Photograph: Jay Muhlin

You look like Daphne from Scooby-Doo, except with attitude.
Really? I usually get Cyndi Lauper or Peggy Bundy. I prefer Cyndi Lauper. She’s more versatile.

Where are you from?
Canarsie.

Do you have a lot of end-of-the-subway-line pride?
Not at all! [Laughs] There’s not much of an open-minded or well-rounded assortment of knowledge there. There’s not much scenery.

So you have to create the scenery.
Yeah. Ever since I was 14, people in my neighborhood would say, “Oh, you’re such a weirdo.” I’m a social leper. A lot of it is my exterior appearance, but also just as outrageous is my interior.

What do you do?
Well, I want to be a fashion designer, but my immigrant parents—I love ’em—aren’t really hearing that. So I’m in school for nursing. And I work for a developing website. It’s supposed to be the Google of sports.

Sports? You?
I know. I don’t retain anything. My father just knew the boss and he was looking for someone. And he liked my appearance.

Whoa, you got hired based on looks?
Um, well, yeah. Everyone in my office is kind of weird-looking too. If they don’t dress different they really act different.

Sounds like you found your island of lepers.
Yes! Yes. Some are more straitlaced than others, but everybody has their own little things. Especially the people who do the animation: They’re even weirder than me.

More from Katie

"People say that part of the reason I get away with so much tackiness is because I wont it. My mom calls me tacky all the time."

"I'm the type who knows a lot fo people, but I'm not quck to say someone is my friend. I call them associates, frenemies, but real friends? I have very few of those. As for my boyfriends, I don't have one. I encounter crazy guys a lot, and then when I get normal guys I'm too much for them or somthing. I think I"m bored by them, too. It works both ways."

"Even in Manhattan you have a lot of closed-minded people. It’s astonishing. Even in the city of difference, there’s still ignorance. Manhattan is divided: You can take this same outfit to the East and West Village and I blend in and get a lot of compliments. If I go to midtown it starts being a little different—I get funny looks. On the Upper East Side, they just put their heads down like, Oh my God, what is wrong with her?! It’s so funny."

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