𝑰 𝑾𝑶𝑼𝑳𝑫𝑵'𝑻 𝑻𝑹𝑨𝑫𝑬 𝑶𝑵𝑬 𝑺𝑻𝑼𝑷𝑰𝑫 𝑫𝑬𝑪𝑰𝑺𝑰𝑶𝑵 || HTMI

[postcard]

Roo Pierce

You spent the first five years trying to get with the plan
And the next five years trying to be with your friends again

THE BASICS

𝑵𝑨𝑴𝑬: Rooney 'Roo' Pierce
𝑨𝑮𝑬: 27
𝑩𝑰𝑹𝑻𝑯𝑫𝑨𝒀: December 31st
𝑷𝑳𝑨𝑪𝑬 𝑶𝑭 𝑩𝑰𝑹𝑻𝑯: Forest Hills, Queens, New York
𝑪𝑼𝑹𝑹𝑬𝑵𝑻 𝑹𝑬𝑺𝑰𝑫𝑬𝑵𝑪𝑬: Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, New York

𝑬𝑫𝑼𝑪𝑨𝑻𝑰𝑶𝑵: Art BFA, CUNY-Brooklyn College, in-progress Poetry MFA at The New School
𝑶𝑪𝑪𝑼𝑷𝑨𝑻𝑰𝑶𝑵: Vinyl-slinger at Stranded Records in the Village

𝑻𝑯𝑬𝑴𝑬: All My Friends // LCD Soundsystem
𝑭𝑨𝑪𝑬𝑪𝑳𝑨𝑰𝑴: Zoe Kravitz

PERSONALITY

𝑭𝑳𝑨𝑾𝑺: messy, impulsive, always late, quick to fight, introverted,
𝑽𝑰𝑹𝑻𝑼𝑬𝑺: loyal, a friend for life, has a good ear for music,
𝑳𝑰𝑲𝑬𝑺: AfroPunk, her mom's Jamaican cooking, her clawfoot bathtub, finishing a book in one day, writing, art museums, riding the subway, the Union Square greenmarket, the smell of bookstores
𝑫𝑰𝑺𝑳𝑰𝑲𝑬𝑺: arrogance, white male authors who think they're hot shit, eating, art galleries, Duane Reade, small dogs, winter

BIOGRAPHY

Roo is a born and bred New Yorker. She hails from Forest Hills, where her dad's family has lived for generations. Her parents live on the same block her great-grandparents lived on. Her dad has gone to the same synagogue his whole life. Roo's mom tells stories of pre-gentrification Flatbush, when the neighborhood was solidly Jamaican. She misses visiting her maternal grandparents in Brooklyn, before they were priced out of their neighborhood.

Just as Roo has always been a New Yorker, she's always been a writer and a painter. As soon as she could, she had her fingers in acrylics and her other hand wrapped around a pencil. In undergrad, she pursued her painting at Brooklyn College. She did well and she painted her way through college. After graduation, Roo had an internship as the assistant in one of Soho's best galleries. For six months, she was promised, in exchange for her work, a small show in one of the gallery spaces. The show never came.

It crushed Roo. The disordered eating Roo had unconsciously developed in college, forgetting to eat before exams and critiques, suddenly became an eating disorder. She shedded pounds, going days and days without eating. Eventually, after collapsing at work a year and a half after graduating college, Roo became hospitalized.

In the hospital, she returned to writing, something she'd forgotten in the throes of her BFA program. Poetry became her way out of depression. Her recovery flourished as her poetry did. She worked for three years on both her recovery, in and out of hospital programs, and her poetry before eventually being admitted into the New School's prestigious Poetry MFA.

She still lives in the same Harlem studio apartment, subletting a sublet of a friend's, whose great-aunt has had the apartment on rent control since the 70s. But now, instead of scrambling between painting and four part-time jobs, Roo writes her poetry behind the counter at her favorite job, selling records at Stranded Records in the East Village before classes.

While it might seem as though Roo's getting her shit together, nothing could be further from the case. She's still scrambling to pay rent, she's miserable in most of her workshops, and she might be thinking about sleeping with one of her professors. She breezes into her readings late, breathless from sprinting four blocks, and barely manages to remember to pay her rent on time. Don't ask her when was the last time she remembered to eat lunch.

SUPPORTING CAST

𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑷𝑹𝑶𝑭𝑬𝑺𝑺𝑶𝑹: Dr. Wesley Kane || fc: John Mulaney
At 37, Wesley Kane (called Wes by friends and graduate students) is one of the poetry world's rising stars; his classes at the New School are popular with undergraduates and graduate students. While plenty of jaded male English majors say his popularity is due to his good looks, he does have the skills to back it up.

𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑩𝑬𝑺𝑻 𝑬𝑿: Ginerva 'Gin' Ngai || fc: Awkwafina
Gin and Roo dated when they were both freshmen at Brooklyn College. While their relationship didn't last after their first fall semester, their friendship did. Gin is one of Roo's oldest friends. Gin has seen Roo at some of her lowest points, and Roo has been there for hers. She's a sculptor by night, middle school art teacher by day. She's waiting for Roo to find her footing as an adult, but not patiently. Gin is always the one to call Roo out on her bullshit.

𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑴𝑶𝑻𝑯𝑬𝑹: Jaida Pierce || fc: Lisa Bonet
Roo and her mother are the kind of mother and daughter that T.V. shows think every mother and daughter are. They're best friends and they talk to each other at least once a day. This relationship hasn't gone without its tests. Jaida and her husband, Ezra, have only ever wanted the best for their daughter, but watching her dreams shift from within her reach to far-fetched due to her health has been challenging and worrying.

𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑮𝑼𝑰𝑻𝑨𝑹𝑰𝑺𝑻: Belamy 'Bell' Hawkins | fc: Bob Morley
Bell Hawkins left South Carolina at 18 and spent the subsequent 6 years on the road with his best friends and his sister – his band, A GIRL IS A GUN. They are DIY scene darlings. The last four years, however, Bell (and A Girl Is A Gun) have slowed down. After the death of his mother, he and his sister Olivia bought an old house in Central Jersey and opened Gun Street Girl Records. Olivia has since put most of her musician days behind her, and traded up into the New School's MFA in Creative Nonfiction. She still plays with A Girl Is A Gun when they can, and spends her summers living with her brother, working at the Gun Street Girl House.

If I made a fool on the road, there's always this
And if I'm sewn into submission
I can still come home to this