Full Name: Tiffany Marie W.
Age: 25, as of September 1st
Location: Providence, RI
Occupation: Grad Student/Librarian-in-training(University of Rhode Island)/Library Associate Specialist--Circulation at Brown
Hobbies: Reading, movies, music, dorking out, and knitting (that's a recent one that I hope to keep up...)
Pets: Jenny, my insanely cute insane cat

1: the heavy part
Where are you from, originally? What was it like there?
Well, that's actually kind of a difficult question to answer. I was born in Cincinnati, and I moved every couple of years until we moved to New Hampshire; I've lived in Cincinnati, Fairfield, OH, West Virginia, Ft. Lauderdale (technically Sunrise), FL, Federal Way and Tacoma, WA, Milford, NH, Pittsburgh, and Providence. I'll describe New Hampshire, because it's been my permanent address since 1992.

Well, Milford is a small New England town, even though it's not that small. It's really pretty in October, when they have the Pumpkin Festival on the Oval (the center of town with the gazebo), and it's an hour from Boston and half an hour from the mountains. And I never fit in there. I was about 13 years too late to make many friends, and I was way too smart and weird for all my classmates. I still have a few people I hang with there, but I never met as many close friends as I did in Pittsburgh. It's pretty suffocating to live there, but I've really grown to like going back to visit. And Nashua's not too bad, for a tiny city.

How did you end up in Pittsburgh?
I moved to Pittsburgh because I visited Pitt trying to decide between Pitt, University of Chicago and Boston University, and I really felt like I could find my own place in Pittsburgh.

How did you end up in Providence?
Short answer: desperation. Long answer: After living at home for a year and half with few job prospects, I decided to take action and initiate the backup plan--library school. I found out I could go to U.R.I. for pretty cheap. So I applied, got in, and moved to Providence. I didn't want to live in Kingston, which is in the middle of nowhere, and I thought about living in between, because I have classes at both campuses, but I just went for the city.

Update us on your situation in life.
I'm not a big fan of Providence, and I hate Rhode Island. I've got a decent job and I make good money, but I work weird hours. Library school is kind of a pain in the ass, and I won't be done until August. I'm already having panic attacks about not being able to find a job when I'm done.

Ideally, what will your life look like on New Year's Day 2005?
hopefully I'll be recovering from something fun with Richard, who is supposed to be visiting then.

Have your early to mid 20s been like you imagined? Why or why not?
College and first grad school were very much like I'd imagined, with the exception of my spectacular failures on the dating front. Things have not really been anything I could have imagined since then. I never thought I'd wind up living at home, being unemployable or disliking school.

Which was the best year, for you, of the aforementioned early to mid 20s? Why?
I would have to say 21. I had a pretty good time with school, I wasn't broke, I went out and had a good time on a regular basis.

Is this last one the end of the road, degree-wise?
Hell no. I will not stop until I get that PhD. I'm just going to work off some of my debt first.

Since you're studying library sciences, what's your all-time favorite book?
That's a tough question. Weird Like Us by Ann Powers is definitely up there. It's a memoir/sub-cultural manifesto about finding your own way of growing up. On the fiction front, High Fidelity (Nick Hornby), Juno & Juliet (Julian Gough) and Spinsters (Pagan Kennedy) are a few of the books I consistently go back to.

Sexy librarian: fact or fiction?
Fact, but not necessarily in the "buttoned up repressed woman who's an animal in bed" manifestation. But I do think that a certain type of passionate intellectual is drawn to librarianship, and sometimes that definitely comes across as an undercurrent of dramatic sexuality.

2: the not-heavy part
Describe a good night out...
A dark bar with good tunes on the jukebox, cheap drinks, group of friends...I miss neighborhood bars.

And a good night in the apartment?
Drinking and board games...pizza and a movie...knitting with my cat on my lap.

Current favorite ethnic food and, if possible, dish.
I guess Middle Eastern, because my current favorite food is falafel.

What have you been listening to?
Brian Eno -- Here come the warm jets; British Sea Power; Guided By Voices -- Bee Thousand; Neko Case; Kate Bush.

Was hast you been reading?
Marjorie Morningstar by Herman Wouk and The Secret History by Donna Tartt; stuff for classes; knitting books.

What have you been watching on TV?
Law and Order, Law and Order: SVU, America's Next Top Model, Scrubs (I only get UPN, NBC, Fox and CBS)

Seen any movies lately? What did you think?
Saved: pretty awesome; Connie and Carla: meh...; Desk Set: awesome; Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: really good; Twin Falls Idaho: really different from what I expected, and really good.

3: the cocktail party
So you’re having a cocktail party: list five A-list guests, other than Jesus, me and your friends...
Paul Westerberg, Katha Pollitt, Sofia Coppola, Stephin Merritt, Ann Powers.

What drinks will you serve?
Jameson and ginger ale, gin and tonic, Newcastle, and Coke for the non-drinkers in the crew...

What will be on the stereo?
Edith Piaf, early Stones and Slowdive.

Conversation topics will include…
Politics, awesome concerts, why Providence sucks, and those really amazing parts of movies that are just perfect...

How will the evening end?
Greasy breakfast at a dive diner...