Writing Process

This profile felt significantly different to write than the personal (obviously, perhaps). Initially, I was very hesitant to make contact with Amy at 360, a slight sense of dread that she wouldn't like me, that I wouldn't be able to measure up to the quick faux intimacy that we'd discussed in class. However, I'd say for a first draft, I was quite pleased. Speaking with Amy was easy, and I was most surprised to find that questions sort of just came to me as we were talking, and that a lot of my notes were unneeded.

The structural part of this assignment, however, posed a bit more problems, as I wasn't quite sure what sort of order to put all the information I'd gathered. Parts about the store seemed necessary in order to introduce her, but the pull of her family life and early career could help set the stage for her life to come. I decided not to put myself into the story since I've only know Amy about a week, and I felt that the authors we'd read who'd done this stayed with their "subject"/ friends for a much more significant period of time.

I was also concerned about the piece reading like a time line, but I think with several more interviews and some structural organization I won't have to worry about this. A question for the group though: How do you tell someones life without it sounding too timeline'd? Interested to see other pieces of an individual who figured out a way to explain a life in creative ways.

Profile

1000-2000 words            target publication: ideas?!

“That is gorgeous. It’ll go,” she says, watching a young girl shimmy into a full-length white prom dress. The bodice is shimmery, the bottom pushing out with fluff, the girl grinning.

Amy Baird is the owner of 360°, a consignment shop in Kalamazoo. She wears sparkling earrings, brown hair falling straight just past her shoulders, a nude and white lace shirt over dark cuffed jeans, sitting on a plump chair in the back of her shop.

“We made rent our first month,” she smiles proudly about the store, which opened in 2000. “Not anything more.”

360°, which splits each sale 50/50 between store and seller, dominates much of Kalamazoo’s consignment market, selling to both women and men. Baird is the sole owner, the idea for the store originally pushed hard by Baird’s husband, after only one year of marriage. The store grew quickly at the beginning, and 13 years later has over 14,000 names in the computer, both sellers and buyers. “I am the buyer and I am the merchandiser. I am everything in this job.”

Baird explains quickly that she tried out the corporate path that was prescribed to her, moving west to Denver after studying Apparel, Merchandising and Textiles at the University of Kentucky.

“Well, I had a boss, which I didn’t like. There was no real personal communication with people,” she refers to the corporate world. In contrast, talking about 360°, Baird tells: “The great thing about this place is it is like a family.”

She pauses before explaining that in the corporate world every window had to be designed one way, and that she had her own ideas about how things should be done.

She quickly relates back to her 22-year-old self, remembering her feeling that she had no idea what she wanted to do. Baird reigns from Kalamazoo proper, describes her college-self as a shopaholic. “I did everything everybody else did, I spent a lot of money on clothes,” she admits.

She says she went through the motions after Denver, interviewing to be a buyer for Saks Fifth Avenue in Chicago, eventually moving home to Kalamazoo to work at Second Childhood, a young consignment store in the area.

“I was helping her run that small business at the age of 23, I had all the freedom in the world,” Baird explained about the Second Childhood, owned by a girlfriends mom.

She opened the store soon after that, remembering her husband saying: “We have no money, we have nothing. That’s the perfect time to start it, we have nothing to lose.” Since she knew the area, the plaza where 360° is located was her ideal location.  Baird says she knew she wanted to own the store solo, describing her independence and desire for creative control: “I know how I want things done. I was afraid if I did it with somebody else, it would get in the way. I didn’t know what it would do to a friendship.”

“It’s awful, it’s really hard. It’s very stressful to be a woman, who’s a business owner, the breadwinner, and a mother. You wear every hat.” Baird’s kids say “Look Mommy’s famous” when they go out and people recognize her. When the CEO of Yahoo was critiqued for taking two weeks off after pregnancy, she recounts taking one week off, explaining that’s what a single business owner does. Her kids are 10 and 6, her husband works part time at FedEx, mostly for the benefits. Baird laughs at the thought of having hobbies, hoping that when her kids get older she’ll have time to do things for herself again: “I don’t know if I’ll hand this business down to my daughter, because it’s so stressful.”

When the economy dipped, Baird explains: “People were like ‘God your business must be great because it’s used clothing’ and I’m like ‘you know, not really.’ Because if nobody’s buying anything new, I’m not getting anything in, and then I have nothing. It’s a vicious circle.”

The worst came when Plato’s’ Closet opened across town in 2007, forcing a contest in the Kalamazoo consignment scene for the first time in Amy’s ownership of 360°. 

“I had anxiety every single day. I’d been coasting along for 7 years, and all of a sudden I had competition,” Baird recalls. Plato’s Closet, she explained, dominated the tween market, and she shifted to a slightly older focus group, 22-45. 360° got a better selection, carrying slightly upscale brands like Banana Republic and JCrew, and despite the personal attach Baird felt initially upon Plato’s closet, she enjoys this new sector.

The fashion world in Kalamazoo is something that Baird keeps tabs on as well, stopping to pick the right words before describing: “Kalamazoo is a little more conservative. Kalamazoo is cheep. People want a deal,” but she continues to explain her motto about the store, “I’d rather have somebody come in and buy five things at a less expensive price than just one. That way five sellers make profit.”

Writing for Story

I found the two examples given during chapter II and III to become incredibly useful throughout this book. As directed, I focused particularly on chapter VI, but also want to draw note to some of the definitions of narrative described in chapter VII. Initially, I was a little thrown off by the authors snooty-ness in regards to my (the readers/authors) hatred for outlines, since I actually typically write outlines for almost every paper I write. However, this aside, the prescribed outline (complication-development 123-resolution) format was not one that I have ever used. I also typically outline a research paper, where the outline is not based on a story, rather an compilation of academic quotes and filling arguments in order to support a thesis. With that being said, I found it particularly helpful that Franklin gave us improving examples of this outline structure, including for the pieces we'd already read. Since this type of story (and outline) is new to me, I'm interested to see what sort of process goes into narrowing down a story to 5 short sentences. For me, this seems that it would be the most difficult. 

In chapter VII, several descriptions and definitions of narrative are also given. This interested me because we've posed the question as a class: "What is narrative writing and how does this narrative journalism class differ from some other classes in the English department (eg. other journalism classes, creative non-fiction)? Franklin writes: "Remember that narrative tells your story and that your story, like the people and events upon which it is based, is a living thing..." Perhaps this isn't quite the answer to the question posed above, but the into and sections about each type of narrative pointed out some great purposes for narrative writing: "good narrative will make the reader forget he's sitting in an easy chair" , "threats are maintained by cues embedded in the narrative" , "showing your story occur rather than telling how it occurs." 

Orlean/ LeBlanc

LeBlanc immersed herself in an overwhelming sense in this reportage, and immediately the questions of bias, safety, and closeness to Trina were brought to my mind. Her complete immersion in the life of Trina reminded me of the novel I read by Sudhir Venkatesh, “Gang Leader for a Day”, which was an anthropological look into the life of a gang leader in Chicago. The author Sudhir becomes friends with JT (said gang leader) during his research, and eventually explores the power struggles of a gang through his connection with JT, gaining access to previously hidden aspects of gang life. The similarity between the anthropological research Sudhir does and the journalistic research of LeBlanc was visible in the immersion into a dangerous or questionable situation: both involving drugs/ prostitution/ otherwise sketchy situations. Additionally, both authors allow their personal opinions and experiences to seep into the text, also LeBlanc used “I” significantly less than Sudhir. The comparison between these types of research would be interesting, due to the apparent similarities in immersion research in two different fields.

At certain points it seems that LeBlanc is connecting herself to Trina, and I wondered why that connection was initially made: “Our shared attributes would blind me, delude me into the sort of sturdy plan of action that seems possible when you are the person you are trying to help share common ground.” Throughout the essay LeBlanc makes continued connections between herself and Trina, however the idea of trying to help her is not explained. Why is she helping her? I am curious about this connection and if it influenced LeBlanc’s writing about Trina. This also opens the questions of what sort of relationship is appropriate between narrator and subject, and I would like to talk about this in class during story proposals.

In a similar fashion as in LeBlanc’s story, Orlean is barely present at all in the story about Colin. In LeBlanc’s, as previously mentioned, I craved slightly more attention to the narrator. Because of the references to actions, conversations, and experiences the subject and the narrator were having together, the LeBlanc story felt more open regarding the role of the narrator. In contrast, Orlean is barely present in the life of Colin, although prompting statements are made at several points.

One of the major differences I felt between the two stories was the urgency at which I read the piece. In LeBlanc’s, I felt that the dangerous story of Trina, a drug addict, drove me to feel the need to read the piece in one sitting. Reading Orlean’s story about Colin, I put the book down several times, not out of boredom, rather out of a desire to prolong and relax during the reading. Additionally, I was struck by how two very different stories captured me in a similar way. In both pieces, the authors painted a realistic picture of Colin and Trina, and for the time that it took me to read the pieces, I felt invested and involved in their lives.

Writing Process

Hey-

First, I have only told this story to 1 person in this county. I debated if it was too personal, if the story would make you (my classmates) think less of me, if I could even tell it because I'm still kind of in it.

I want to figure out how to pin down one focus of the story (ideally being in a cheating relationship in Senegal), and have the stories lead into it. I'd ask for help structuring the story, because I'm telling it how I lived it and perhaps I could be more clear by telling the story another way. Organizational help would be wonderful.

Writing this wasn't as emotionally challenging as I thought it would, but in the few responses that I've already received, I think editing it and perfecting it will force me to share even more (which could be good) and I'm curious to see if it needs more detail or just some rewriting.

Also, the intended publication is Modern Love.

Thanks!