Last Wednesday afternoon July 8th after a long day of classes and heat I was busy reading the website Perez Hilton in the common room of the Gould when I heard a mans very loud voice. Not paying to much attention because there are many people I do not know living in the Gould Institute I disregarded the loud conversation that carried throughout the building. Little did I know though that two minutes later I would be meeting the man with the loud flamboyant voice and he would be my source of entertainment for the next 24 hours.
Dressed in a short sleeve baby blue button up, dark jeans, silver Velcro shoes, and a huge Hermes belt buckle to complete the outfit Nick Verreos of Project Runway season 2 stormed into the common room. As his murse swung around his arm and his partner David Paul followed closed behind him Nick introduced himself before any of us could stand up or process the amount of energy that had just been brought into the room. After quickly shaking all of our hands he noticed that the Internet was up and running and he could not have been more excited. Before he could even finish explaining how bad the Internet was at his hotel he was sitting next to someone asking if they knew any information about “Whacko Jacko’s” funeral that had taken place yesterday in Los Angeles. Quickly switching subjects he saw that I was on Perezhilton.com reading the latest gossip. Screaming with excitement he threw his murse down on the floor and was hanging over my shoulder asking me to fill him on the new and latest gossip.
Just from having my first 20-minute encounter with Nick on the day he arrived I could tell he was full of knowledge and a very intelligent man. There could have not been a better man to pick to help put a twist in the Miami University summer Italy program for the Journalism students to learn about both fashion and journalism. Although he may be loud and sometimes say things that are completely outrageous I was not surprised the next day when he shared with us that he graduated from UCLA with a degree in political science before going on to FIDM for fashion school. He is a very composed man with an amazing sense of fashion.
The next day when we met him to head to the Polimoda fashion school he once again was dressed to the nines ready to impress the school with his fashion choices. Wearing a short sleeve white button up, skinny green and baby blue, dark jeans, strappy sandals, and a large YSL belt buckle he had a grin on his face ready to get busy and share his passion with us for fashion. As promised Nick “spilled the beans” on the stars he has worked with and we all read about in the magazines such as Lauren Conrad and Stephanie Pratt. He gave us great information and fun stories all while being very professional and remembering he was once their teacher and to act kindly.
Overall I found Nicks visit to Italy a HUGE highlight of my trip. Not being a fan of project runway I was really not exactly sure what to expect. But, after listening to him for a day speak about his life and passions, and share his stories of reaching the top I found every thing he said to be very beneficial whether it was in regards to journalism and fashion or reaching your goals in other areas of life. I really enjoyed his loud positive energy and how he not only wanted to share his stories, but he was interested in hearing ours as well.
Abby,
ReplyDeleteLOTS TO LIKE in this post, writing wise!
Your scene in the Gould of Nick meeting many students is wonderful. You described his dress, his voice and mannerisms, and what he DID, gossiping with everyone like an old friend.
You include a lot of facts here, too. Like his degrees from UCLA and FIDM, and models with whom he has worked. Good job!
I'm probably going to use this post in class to show the writing and impact benefit of taking out first and third person.
It is something everyone is doing in their blogs (including me), but that is a good exercise in ramping up sophistication in writing.
In general here, you summarized Nick's appearance well (could have used a few more contextual details about his company and the Polimoda visit). And you brought him to life with a good opening scene (sans the first person).
But make sure you "show" the reader through scenes throughout a piece, rather than just "tell" them what happened.
Did you get any quotes?