Dana Schwartz, only 25 years old, released her memoir, Choose Your Own Disaster, today. The memoir, written in second person and structured as a “choose your own adventure,” takes readers through major decisions and moments in Schwartz’s life. It tackles heavy topics like eating disorders and sexual assault, but also lighter fare like a personality test titled “Are you an introvert or just a lazy asshole?” Schwartz rose to fame when she called out Jared Kushner in an open letter in July 2016. Below she shares 18 fun facts about herself.
1. I love eating dry powdered hot chocolate mix. I know it’s gross.
2. I sang in a Jewish a’cappella group in college. It was called The Alef Beats.
3. I was a high school debate champion.
4. I played varsity golf when I was in high school. This might be the most embarrassing thing about me.
5. When I was sick as a kid, I always watched “The Prince and Me.”
6. I interned at The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and on my first day, he asked me to putt with him in his office. It was the most stressed out about a putt I’ve ever been. (I made it.)
7. I secretly hate concerts. They’re too loud! Too many people! I realize I sound like an old person!
8. I have terrible, terrible, handwriting and I was always jealous of people whose lives are together enough to do things like bullet journal.
9. My number one celebrity crush is Jason Isaacs, in or out of his Lucius Malfoy costume.
10. My favorite lipstick is MAC “Twig” and my favorite nail polish color is OPI “Lincoln Park After Dark.”
11. I love Edward Gorey. I wish I could pull off the converse/fur coat look like he did.
12. I run the parody Twitter accounts @DystopianYA and @GuyInYourMFA. I started @GuyInYourMFA while I was talking a college fiction writing class. I think I made all of my classmates nervous.
story idea: a man visits a prostitute. a week later, she dies and it's very hard for the man to deal with
— AUTHOR In Your MFA (@GuyInYourMFA) December 8, 2017
13. My favorite book when I was younger was The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury. I cried reading it.
14. I don’t usually cry in movies, but for some reason I sobbed—full on sobbed—seeing Tuck Everlasting in theaters.
15. I was once in an “Occupy Wall Street”-themed production of Sweeney Todd. Don’t ask.
16. William Goldman, the guy who wrote Princess Bride, and also Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, went to my high school. Not at the same time I did.
17. My favorite movie genre is “spooky stop-motion animated.” Think: Corpse Bride, ParaNorman, Nightmare Before Christmas, Coraline, Kubo and the Two Strings—the list is longer than you think.
18. I’m obsessed with The Great British Bake-Off even though I hardly ever bake. In my defense, I have a tiny kitchen.
