I have always loved stories. Reading a book with my grandmother and big sister Perhaps because I am the child of two former stage actors, framing life through a narrative arc has always made things a little easier to understand. As a kid, I did musical theater, immersing myself fully in my roles, living out the character I was playing on stage. In college, I studied English literature, spending four years deeply entrenched in novels and unpacking their connotative meanings and cultural significance. When I graduated, I went into the film industry, thinking that was the path on which I could continue unfurling the pages of my own story, living vicariously through the tales of movie characters. Visiting Stratford-upon-Avon, hometown of William Shakespeare But then, for two years, the pages stopped turning. It felt as though the author of my life had writer’s block. Everything in my life felt stunted. I was running through my routine like a montage. I woke up, went to work, did my pa...
Decked out in Disney from an early age I, like many my age, grew up on Disney. I played our VCR of The Little Mermaid until the film was rolling out of the tape. I wore a Sleeping Beauty princess dress until it was threadbare. I knew the words to "Reflection," "Tale as Old as Time," and "Part of Your World" before I could even form full sentences. For the first five years of my life, we lived in Los Angeles, and legend has it, one of my first outings as a newborn was to Disneyland. Later on, my eldest sister would work at the Disney parks as a "friend of Mary Poppins and Belle," as they refer to cast members. Disney has just always been an unconscious part of my life. My favorite princess and me I don't watch the movies with such frequency today (though I still know the words to every song), my wardrobe is a bit more "evil stepmother" color palette than "princess," and trips to Disneyland aren't quite as fun when you h...