The Third Intern

I have always been very persistent.

I wanted to work at Sail Caribbean, even though I can’t sail. So I called Mike, the owner, every week until he agreed to sit down with me, and somewhere in that meeting I convinced him I could be the provisions manager. Which meant I was in charge of feeding eighty kids, allergies and all, three meals a day, at sea.

We pulled into port every four or five days and I restocked. I placed all the orders, organized the meals, rewrote the recipes and blew Mike’s budget. He tried to fire me once, but the kids were eating too well. The parents expected nothing less; it was an expensive camp. I had the best time, and I left my recipes behind for the next provisions manager.

After that, I worked my way into Alice Waters’s office the same way, as her third intern, the most junior person in a very small, very busy room. When Chez Panisse turned forty, they were on a budget and I had a camera, so I photographed the anniversary. Those photographs brought me to the Savannah College of Art and Design, and food and pictures, the two things I love most, stopped being separate.

So go after your dreams. This house is mine.