Hi Ms. Sarah,

I'm writing to request your consent to be the subject of this week's featured spotlight interview in The Mac Weekly...I, of course, would be the interviewer, and just thought you would be a great/involved/cute/awe-inspiring person to talk to. We would have to do it tomorrow or Wednesday afternoon. Let me know when you're free and I'll be as flexible as I can. It's gonna be loads of fun! Let me know if you're into the idea. Maybe we can each get boyfriends out of it. Somehow.

Lizzie
 

that's crazy! are you sure you e-mailed the right person? i mean, i am pretty ordinary??? do you think it would be interesting? i mean, shit, i guess i'll do it. hmmm . . . crazy . . . we could chat tomorrow after 4:15. does that work for you? if you think of someone cooler, i definitely won't be offended, but the boyfriend thing does sound pretty cool . . .
 

i look forward to talking soon,

sarah
 

I know it’s going to be a challenge to get Sarah to talk about herself, much less admit to doing all of the amazing things I know she does. Plus, as I tell her, I’d never interviewed anyone before that I was “sort-of friends” with before. She is mockingly outraged. We are more than “sort-of friends,” she says. I mean, come on, I dare you: just try and not fall in love with Sarah Meyeroff.
 

Where are you from?

I’m from Milwaukee, Wis.
 

Why did you come to Macalester?

Well, I originally thought I was going to play soccer. For some reason, at one point I thought I was good at soccer, but then I realized that I wasn’t very good at all and was sort of living in this fantasy world in high school.
 

You were recruited, weren’t you?

I was vaguely recruited. I feel like he was really there to recruit another girl, and I was just a…maybe a bonus, or maybe not. Also, I had a really fun time when I came to visit.
 

What’s your major?

Urban Studies and Spanish.
 

What’s your favorite city?

I really like the interdisciplinary nature of the [Urban Studies] major and it was about issues that I really like. But when it comes down to it, I want to live on a farm. The plan is that when I turn 50, my brother, sister and I will buy some land together.
 

So just list for me all the things that you do.

Well, I’m on the Program Board, in charge of lectures. I was just in the play, The Family (re)Union Project. I work at the Resource Center of the Americas. And I work with Mac Peace and Justice and SLAC. And Habitat for Humanity.
 

Alright, give me a day in the life.

Usually I wake up at around eight o’clock. I don’t know if I have a really interesting day. Basically, I just run around a lot. I have meetings at night, and I try to cook dinner with my roommates. I exercise. I’ve become a fan of the swimming pool. I spend a lot of time making photocopies and reserving rooms and writing e-mails.
 

What about class?

Oh, yeah, I try and go to all my classes. I like school a lot. Maybe that’ll get me a date. That is what we’re here for, right?
 

OK, Sarah. So how do you not go crazy?

I believe in what I’m doing. I sort of have a feeling of this being a time when I can do all of this and learn a lot from it and make mistakes and have it be fine, and I really like that. I actually really like being busy. You’re busy, you know. I like feeling at the end of the day like “Yeah, I got shit done today.”
 

What makes you angry?

Ummm…
 

Do you ever get angry?

I don’t often get angry. I think I get angry when people complain about things that they could really do something about. I get angry when people say there’s no activism on campus, because there are a lot of people doing a lot of great work, and that’s just totally not acknowledging them. I think I’m pretty sensitive, which is hard. I guess that’s not what makes me angry, just sad.
 

Do you hate anyone?

I believe in people, that people are really good inside. And I expect a lot from people. I don’t really like Hitler. Or, like, Bush. But I’m sure if I knew them on a personal level I’d probably like them. Well, maybe not.
 

Do you hate the woman that ran you over? [In the spring, Sarah was hit by a car crossing Snelling Ave., smashing the windshield with her head, messing up her left knee and tearing her ACL]

Well, she wrote me a letter apologizing and talking about how she wasn’t just a businesswoman on her phone, and then she said “and I’m a vegetarian!” And I wrote her back and told her that I didn’t want her to feel guilty about it, at all. It could have been anyone. It just happened that [she] and I met in a horrible way and I don’t blame her at all. It sucks and I’m still recovering from it, and I’m still scared to cross the street.
 

Did that incident change your perspective at all?

The night after it happened, I remember being at a party and everyone was cheering and I said something like “To life!” and got really emotional. There was definitely a point afterward where I was like “Wow, I almost died” and that’s crazy. Now I feel pretty appreciative of things. Like walking. I feel like I know my body better, which is cool. It’s such a crazy thing, you know? But so many people are getting hit by cars lately! It’s horrible.
 

I feel like I almost get hit riding my bike to school multiple times a day.

I know, it’s horrible. We need to reclaim the streets or something.
 

Do you know what you are gonna do next year?

I’m looking at graduate schools for the year after next, in Public Policy maybe. I think for next year I’ll apply to Americorps. I want to do something that puts me in a very different community than this one, so that I keep myself aware of the communities that exist outside of this one. And I feel like this community makes you strong enough to do that. My brother’s in the Peace Corps in Cape Verde, and he was telling me that you just have to do something crazy that just shakes things up for you, and that helps you kind of figure out who you are and what your politics are gonna be, that kind of stuff.
 

Hey, remember that time last year when we said we would find each other boyfriends?

Yeah, what happened to that? I don’t know. I’m hopeless.
 

Alright, let’s go. What are you looking for in a man?

I mean, I’m attracted to guys who are very independent and have their own things going on and are excited about things they’re doing in their lives. I think that’s hot. Anyway, you know, a good smile. Scruffy.
 

How should the fellas approach you?

With roses. Just kidding. I think flirting is fun, and we should do more of it.
 

We’ve talked about this. But everyone at Macalester flirts all the time.

Yeah, maybe we flirt too much. But then we never really act on anything. We’re all wimps. We’ve created a culture of wimps and I don’t really know what to do about it. I mean, if a guy came up to me and was like “Want to go get some coffee?” I’d be like, “Really?” That hasn’t happened to me since freshman year.
 

[Sarah and I momentarily lapse in to a rehashing of a guy that screwed both of us over and deliberate printing it in the paper. “He” has graduated, but with our own reputations in mind, we decide against it]
 

You need to come out with me!

Yeah, I definitely need to go out more. That needs to be a part of my life. That’s where it’s at. The men, I mean. Or the ladies, whatever.
 

Anything else you want to say?

Well, one thing that comes to mind in this nostalgic sort of conversation is that I think college is great and I’ve learned so much from it and I feel like I’ve learned more than in my whole life before. And really good life stuff, about really important things. None of that high school stuff, when nothing has any relevance to you.
 

What’s the most important thing you’ve learned?

I’ve learned a lot about my identity as a white woman. And that’s huge, I think. About the power and the privilege, but also how to be an ally.
 

Do you think you’ll spend your life working for social justice?

Yes! I only can hope. There’s a lot to be done. But I’m excited and happy. And even optimistic, because I think we should be. I learned that here, too.
 

I hear you said in the Family (re)Union Project that you’re ready to fall in love.

I do think about that, to be honest. I romanticize it a lot and I’m romantic, and, I like that. Love seems really nice, and I want to try it out.
 

It’s hard because we all want it, but I have a hard time imagining having the time for it!

Yeah, that’s true too. And in the end, I think this is probably just not the right time. But then I wonder if sometimes, some people…I don’t want to say that. Maybe some people are just meant to be alone.
 

Oh, God!

No, I don’t really believe that. Maybe it’s just not the right time for me. That’s what people tell me.
 

What? Who?

That’s what my friends tell me! That’s what EA tells me, put that in the paper! People tell me I’m awkward.
 

What? No you’re not!

People tell me that!
 

Who?

I don’t know, my friends?
 

I don’t think you’re awkward, I think you’re great!

Oh, I think we’re more than sort of friends!
 

Yay! Can that be the conclusion?

I think this should be as much about you as it is about me.
 

I knew you were going to say something like that!

Can I do that? I’ll write the part about you!
 

We’ll see, Sarah.