Alumni Spotlight: Rossi Anastopoulo ('13)- Addy Rose

What is your favorite Ashley Hall memory?

My favorite memory would be playing tennis with Ms. Gastley, the retired tennis coach. Probably winning the state championship would be my most favorite memory (2009)! It was my freshman year, and it was just very special. We beat Porter Gaud, which was huge. I loved playing all the sports here, but tennis has a special place in my heart.

Do you still play tennis?

Not as much as I would like. I wish I played more. I play a couple times a week, but not too often. It’s hard to find people in LA to play with. So I play with my dad when he’s in town!

Your favorite teacher?

I don’t know; I love so many of them! I will say Mrs. Hughes is really fantastic. She was so wonderful, especially in the Harlem Renaissance class, which was really cool. We had never had a class that was dedicated to black authors, especially in that very influential time in history. We ended up taking a class trip to Harlem, which was really cool. Also Mr. Smith, who was our old math teacher. He was awesome. He made me love calculus, which is insane. But so many of them were fantastic-like Mrs. Smith, our Latin teacher. So, yeah! So many of them!

What is your favorite spot on campus?

The spot near the music room that has all the windows and cushion seats! I used to love that place; that's where I would go to sometimes nap. Also the recital hall. It's so beautiful, and I loved practicing there.

Purple or white?

Purple!!!

What is something you would tell your younger self?

Probably that food writing can be a career. I always loved baking and writing, but I never thought that I could make a career out of that. So I never really had that on my radar when I was looking at what to major in at college or what I wanted to do when I would grow up. I thought that if I loved to bake, then I would be working in a bakery, and that was it. So I would tell myself about the possibilities of what I could do.

Where did you attend college?

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. I double majored in Global Studies and Sports and Social Issues.

So what sparked the idea to write Sweet Land of Liberty?

So, I did a lot of writing and research on pie and how it relates to American history and pockets of American culture. I studied it in school and wrote about bean pie, fried pie, and apple pie. Things like that showed me that there was a book there. There was so much on this topic that could be written about. The actual spark to write it kind of came from each individual pie. I was looking for a book topic and that thought just came up. So it emerged from that writing research.

Would you ever own a bakery?

Honestly, no, I don’t want to get up at three in the morning to start work. I like to sleep. I’d probably open up a book store before I'd open up a bakery.

Have you ever sold any pastries or baked goods?

So, I usually just give them away to my friends and family. When I was in college I actually helped found an on-campus food business. So, we made the baked goods in a commercial kitchen, and we sold everything at a campus coffee shop. I’ve worked for a vegan pie bakery in LA. So I've sold things that I made, but not anymore, and I wouldn't do it as an individual.

How do you think Ashley Hall prepared you for life and even with writing this book?

So much of what Ashley Hall did for me was empowering me to pursue my passion and try new things. There were so many different types of classes offered compared to other schools, and that expanded my curiosity into what I wanted to do. The all-girls education is empowering, and I was able to play sports without competing with men. So the girls' sports is the important thing around here; you never feel like you're second fiddle. We were “the basketball team” instead of “the girls team.” Also, my senior project on sports and the Civil Rights Movement directly correlated into using more of an unexpected political avenue into research and storytelling. Because I was able to study that at Ashley Hall, I continued studying the topic in college, which led to researching more about food relations, which also led me to this book!

Tell me more about your chapter on jello pie.

Yes, it is on this idea of using kitchen shortcuts like jello, gelatin, and some other products that were marketed towards women around the 1950’s. The whole idea was that these store-bought products were to achieve this ideal of the American housewife and fulfilling these expectations of preparing food for your family and working at home- not having a career outside the home, but rather finding your fulfillment inside the home. I will say for some people that is the case; they find their fulfillment there and that is valid. But for a lot of women, that wasn’t necessarily what they were best suited to, but that is what society expected of them. So jello pie was the convenience cuisine. It allowed you to achieve perfection, reliability, and to be able to prepare food for your family. People used to believe that to prove that you love your family you need to put effort into making a meal instead of pulling something out of the freezer. So I found it really interesting how marketing and society spoke to the expectations of women.

Do you have a writing ritual?

I have to write in the morning. I wish I was a night writer, but I have to write early in the morning before my brain can catch up to what I am doing and sabotage my thoughts. It is the time of day when things are clear and empty.

What is your favorite type of pie?

I love key lime pie and pistachio and white chocolate pie!