Jakiela's Ms. New York entertains!

"When are people too old to invent themselves?" Lori Jakiela asks in her memoir Miss New York Has Everything. Her witty and entertaining voice piques the reader's interest as she recounts cockroaches, poodles and her father, pageants and her mother, fantasies, and reinvention of oneself. However, the entertainment was not distracting as small lines of reflection exhibited Jakiela's interior. Jakiela's recount of being "desperate and lonely" as a child when she snuggled with both Tinas proves that she didn't have everything. Her sometimes ironic and sad lines seem out of place, but behind the humor is reality. As a teenager she began to notice her father's odd but very serious relationship with animals, specifically poodles.

Recounting the tales of how her father had "adopted" Tina I and II reveals that her father was not fond of humans. "A dog you can trust, but with people you never know." I found this line particularly interesting because I have learned the exact opposite. The dogs in my neighborhood (Belize city) are viscous. They gallop towards you in excitement baring their teeth and barking. They attack any and everyone; it doesn't matter your size or theirs. Some of the dogs are strays as the mange clings to them, while others are well-fed pets. But culturally I was taught that dogs were for outside and their duty was to guard their master. That's it. But some of the dogs get bored with duty (I guess) as they sit out side in the sweltering heat. So they entertain themselves and enjoy running (barking and biting) after every passerby. So, as I read about Jakiela's father who called people cockroaches and loved dogs, it was intrigued. After reading more about him it seemed that neither humans nor animals could please him. He was unhappy regardless and whether his "happiness" solely relied on a dog or bird, it was never from within himself. So he seemed doomed to be disappointed; even though he tried to make the Tinas represent happiness. Jakiela might have secretly longed to get a quarter of the attention the Tinas both received as she recounts watching her father talk to the poodles.

Jakiela's characters have their own voices which are recounted through dialogue and appearance. A technique that I admire and hope to learn from. Jakiela's talent for describing a person's appearance in a way that hinted at the type of person they were was well done. However, sometimes these lines entertained as well. I found myself laughing at her lines like: "I love to blow the penis" and "My father called everyone cockroaches, except for family members. Family members got their own names like, Shirley Temple, The Banker, The Meatball, and The Jehovah."

Jakiela's fantasy of living in New York seemed possible as she became a stewardess; however, it simply was not what she had expected. No one told her about the apartment crawling with roaches or the 5am wake up calls. No one told her about Germany or about the sauna filled with naked people. And so, Jakiela finds herself in odds situations and places as she tries to accomplish a dream that she hasn't quite figured out. It was a dream to be in New York and as Jakiela says, "dreams are dreams and I knew things could be a lot worse." And with this optimism she was never afraid to reinvent herself, for better or worse.