Bio

(As written by Keri’s dog, Charlotte)

In December of 2010, my owner – Keri Blakinger – got arrested with six ounces of heroin during her senior semester at Cornell University. Thus, she left me for two years to go to the human pound. (However, I suspect that she still feels guilty about deserting me and so I use my come-hither-and-pet-me eyes to coerce her into extra pets, walks, and table scraps. I have her wrapped around my little paw.)

After serving almost two years in county and state correctional facilities, my owner is back on the outside and working on a witty, insightful, and generally awesome memoir called IV League. When not memoiring or blogging, Keri works as a reporter. After putting in some time at the Ithaca Times and spending a year at The New York Daily News, she picked me up for a horrible, seemingly interminable car trip and we moved cross-country so she could work for The Houston Chronicle through the Hearst fellows program.  Even though I am unhappy about her decision to subject me to 23 hours of driving, I will concede that Keri is still at least moderately awesome because she has a wonderful set of opposable thumbs that I find extremely useful for opening doors to take me out.

Before meeting me, Keri grew up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She was a straight-A student and nationally ranked competitive figure skater. After high school, she attended Rutgers, where she maintained a 4.0 GPA before deciding to take some time off. She freelanced as a writer, worked at an antique shop, and did other random stuff. Then, in 2006 she applied to transfer to Cornell. At Cornell, she became an editor of the Cornell Daily Sun. Where did the heroin habit fit in to all this? Well, maybe someday she’ll publish her book and you’ll find out …