About

My name is Jessi Wilson. I love words. Not all words equally, but in general, give me a word over a number any day. There will be lots of words on this/in this blog. Also, pictures. Because they are worth a thousand words. And we now know how much I love words.

I grew in Baltimore County, Maryland. It is generic suburbia, and thus very safe, very low-key and rather homogeneous.

I hung out at the mall.

I attended public school.

I danced ballet for ten years or so.

I also played some soccer, basketball and softball. All a little half-heartedly.

My first job was as a toast girl at a beach grill on the Jersey shore at age fourteen.

I attended Princeton University.

I lived in St. Petersburg, Russia for a summer in 1998; I studied Russian for ten years.

I worked for my father’s company. My mother was a co-worker. She would correct my behavior in front of other co-workers. (Sit up straight!) I was in my mid-late 20s at the time. Way to undermine my credibility, Mom.

My father died of cancer.

I lived in Lyon, France for about a year. I moved there without any knowledge of French.

I attended the University of Arizona, in Tucson, to study creative writing. I have my M.F.A. in Fiction.

I earned my MBA at EMLyon in Lyon, France. Thus, I have lived in Lyon for two years, total.

I am back living in my home town: Baltimore; Charm City; Bodymore, Murderland.

I am white.

I am a woman.

I am in my 30s.

I have never been married.

I do not have children.

I do not own property.

I have a dog. She is a Havanese. She barks way too much. In fact, she is barking right now.

Her name is Crumb.

I have held the following jobs: toast girl at Oves Beach Grill; waitress at the Sindia Restaurant, the Scotch Hall, and Oves Beach Grill; student worker at Firestone Library, waitress at Chestnut Ridge Country Club; barista at Starbucks, editorial assistant for the Towson Times and the Baltimore Messenger; production webmaster (sort of like an early blogger) at biospace.com, various temp jobs in New York City, a photographer for a (horrible) jewelry company that sold its wares on ebay; a counter worker at Clinton Street Baking Company, a sales and marketing representative at IntraMalls; an events assistant at a research institute of the University of Arizona; a writing instructor at a community college in Tucson; an adjunct professor of creative writing at the University of Arizona.

Sometimes, I’m afraid Princeton is going to come back and demand I return my degree.

But then I meditate.

And make plans to take over the universe.

I look like this when I drive a boat:

And like this when emerging from the ground:

And like this when I kiss Crumb:

And like this when taking a photobooth picture after a haircut: