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From Margaret Gould Stewart, Creative Director:

Mags here. I'm the person who makes all the pretty pictures for Tripod's web site. Sometimes it's hard to get a sense of who the people are behind the scenes, so I thought I'd tell you a little about myself and what it's been like to work here at Tripod.

I was never what you'd call "athletic" as a child. Early on, my parents noticed a pattern in my participation in sports...catcher for softball...goalie for soccer...bench warmer for basketball. Although I truly enjoyed the camaraderie I felt through the team sports in which I played, none could entice me to actually want to...run. I was a lazy kid. And not much has changed.

So when I started my job as creative director here at Tripod, I had some concerns. What were all of the Williamstown nature freaks going to think of a city girl like myself? Would Bo, our CEO and president, a self-proclaimed sports nut, make me go for morning psyche runs? Would Kara, our Director of Communications, who was an avid rugby and ice hockey player in college, challenge me to an arm wrestling match to see who would win the argument over what ad to place on suck?

Well, it's four months later, and things aren't nearly as bad as I suspected. I got married, which took off the heat for quite a while. But soon enough, the Tripod staff provided an opportunity for me to display my athletic prowess. Anthony had this great idea for the whole company to play Intramural soccer against Williams College students. Bruce, the bean counter, even pitched in to pay the registration fees. Emma was the only one who was smart enough to decline...something about how she only knew how to play cricket. My fate was sealed. There would be no hiding it this time. So I went to the local sporting goods store, bought some new cleats in the hopes that they, being made of genuine leather would actually carry me down the field on their own accord.

Not so. The situation was this: in co-ed soccer, each team has to have at least two women playing at all times. And guess how many women showed up for our first game? You got it...two. But as I dragged myself up and down the feild, sucking wind, I noticed that my team-mates weren't lookin' too hot either. There was Tung, our Membership Director, who admittedly is a very good soccer player...he was hurting. And Ethan, Kara, Jon...they were all dying. Granted they weren't in as bad a shape as I, but still.

We lost that first game 6-1. Bo hadn't been able to play, and boy, was he rarin' to go for the second. With his and others' help, we've won two games and our record now stands at 3-3. And what about me, you ask? Well, the gods were merciful. No, I didn't miraculously spring into shape after those first couple of games. In fact, I haven't even played in the last three. A saucy Williams co-ed cut me down in my prime and I tore my quad. It still really hurts to run...not that I've checked.

Cheers,

-- Margaret Gould Stewart, Creative Director (5/7/96)

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Read more "Letters from Tripod" in the archive.

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