Up & Out - Ariella Papa [0]
Up & Out
To Mr. Rogers for encouraging make-believe and Mr. G. for encouraging me
Oh my goodness! I want to thank everybody that read and supported On the Verge and gave me the opportunity to do this again. I have the best bunch of friends and family ever and I am always in and down with them. So I would like to rethank all my last book’s thank-yous for still being a part of my life and making sure all the people in your life knew about On the Verge. You rock.
I would like to thank Anthony and Daryl for opening up their apartment to workshops and laughter. Thanks to Joel and Kelly for tarts and faces. Grazie to Katie, my ceci princess. Thanks to Jason Hackermann for pulp in his juice and choosing a wife who is good with book titles. Thanks to the Greaney and Hackett families. To Jim for always making me sound good and learning my fave ukelele songs. Thanks to Alan for learning about makeup with me. Thanks to Appalachia, the best monkey ever. Thanks to Amy Lyn for working so hard and reading into characters the right way. Thanks to Meredith for sticking signing stickers like nobody’s business. Thanks to Kim Leebowee for coffee breaks. Thanks to Kathy for shypoke stealing of sweet potato fries. Thanks to Lauryn for setting her alarm early and lite fm concerts. Thanks to Robin for providing North America with OTV. Thanks to Asabi, Erin, Jessica, Kelly, Rebecca and Roxy for closing the door and talking to me when I needed it. Thanks to Margaret Marbury for introducing me to the best part of having an editor: the lunches. Thanks to Irene Goodman for future endeavors.
I would really like to thank my caribou photographer for going to all Boston signings and doing the photo shoot. And merci to my prenatal editor for always helping me get where I need to be and knowing the best thing to do when you get fired, franchement, is go to France.
Contents
Prologue
1 Debaser
2 Raspberry Swirl
3 32 Flavors
4 Moon Child
5 Shitloads of Money
6 Devil’s Pie
7 We’re Going To Be Friends
8 Wiser Time
9 Flying Saucer
10 Man in a Suitcase
11 Four-Eyed Girl
12 Shattered
13 Guess I’m Doing Fine
14 These Days
15 Like a Feather
16 Lie in Our Graves
17 UR
18 Pitseleh
19 Love Ridden
20 Good Fortune
21 Full-Fledged Strangers
22 Snakes/Mna na hEireann
23 Strength, Courage & Wisdom
24 Me
Epilogue
Prologue
Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems
I like to think of money in terms of the rock shrimp tempura at Nobu Next Door. When I take a cab, I think that’s about a third of a plate of tempura. So I prefer the subway. Sometimes, I don’t buy clothes because that’s usually two to four plates’ worth. I try not to think about my rent in those terms. That might make a girl lose her appetite.
New York City is filled with food. Everything from the beef-cheek ravioli at Babbo to the handmade hand-glazed all natural doughnuts at Doughnut Plant. Don’t even get me started on the loads of possibilities opening up to me every week in the “Dining In/Dining Out” section of the New York Times. It’s almost too overwhelming for this foodie to bear.
So every two weeks I invite a friend out for rock shrimp tempura, always with the spicy, creamy sauce. It just sort of keeps things in perspective. In a city full of savory, tempting substances, there’s got to be one thing that’s familiar.
But let me back up a bit. I was your typical working girl struggling to make ends meet and pay off my credit card and student loans. Next thing I knew, On the Verge magazine named Esme, the character I had created and animated, a feminist icon for the tween generation.
Esme’s Enlightenments was just a bunch of “interstitials,” which were like short films that advertised Explore! Family, the channel where I worked. It is an upstart channel trying to make its way in the tough world of kids’ TV. Unfortunately, the channel had no animated series at the time, but as soon as Esme got on the radar (and who would think anyone even read On the Verge magazine?), Hackett, the head of Programming, called me into his office and set unbelievable deadlines