Hello! Welcome to the Orange Peel. I’m your founder and tour guide, Anja. Please leave a dollar in the Ziploc bag I have attached to my belt loop whenever convenient for you throughout your visit. I’m a starving artist.
I am a first year at the University of Florida and a staff writer for PRISM Honors Magazine. How wonderfully kind and generous this directing team is in allowing me to establish this column! They are making a grave mistake.
The Orange Peel has a history that begins long before my entrance to the scene. It was the premier humor magazine at the University of Florida in the late 50’s and 60’s. The Peel was even ranked as one of the top humor publications in the country before its disappearance a few short years later. I spoke with master lecturer Mike Foley, who kindly recollected one of the more memorable print covers: “One of them had a girl standing at a urinal, skirt hiked up, turning to smile at the viewer. It was hilarious.” Foley implied that I have very large shoes to fill. Let’s hope those 60 years of inactivity allowed those shoes to shrink!
A little about me – I’m gorgeous, genius, awesome, multi-faceted, infinitely talented, hilarious, beautiful, flawless, amazing, unique, charismatic, intelligent, empathetic, heroic, and above all else, quite humble. In reality, I’m a chubby third grader living in the body of an 18-year-old who gets mistaken for 25 concerningly often. At this rate, I’ll look 60 by the time I hit 30. Reeaallly great for my dating life.
Enough about my always-the-bridesmaid-never-the-bride trope (although I’m hoping this means I’m destined to marry James Marsden like in “27 Dresses”). What you really want to know is what possessed me with the mix of ambition and stupidity needed to start a comedy column. The short explanation is that I’m a Leo. The extended explanation is that I’m a Leo who obsessively watches SNL and anything Tina Fey touches and I wanted to bring that love to Gator Country. UF (particularly us folks in Honors) needs media to read and relate to (or make fun of – there are no rules here!). At least I do – and for me it’s two birds with one stone: 1) I get to create that space and 2) I get to be the center of attention in said space! The perfect storm.
I hope you enjoy the little presents I leave for you here. Get ready for “Napoleon Dynamite” references, unnecessary rants, niche historical and SNL allusions, my favorite potty jokes and more.
Our tour ends here, at Rockefeller Center Heaven Rawlings Subway the end. You can find me right here, in my cozy corner of the PRISM website, or perhaps on fourth floor Marston having a (quiet) breakdown. Thanks for stopping by!
Featured Image Drawn By: Anja Schwarzbauer
UF PRISM 