Photo: Amy Perl Photography

About Annie

You want to know what’s great about being a middle-aged lady? It’s like an invisibility shield. It’s like wearing Harry Potter’s cloak. Eyes slide right over me. I can walk past people, and if you asked them to describe me two minutes later, they couldn’t do it. The downside is that I almost get run over a lot, but the upside is that I am the world’s greatest spy. I can stand in front of people and write down what they say, and they don’t notice! I can even take pictures of them, and they don’t notice! Clearly, I would be a major asset to the international espionage industry, but I decided to put my invisibility to better use: I watched teenagers. I listened to what they were saying. And then I wrote Nothing.