Molly Borowitz is a freshman at Princeton University, and a member of the awesome Class of 2009. She originally hails from Charlottesville, Virginia (if you knew that’s where UVa is, have a cookie!), which she insists is part of the South. She graduated from Western Albemarle High School in 2005 and hopes to become either a virologist, a famous classical composer, a writer, or the first woman President when she grows up. At this point, however, she is way too goofy to grow up any time soon.
When she’s not writing about Toulouse-Lautrec, Molly can be found freezing to death (New Jersey is way too cold, yall), giving Orange Key tours to scared-looking high-school juniors, singing with her a cappella group, the Princeton Katzenjammers, watching 24, inserting unnecessary exclamation points and italics, or generally just bouncing around campus. Her interest in Impressionism stems from her own background in art and photography, her passion for Romantic and Modernist music, and her visits to the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. She knew she’d chosen the right artist for her research paper when, while she was sitting on the gallery floor sketching a Toulouse-Lautrec painting, a sweet seven-year-old girl named Maggie (her adored younger sister’s name) sat down beside her and asked what she was drawing. The ensuing conversation led her to realize that Toulouse-Lautrec was one cool dwarf. Weeks later, elbow-deep in books and drafts, her mind remained unchanged. She sincerely hopes that reading her essay has evoked the same sentiment in you. If you’re totally weirded out, that works for her, too.