Hi.
Here I am.

I’ve had a lot of different hair1.
I’ve had a lot of wild experiences, which I sometimes enjoy dropping into conversations2.
And I’ve met so very many people, strangers and friends, over the past four decades. All of us getting into shenanigans, rest assured3.
Here’s how they’ve perceived me:
When I went to college, there was a rumor that I was actually a 14 year-old child-genius4.
There, I was also referred to by the LGBTQ community as “the femme who walks like a dyke5.”
A few years later I overheard a childhood acquaintance say about me, “Well, you can take the girl out of the trailer park, but…”
At that time I was working The Home Depot6, where the rumor was that I was a trust-fund baby, only there to observe The People.
Meanwhile, bumping into me there, a friend said it was like “hanging the Mona Lisa in a motel.”
Strangers in the south correctly assume I’m a Northerner. People from New York City think I’m a podunk upstater, while people from most other places think I’m a fancy New Yorker. Except folks in Los Angeles, who asked if I was mid-western7. And folks in Spain, who tended to think I was French8 (although I was also asked if I was Polish once).
No one ever presumes I’m anything but female and white (both true), although I’ve been asked if I was Jewish numerous times9.
It's also regularly assumed that I am a vegetarian10 and that I have tattoos11.
I’ve been compared to both Jodi Foster and young Betty White (looks), Ellen DeGeneres (when I had short hair) and Amy Sedaris (both for humor), and Kim Gordon (rock n’ roll).
My most recent feedback was, “You give off a single mom vibe,” which I’ll parse another time. But I’ve also been referred to as a M.I.L.F. so that’s pretty great!
Currently, I’m most often compared to Ms. Frizzle. And, judging by my own life, I think the Friz has it right:
“Take chances, make mistakes, and get messy!”
All my love,
Lizzie, Liz, Elizabeth
Generally blonds and reds
eg “That reminds me of the time I learned to swing on a trapeze at a carnival on a pier…” and “oh, Florence is lovely in the spring! Did I ever tell you about the chamber opera I composed there?”
Did I ever tell you about that 200 miles bike-ride/camping triu
To be fair, I did wear a retainer until I was in my twenties
Their words, verbatim. My dad also once told me I walked like a confident lesbian gym teacher…
Which I referred to as “The Tool House; Tools Selling Tools to Tools”
It was at this time I kept a blog with my writings of things strangers said to me. The only conceit was that they initiated the conversation
That was trés cool!
Which I take to be an honor!
Only briefly in/after college
Nope
I love you, Elizabeth. The footnotes and library reading group are my personal favorites in this newsletter.