Amy

Saturday, August 6 (After Chapter 6 of Triptych)

AMY: Hi. I'm Amy.

aroslav: Welcome, Amy. Thanks for participating in our interviews.

AMY: Sure. What's this all about?

aroslav: We'd like to get to know all the people who are important in Tony's life.

AMY: You think I'm important in his life? I'd rather be important in, say, Melody's life, if you know what I mean.

aroslav: I know, but we'll talk about that a little later. I'd like to start with basic information, if you don't mind.

AMY: It's your nickel.

aroslav: Name, age, and birthdate?

AMY: Sure. Ask the tough questions first. Amalia Eden Garnet. Just call me Amy. Age 19. I'll be 20 on December 12.

aroslav: Is that German? I thought Garnet was...

AMY: Welsh. But the first two names are as Bavarian as my parents could come up with. When you live in Leavenworth, everything is Bavarian.

aroslav: So your Welsh parents gave you a German name.

AMY: I have a little sister named Gertrude. Can you believe that?

aroslav: Civic duty?

AMY: They own the local drive-in. It serves schnitzel.

aroslav: That brings us to your summer job.

AMY: No kidding. In the summer I work as a car-hop at the Alpine Hut Drive-in. It's an A-frame Swiss Chalet kitchen with two wings of drive-up spaces where, for most of the summer, four of us girls skate up to cars, take the driver's order, and bring food to them.

aroslav: That sounds very 50s.

AMY: It's pretty campy, but actually it's kind of fun. And I learned to skate really well.

aroslav: You like to skate?

AMY: Oh yeah. I've got big plans for skating.

aroslav: Really?

AMY: Roller Derby. I'm trying out this fall. I mean, what a great combination—two of the things I love most: skating and girls.

aroslav: Do you have a skater-name picked out yet?

AMY: I thought about Pussychologist, but they've got some rules about how explicit you can be. It's a family sport, after all. I'll figure it out.

aroslav: You're pretty gung-ho on girls. Ever have any experiences with boys?

AMY: I'm a gold-star lesbian. The closest I've ever been to a boy is the kissing contest with Tony. That's the only boy tongue that's ever been in my mouth. And I'd French a poodle if there was a contest.

aroslav: You're pretty competitive.

AMY: Oh yeah! I even considered taking up racquetball when I saw how good Tony was, how interested Melody was, and how hot Lissa was. But I don't think I'd get any closer to either Melody or Lissa by making a fool of myself on the racquetball court. So I figure I should capitalize on my strengths and do the roller thing. But I'm still jealous of him and can't help competing for Melody's attention when I'm with them.

aroslav: You still want Melody?

AMY: Duh! I won't do it—cross the line, you know? I promised last spring when Sandra and I had to patch things up between them. But I still want her. Fortunately, there are other girls just waiting for attention.

aroslav: Care to elaborate?

AMY: Uh ... no. Not yet. Let's just say I've got my eye on someone who has her eye on me and if we can work through a couple of obstacles, I might have a pretty fun autumn.

aroslav: I'll look forward to hearing about that. Speaking of autumn, tell me a little about school and what you're studying.

AMY: Technically, the program at PCAD is called Advertising Graphics. But that isn't what it used to be. Almost everything is computer-based now and most of the drawings I do are on-screen with a graphics pad and stylus. I've learned most of the graphics software and thank heavens for student versions! I'd never be able to afford that stuff if I had to pay retail. I've got a special savings account that I put a little of my earnings in so I can afford to buy a super-hot graphics computer and all the software when I graduate. It's going to cost about eight grand by then.

But it's not what used to be thought of as graphics. I'm studying programming for websites and the various software for that, too. You have to understand social media and search engines. Where somebody like Tony studies Art History for his Humanities component, I get a class in Marketing. It's a different world these days.

aroslav: Different from... ?

AMY: Oh. Uh ... From, like, when you studied stuff and all.

aroslav: Let's not talk about ancient history. You still draw, though. You took the Figure Drawing class last year and you had to test to get into it. Also, your illustration is part of the Rhapsody Suite, right?

AMY: Actually, it really pisses me off when people think they can do computer graphics without having any art ability. Really. Just because you can write HTML doesn't mean you can illustrate a website. They just copy and paste stuff and expect that will win them some kind of design award. They still look at Wired magazine and think that's cutting edge. Twenty years ago, maybe. Nothing against the content there, but it's so first generation.

I want push the graphic envelope in new ways and if you look at all the breakthrough artists in any media over the past hundreds of years, they were all masters of the preceding artform before they made their mark. I don't want anyone to ever look at a website I designed and say "Yeah, but she can't draw."

aroslav: Have you designed a lot of websites?

AMY: I've got my own domain and I redesign it every two or three months. I've done a few of the commercial sites back home. They're a little restricted, though, because of the Bavarian Village theme. I'd like to do something where I could really break out of the rut of the standard commercial website. I need a client that will let me play with graphics and user interface. I just want to blow people away. Of course, I'll probably have to finish my degree and then work for free somewhere before I ever get to that point in my career. People figure that just because it's online, it's free. Once I pile up some awards, then I can start charging a premium.