Team,
This week marks the one-year anniversary of this, The Apron Stage. On November 1, 2008, we went live.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AS!
To commemorate this sort of ridiculous and awesome passage of time, I (Sarah) thought I’d pull together a sort of unauthorized history of the origin of The Apron Stage. (Unauthorized because I’m pretty sure that the other writers will think it’s way too long and navel-gazing.) I thought it would be good to revisit the beginning–to see what we were hoping for, what we were worried about, and who should get credit for what. (Levi, turns out, gets a lot of it.)
I thought you might enjoy it too. Yes? Because, let’s be honest, we were nothing but girls emailing each other before you joined us. (Except Louise, who was already a literary rockstar.)
So thank you–thank you for reading, for commenting, for guest posting, and for putting up with the next 1200 words of history.
You deserve congratulations too.
s (and r, l, and l)
P.S. If you didn’t know it already, the blog was Rebecca’s idea. She started it all–first by knowing each one of us; second by harassing us to write for her, which we successfully procrastinated talking seriously about until August 1, 2008. Open curtain.
NOTE: The following emails are all true, real emails sent among us in the months leading up to the debut of The Apron Stage. Not all of our emails are below–a lot were sheer logistics–and even those presented below are HEAVILY excerpted. So you’ll think we’re pithier than we really are.
Except Louise. She really is that good.
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Conference email
Rebecca Smylie to Louise, Lisa, me
8/1/08
Ladies-
Are we ready to talk about the blog? Sarah, you’re finished with the bar and that’s what we were waiting for, right?
Just wanted to get the conversation started. Here are my thoughts–amend and skip and delete as necessary.
–Each of us writes one post a week.
–On the fifth day of the week we have a guest writer OR we do a conversation between the four of us. A flurry of us.
–Mostly funny, sometimes serious. Mostly uplifting, sometimes frustrated.
Premise? Not sure, unless we did something like all sides of woman. Louise is the older and “wiser” grandmother. I am the stay at home young mom. Sarah, you’ll be jumping head first into the corporate world, Lisa, you’re single and have more crazy boy stories than anyone I know. That sort of thing? Open for discussion (obviously).
Name? No clue. Unless we call it “Better than a kick in the knee.” I learned this phrase from Louise herself…
Still to be discussed: design, launch, end game. Oh yes, and whether we really want to do this at all. Back out now, I say.
Much love-
Rebecca
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Sarah Olson to Rebecca, Louise, Lisa
8/5/08
1. I’m totally for.
2. I really mean that.
3. I’m in Ohio for a moment (the second time in one week), on my way back to NY (the second time in two weeks), and my brain has fallen out of my head.
4. My brain has fallen out of my head.
But
5. I’m hopeful it will return.
I think the four regular plus one guest/group post rotation is a good one. I’ve been thinking and I can’t decide which day of the week would be the least fun to write for–Monday? Friday? Wednesday? I say we give that one to our guest blogger.
These are my thoughts. It’s 1:03 am here in Fremont, Ohio, and my brain has fallen out of my head. Please don’t judge me or my long-winded prose too harshly. I’ll try to be better when/if our blog goes public.
Ohio.
Sarah
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Louise Plummer to me
8/6/08
I agree with everything Sarah wrote including that my brain has fallen out of my head.
Louise
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Rebecca Smylie to Lisa, me
8/7/08
Sarah,
I think you and I are on the same page. Mostly. I wonder if stylistically we should make our posts fit some parameter. (Between 200-600 words?)
Your text “buy the premise, buy the bit” was dead on. I still don’t know what our premise is. The best I’ve come up with is the different sides of a woman, but I don’t want to pigeon hole us. Lisa called and said she didn’t know if she should be offended or flattered about me saying she should be the one with the boy stories. I laughed and said I could expect the exact same call from you.
In actuality, the premise, at least for me, is four women who can write and say things that are interesting to read. Entertain. And be happy.
And FINALLY, I didn’t copy Louise on this because I think we’ll start to bug her.
Love you dearly and hope all is well!
-Rebeccca
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Sarah Olson to Rebecca, Lisa
8/7/08
200-600 words. What you’re saying is you want me to be pithy? How on earth do I do that? I’m willing to try.
I think the purpose is just what you’re saying, RM. All Sides of Woman. Except we’re not really all sides of woman, yet. We’re still distinctly LDS and white, educated, upper middle-class, etc. That’s why I don’t think we should go with that as a name. But within the constraints of that, we’re just trying to communicate the mostly uplifting, sometimes frustrating, mostly funny, sometimes serious life experiences of people like us or of people who like us. Us being likeminded people with commitment to humanity, to sanity, to verve, wit, and self-improvement that grows out of our desires to be a little kinder, enjoy life a little more, and be like God.
Like Crazy.
Sarah
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Rebecca Smylie to me, Lisa
8/8/08
My purposes:
1. Have fun.
2. We want people to feel happy and their souls to swell.
3. And i think I just want to be forced to write something, for a real audience, once a week. And I want to read things, by writers I adore and admire, four times a week. So that’s my personal purpose.
Okay, I love thinking about this. I want to have a business meeting that we dress up for and discuss this sort of detachedly at first, and then very very passionately.
Talk soon
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Lisa Piorczynski to me, Rebecca
8/8/08
Wow, wow, wow. I’m kinda behind here. Sarah, hi. I like you already. Bex, hi. I made it home post-road trip.
Amen to 200-600 words. Amen to Shakespeare. Brevity is, indeed, the soul of wit.
Amen to having fun, to lifting souls, to forcing ourselves to write.
That’s all.
L
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Rebecca Smylie to me, Lisa
8/17/08
Yes yes. That Title. We need help. We definitely need help. Levi says it needs to be something that people can say easier, one word, he says. He says it should be a literary term. Perhaps an obscure one. Is there an obscure literary term having to do with four?
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Rebecca Smylie to Lisa, me, Louise
9/30/08
Sarah found this:
APRON STAGE: A stage that projects out into the auditorium area. This enlarges the square footage available for actors to walk and move upon. This feature was not common in the days of classical Greco-Roman theater, but it was a common architectural trait in Elizabethan times and remains in use in some modern theaters. An apron stage is also known as a thrust stage.
And then she said this: “I like that it has a sort of domestic feel, that it has actual meaning, and that what it represents is our attempt to extend our lives out a little bit, to have a bigger stage to play on, so to speak.”
While I’m definitely not the domestic “type” I do think I like it because it’s a title that suggests we’re women–
-Rebecca
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Rebecca Smylie to me
9/30/08
Levi says our title needs to be somehting that people say. “Do you read Apron Stage?” I think he’s right.
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Rebecca Smylie to me, Lisa
10/14/08
Heard some encouraging things about the money people are making in this world. Also heard some discouraging things. I love you both regardless.
–The Apron Stage #3.
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Lisa Piorczynski to Rebecca, me
10/15/08
Tell those discouarging people to shut up. We’re smarter than they are. And we’ve got your kick-ass ancestors on our side so we’ll be fine.
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Rebecca Smylie to Lisa, me
10/22/08
Girls,
The best part of all of this, is that I’m talking to you guys. And brainstorming with you guys. And being creative with you guys. It will sound lame to say this, but last night I was all sorts of wired and had to watch a tv show to calm down. That doesn’t usually happen to me. It was just fun to be working on something. I hope it always feels that way. If it ceases so to be–let’s quit.
Love you–
-Rebecca
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BONUS QUIZ!
Which of the following actually proposed alternate names for The Apron Stage (that’s right, we discussed/briefly considered each one of these) was inspired by one of Levi’s ex-girlfriends–and why?
- Of Good Report
- Pickled Beets
- 4 Rivers
- Pishtigites
- For the Fat Lady
- For the Joy
- Blevity
- Apostrophie
- You Do Realize
- Litotes
- The Cotton Library
We’ll reveal the answer at the end of the day. We’ll even name a winner. Whoop whoop!
39 comments
Comments feed for this article
November 6, 2009 at 6:39 am
Adam Findley
You Do Realize – After the moving song “Do you realize??” by the Flaming lips that is oddly usable both at a wedding and a funeral and is the Official Rock Song of Oklahoma. This girl was obviously a Flaming Lips fan and the profound meaning of the song mixed with the smart sounding “You Do Realize” made it a tough choice to veto, but since it was an ex-girlfriend’s idea it got veto’d?
Here’s a link to the song, but this will probably put me on the spam list.
November 6, 2009 at 7:49 am
Slone
I vote for ‘blevity.’ I imagine it’s some contraction of Levi’s name and also reflects or infers humor and enjoying life. And possibly that Levi is a big geek. I would now like to suggest some possible expanded names:
Bradley Levi Tyson
B Arthur Levi Tyson
B Arthur Levi Tyson Yentl
Beelzebub Leviticus Tyranius
Bart Levi Tyko
Brittny Levi Tysper
Bonnie Levi Tyclip
Brett Levi Tyrone
Brigham Levi Terry
Bishop Levi Thomas
Bi Li Ty
November 6, 2009 at 8:37 am
sarahlolson
Yes! We’re off to a rousing start! Adam Findley and Slone–you have set a great tone and both get extra points for going the extra mile (i.e., music video link, generative list of funniness).
Also, I forgot to mention: we may or may not choose the winner based on who got the answer right. Other things–je ne sais quoi, joie de vivre, depth of reflection on the meaning of the AS–may factor in too.
Just sayin’.
Birthday cake for all!
November 6, 2009 at 9:49 am
Kaedi
Man, after hearing my fair share of stories about Levi’s ex-girlfriends, you’d think I’d have an idea on this one.
In the meantime, Happy Birthday, Apron Stage! You four are so talented, witty, and thought-provoking. Thanks for the daily candy/inspiration/entertainment.
November 6, 2009 at 10:05 am
smylies
Sarah–this is too long. 200-600 words we said. (Though I admit to never once being sad you went over.)
November 6, 2009 at 10:24 am
living in zion
I love learning how things began. Friendships, relationships, corporate ships, blog ships – sorry, I was trying to keep the theme going.
Congrats. on being brave and taking a risk. I love the Apron Stage. It makes me happy.
November 6, 2009 at 10:28 am
Robin
Cotton Library. Because it is on the bottom of the list.
Happy Birthday! I am in the frequent reader club.
November 6, 2009 at 10:53 am
Kahalia
Levi was right. Whenever we have girls night out I always throw out a “Did you read the apronstage yesterday?” to get the ball rolling on a good conversation. We then convert those who have no idea what we’re talking about. I’m glad you didn’t choose the sides of a woman as the title.
Your blog helps me think, laugh out loud and have something to talk about with friends and gives lively discussions for my husband and I.
November 6, 2009 at 11:41 am
Erin
I’m glad that Litotes made the list! I learned the term in my sophomore English class in high school, and ever since then when someone would use one I would comment, “Oh, nice litote!” I normally received questioning looks to my compliment. This happened so regularly I started to think I had made the word up.
To that end, The Apron Stage is not an unpleasant blog to read! Thanks and Happy Anniversary!
November 6, 2009 at 11:42 am
lisapiorczynski
Reading those emails gives me the energy to do this for another year.
A toast to our readers for giving us people to work for.
The Apron Stage has seen me through one of the most pivotal years of my life. Let’s see what the next year of blogging brings…
Happy Birthday readers and writers!
November 6, 2009 at 12:15 pm
Traci
Is no one going to guess For the Fat Lady? Seriously? Wide open.
how about Pickled Beets, she was an alchoholic fan of Jack Kerouac?
November 6, 2009 at 12:28 pm
corktree
“You do realize” sounds like a favorite and annoyingly too often repeated phrase of someone that you begin to make fun of. Would that person fall into an ex-girlfriend category?
And did you know that a google search of “Pishtigites” only brings you right back here?! Please explain that one.
Thanks for being so wonderfully jovial, well written and self aware, all of you! You are still exactly what you set out to be and you never fail to bring a smile to my face in the morning (even on the more serious days). Keep rockin’ the blogosphere!
November 6, 2009 at 12:32 pm
Melissa
Happy Birthday, Apron Stagers. I’ve often wondered just how the four of you were connected prior to this blog. I’m still not entirely sure–although we know now that Rebecca’s the primary connection. Do we get to hear the details?
November 6, 2009 at 1:10 pm
smylies
Sarah–I have no idea what the answer to the quiz is. What does this say about me? Melissa, have you ever read The Tipping Point? All you need to know is this: I’m as connector as connectors come.
November 6, 2009 at 1:12 pm
lisapiorczynski
Sarah,
It’s true. I’ve always said that Kevin Bacon’s got nothing on Rebecca. If you’re not related to her distantly, you know her somehow.
November 6, 2009 at 1:36 pm
Shauna
Happy Birthday!! How fun. I found The Apron Stage by happenstance — my sister-in-law started writing for a blog called Oliofolio, so I started popping in over there every once in a while, and one of the authors there linked to here . . . and I’ve been popping in here nearly every day ever since. I enjoy each of you so much, and feel that you are people I would like to be friends with — enough that I find myself trying to find some connection (does that make me sound like a stalker? But doesn’t it seem like if you look hard enough or far enough back or something, that there often is a connection? So far I’ve only found one, very tenous connection — my parents taught at BYU-H until this year, so would have been there during Louise’s stint there; I of course was long-since gone by 2003, though I graduated from Kahuku HS, which Louise mentioned — not so flatteringly — in a comment to a post).
I think you are fulfilling your mission fabulously, and hope that you never tire of it! Or, as the add-on to the Birthday song says, “. . . . and many more!”
Oh, and for the contest, I was thinking “For the Fat Lady” Oops. Was that too mean?!?
November 6, 2009 at 1:38 pm
Shauna
Oh, darn, I didn’t see until too late that someone had already made the fat lady joke. Oh well. Great minds and all that.
November 6, 2009 at 2:58 pm
No One You Know
Congratulations ladies!
Glad you made the leap into literary-cyber-super stardom!
Hate to be the downer, but I clicked on Louise’s link. She’s a Wikipedian! I love how every other word on there is blue. So much info to sort through. I noticed that her husband Tom was red (the word, not the man). I am a thorough investigator and when I scroled over the link, a lttle yellow box said, “this page does not exist”.
Somehow that seemed sad.
I hate to be sad on someone’s birthday.
November 6, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Emily
Congrats on making it after all! I’m so glad I followed the link from a friend’s blog to here. I’ve been reading every day since. Thanks for giving me something to look forward to read each day!
November 6, 2009 at 3:50 pm
AnnaBeth
I’m sure, positive, really, that Levi’s ex was a quoter. You know, loved to quote books she’d read, movies she’d seen, and most of all scriptures. She must have found Levi “Of Good Report” and given her recommendation to Rebecca. Must have.
Even more importantly H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y! and thank you for being.
Love!
November 6, 2009 at 4:19 pm
Melissa
I have, indeed, read The Tipping Point, so I’ll content myself with simply knowing that Rebecca is a great connector.
November 6, 2009 at 4:19 pm
rvs
Happy Birthday, Apron Stage! When I stumbled upon your blog, I went through the back entries and was disappointed they only went back a year ago. Here’s to a year more! You are clever and funny women, and Apron Stage stays in my mind all day.
As for the quiz, I’m going with Apostrophie. Perhaps Levi had an ex-girlfriend that worked at Anthropologie.
November 6, 2009 at 5:31 pm
Laura
Oohh…I agree with RVS – it was the first thing I thought of when I read Apostrophie.
Happy Birthday, Apron Stage! You are such lovely, lovely wonderful women – and I love being a part of this community. I’m rooting for a meet-up/marathon/reunion (can we have a reunion? I don’t know if we’ve technically union-ized) any time.
I know this may sound trite and untrue, but I love you women. I love this place. It is all so wonderfully wonderful. And I’m gushing, but deal with it.
November 6, 2009 at 6:05 pm
Tom
We had a mission? And I was okay with that?
November 6, 2009 at 6:06 pm
Louise Plummer
That was me above.
November 6, 2009 at 6:36 pm
Evelyn
Apostrophie
Ok. I’m not sure when or where or how, but I’m pretty sure i once read something about reading an ex’s blog and feeling joy (and perhaps superiority?) when seeing all the grammatical errors.
Congrats on one year, I have thoroughly enjoyed reading your blog and “getting to know” you wonderful ladies. And your friends who’ve posted too. And along with Heather Jones (the one who wrote the post about her experience in Kazakhstan) it helped me to feel friendship & “sisterhood” when I was in a foreign country (the same as her, actually) feeling ::oh so terribly isolated::
I guess you could say that it was entertaining, soul swelling, and loneliness diminishing. Not bad.
November 6, 2009 at 6:52 pm
sunny
I have felt my soul swell to at least three times its original size. And I almost always feel happy when I read your posts. I think your blog is a huge success. Thanks for sharing.
November 6, 2009 at 8:32 pm
Erika
Happy Birthday Apron Stage!! It is definitely a bright spot in my day. Many thanks to you four women for carrying the load of our enlightenment, entertainment, and group therapy. I can honestly say that it’s inspired me, challenged me, and motivated me. Here’s to another fabulous year…
November 6, 2009 at 11:19 pm
missy
look at evelyn pulling out the archives of AS. I’m going with her on this one and apostrophie is totally it – the ex misspelled it.
happy birthday apron stagers. i’m happy to have been a reader since day one. you guys are awesome.
November 7, 2009 at 2:22 am
Cissy
I have no input on the contest.
But I really enjoy Apron Stage–both the name and the project. The writing and interaction on this site feel personal, sincere, cozy.
November 7, 2009 at 8:40 am
sarahlolson
Well, team. I’ve loved reading your comments–especially those indicating how you found the Apron Stage. We’re glad you’re here. Including you men readers–of whom I KNOW there are many (because you TELL me you read the AS, all the time; feel solidarity, men–there are MANY of you). (MEN-y of you?)
The ANSWER?
Pickled Beets! Rebecca wrote it to me this way (8/7/08):
“The other idea I had was ‘Pickled Beets.’ Pickled Beets–we had them for dinner last night. And Levi told me the first girl he kissed gave him a mix tape and titled it as such. I thought it was funny.”
To that end, I’m going to name Traci winner. Not for the pickled beets guess (okay, yes, largely for that) but also for her trenchant assessment of the “For the Fat Lady” idea. (Note: For the Fat Lady is a Salinger reference. One of the best moments of Salinger ever. Ever. Anyone?)
Happy 2nd year, AS. Here’s to us all sticking around for more.
November 7, 2009 at 11:34 am
Karen
I’m glad you started Apron Stage. Great reading. My daughter and I talk about Apron stage posts and authors like we actually know you guys.
Keep up the good work.
November 7, 2009 at 12:19 pm
Alisha
Sarah–that’s Franny and Zooey! I concur on your ‘best moments’ assessment. That’s a great one (reference and book).
November 7, 2009 at 5:18 pm
Traci
AHHH! I won! Imagine me right now, jumping around like a Price is Right contestant! Because that is what I am doing (while wearing striped fuzzy leg warmers) I LOVE the Apron Stage! woo hoo!
November 7, 2009 at 6:16 pm
Dee
I know a great joke about pith. It involves two rabbits, a lettuce and a lisp.
Your pith is nothing like that though. AS is insightful, inspiring and speaks to all the woman that I am.
And as Granda Smylie would sing after the birthday song was sung “For they are jolly good fellows, and so say all of us.”
November 7, 2009 at 9:48 pm
Slone
And so the plot thickens. To another year of humor and mystery, ladies. And to ‘all the women that you are.’ So says Dee. So say all of us.
November 8, 2009 at 9:41 am
Emily
I don’t comment, but I love this blog! Thank you for keeping it up!
November 8, 2009 at 5:08 pm
Elizabeth
Wonderful blog! I look forward to reading it daily! Thank you, talented women. Your bright minds shine off this page.
November 8, 2009 at 8:37 pm
jes
this blog makes me wonder why i write a blog at all. you say it all better and you say it in 200-600 words (most of the time). it fills the empty space in my brain. well, at least one of the empty spaces in my brain.
don’t ever stop writing. it would be sad.