) so to keep myself occupied I wrote letters to my classmates detailing the drama between our girlfriends and the guys from our brother school. My girlfriends loved my letters and encouraged me to write a “newsletter” for the group (remember, this is seventh grade) so instead of letters I started my own handwritten version of Us Weekly. Laurel was the name of the school, and one of the girls started calling it the “gazette”, and so the Laurel Gazette was born. And then right around the time I was thinking about starting this blog, a friend found an original copy of the Laurel Gazette and emailed it to me, so it seemed serendipitous: my blog would be called the Laurel Gazette.
BEST PART ABOUT LIVING IN DC?
In the interest of saying something different from what everyone has heard about DC – it’s young, it’s international, it’s exciting, all of which are true – I’m going to try to put a different spin on it. Best part about living in DC: you can be drunker than you’ve ever been in your life and there will still be at least twenty people at the bar drunker than you. And your friends will always come visit because it’s a “big city” but there’s tons of free shit to do.
WHAT IS THE MOST CHALLENGING THING ABOUT WORKING IN POLITICS?
I must have written seventeen pages in response to this question and everything read like the transcript of a Presidential campaign speech. So I’m just going to say that the most challenging thing about working in politics is that you’re a cog in the wheel of a process that frustrates and bewilders almost everyone in America, and people direct that anger at you constantly.
Basically, you feel like Anne Hathaway all day, every day.
WHAT FINALLY CONVINCED YOU TO START A BLOG?
The same girlfriends who encouraged me to start the original Laurel Gazette pressured me to start a blog. I started it last June but chickened out right away – I was terrified about putting myself out there, and more than anything I doubted that anyone would find any value in what I had to say. But I love writing, and giving up on the blog without ever really trying kept haunting me. I finally had a come to Jesus moment where I realized that if I was too scared to be myself on a blog I’d go through life being too scared to do anything. So with the help of a Brene Brown book I decided I’d be a blogger for a year and see what happened, with the goal being that blogging would be a baby step toward living more fearlessly.
WHERE DO YOU SEE YOURSELF IN FIVE YEARS?
In LA, in a Mediterranean style mansion with orange trees and bougainvillea and a black bottom pool....oh, and it would be nice to have some money. Digging for pennies in the couch cushions is going to get old soon.
*if you'd like to be featured on The Saturday Takeover next week please email me at thedailytay@gmail.com!
She's an amazingly talented writer working in politics in D.C.,
living life one day at a time.
HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE NAME OF YOUR BLOG?
This takes us back to middle school. I went to an all girls’ school, and I was always bored and never paying attention (this was before they were diagnosing everyone with ADHD - that came later) so to keep myself occupied I wrote letters to my classmates detailing the drama between our girlfriends and the guys from our brother school. My girlfriends loved my letters and encouraged me to write a “newsletter” for the group (remember, this is seventh grade) so instead of letters I started my own handwritten version of Us Weekly. Laurel was the name of the school, and one of the girls started calling it the “gazette”, and so the Laurel Gazette was born. And then right around the time I was thinking about starting this blog, a friend found an original copy of the Laurel Gazette and emailed it to me, so it seemed serendipitous: my blog would be called the Laurel Gazette.
BEST PART ABOUT LIVING IN DC?
In the interest of saying something different from what everyone has heard about DC – it’s young, it’s international, it’s exciting, all of which are true – I’m going to try to put a different spin on it. Best part about living in DC: you can be drunker than you’ve ever been in your life and there will still be at least twenty people at the bar drunker than you. And your friends will always come visit because it’s a “big city” but there’s tons of free shit to do.
WHAT IS THE MOST CHALLENGING THING ABOUT WORKING IN POLITICS?
I must have written seventeen pages in response to this question and everything read like the transcript of a Presidential campaign speech. So I’m just going to say that the most challenging thing about working in politics is that you’re a cog in the wheel of a process that frustrates and bewilders almost everyone in America, and people direct that anger at you constantly.
Basically, you feel like Anne Hathaway all day, every day.
WHAT FINALLY CONVINCED YOU TO START A BLOG?
The same girlfriends who encouraged me to start the original Laurel Gazette pressured me to start a blog. I started it last June but chickened out right away – I was terrified about putting myself out there, and more than anything I doubted that anyone would find any value in what I had to say. But I love writing, and giving up on the blog without ever really trying kept haunting me. I finally had a come to Jesus moment where I realized that if I was too scared to be myself on a blog I’d go through life being too scared to do anything. So with the help of a Brene Brown book I decided I’d be a blogger for a year and see what happened, with the goal being that blogging would be a baby step toward living more fearlessly.
WHERE DO YOU SEE YOURSELF IN FIVE YEARS?
In LA, in a Mediterranean style mansion with orange trees and bougainvillea and a black bottom pool....oh, and it would be nice to have some money. Digging for pennies in the couch cushions is going to get old soon.
*if you'd like to be featured on The Saturday Takeover next week please email me at thedailytay@gmail.com!
