the mock-up.

Some days, its a real struggle to restrain myself from stealing the upstairs neighbor's New York Times (especially when it's still sitting in the entryway at four in the afternoon). Today was one of those soul-wrenching days. I spotted a provocative feature headline -- "For Girls, It's Be Yourself, and Be Perfect, Too" -- and stood in the entry with my grocery bags for a full minute, neck craned to read all the text up to the jump (without actually touching the paper, because that is a minor breach of the Thou Shalt Not Steal the Neighbor's Newspaper rule).

Anyway, the article seemed really promising: a feature on overachieving, overscheduled, overdriven high school girls. I was one of them, of course, and if I'm really honest with myself I'd admit that I still am (just with slower metabolism and slightly more sensible clothes). So I hustled upstairs to read it on my computer, and couldn't get past the second page. It's just a vapid transcription of interviews with 17-year-old Newton North girls, offering such amazing revelations as (paraphrasing): Girls admire Christina from Grey's Anatomy! Newton North is a really good public school! Sometimes, suburban high school students worry about getting into college!

I'm disappointed. I could use some insight into why my female friends and I are the way we are. Then again, this was instructive:

But [one girl's mother] acknowledged that she had sent her own mixed signals. “As I’m sitting here saying I don’t care what kind of grades she gets, I’m thinking, she comes home with a B, and I say: ‘What’d you get a B for? Who gave you a B? I’m going to talk to them.’"

So I suppose you could make the argument that this particular breed of insanity is genetic.

(Note to my neighbor: I have never actually stolen your paper. I suspect the kids in the basement studio. They're shifty.)