When I was 12, every little girl in Russia was trying to wear her hair like mine and playing tennis.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I had a minor in Russian history, and this was at the time when the big Cold War was going on.
I started like many young Russian people in the beginning of perestroika when it seemed that everything was possible.
When I was in high school, I liked to pretend that I was a Russian foreign exchange student. I would do things like go into a pizza restaurant and tell them I'd never had pizza before, and they'd bring me into the kitchen and show me how to make an American pizza. It's really fun.
I was slicking my hair back when I was in sixth grade.
When I was younger, people would always say, 'Are you a ballet dancer?' I had that look - one of those skinny kids with my hair in a bun.
A lesser complaint: hair extensions. There are moments on 'All My Children' when half the women actors, young and old, seem to be afflicted by android Barbie creep. All those thick swatches of lifeless strands clustering lankly round ladies' necks! Like orange tanning spray, this is a fashion fad that should be put out of its misery.
My mom read French 'Elle' when I was a little girl, and so, when I was 15 or 16, I said, 'I want to work in fashion.'
I was always the freaky Asian girl who drew these weird-looking Barbie dolls in class.
When I was 15, I was wearing sandals and corduroys, Guernsey, striped pullover, a beard that was hardly there, shades and a beret, and the goal was hanging out.
Ever since that day when I was 11 years old, and I wasn't allowed in a photo because I wasn't wearing a tennis skirt, I knew that I wanted to change the sport.