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SHANGRI•LA
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Featuring
longs to Congregation Shaarey
Zedek.
Unlike many aspiring writers,
Shapiro began publishing in na-
tional markets early in her career.
After graduating from Roeper,
Shapiro attended the University
of Michigan, where she majored
in English. From there she head-
ed East, attended graduate
school at New York Univer-
sity, where she earned a
master's degree, and decid-
ed to call the Big Apple her
home.
"The joke was that my
parents are from the Lower
East Side and worked their
whole lives to get out, and I
moved back to spite them,"
she chuckles.
She didn't have to pound
the pavement very long.
Shapiro landed a job as a re-
searcher at the New Yorker
magazine. "It was so excit-
ing," recalls Shapiro, who
teaches humor at New York
University and the New
School. "It was an incredible
first job. My first day I met
Pauline Kael and thought Pd
died and gone to heaven."
Although she didn't have
a byline at the New Yorker,
it didn't take Shapiro long to
break into other well-known
magazines. After having a
humor piece accepted at Cos-
mopolitan, she started writ-
ing regularly for the
magazine. That catapulted
her into a string of ongoing
freelance assignments for
several Jewish publications
as well as The New York
Times and New Woman, for
whom she still writes.
Over the years, Shapiro
has written about everything
from Joan Collins' failed book
deal with Random House, "
... what was Random House
expecting, Salman Rushdie?"
to how the Barbie doll, which
has been dissed by feminists
for years, could become a
modem girl's dream mentor.
"Over the years I still learned
some very important life
lessons from Barbie. Family
is fundamental: Barbie's my
age and, as the only girl in
a suburban clan of boys, I
was Mattel's dream cus-
tomer. I had 68 Barbies who
shared a pink plastic convertible
car and split-level condominium,
along with 12 Hello Kittys and 28
Dawn dolls so tiny that instead of
changing their clothes, I just
switched their heads."
Shapiro also wrote a piece in
The Jewish Forward, comparing
herself with Madonna: "Madon-
na's in the headlines again— with
a new album, movie; stalker and
fetus. 1 lmew she'd be back. That's
because the. Material Girl and I
are sisters, kindred spirits ...
Madonna's from a Catholic home
and I'm from a Jewish home, so
we're into guilt. She's got cruci-
fixes, rosary beads and saints. I've
got menorahs, mezuzahs and
Aunt Sadie. She has nightmares
about Mother Superior, and I can't
get rid of Rabbi Schwartz ... ."
Three years ago, a friend in-
troduced Shapiro to Charlie Ru-
bin, a writer who has worked for
"Seinfeld," "Saturday Night Live,"
`The Jon Stewart Show" and "In
Living Color." Currently, he is
writing a screenplay for Colum-
bia Pictures called Earthquake
New York, based on a cover sto-
ry that he wrote for New York
magazine. Rubin will tie the knot
with Shapiro tomorrow.
"Since we are two comedy writ-
ers and have comedy writers as
friends, we are getting back very
funny response cards," she says.
"Instead of getting replies with
real people's names, we are get-
ting back cards with the names of
fictitious characters, and we have
to guess who they are. We re-
ceived one response from a couple
whom we would never have in-
vited in a million years, and
we had to figure out who
knew that we hated this cou-
ple enough to think it was
funny. It turned out to be my
fiance's partner."
In keeping with her non-
traditional persona, Shapiro
will have two weddings. To
please her parents, the first
will be a gala, 250-guest af-
fair at Wabeek Country
Club, officiated by a rabbi.
The second, however, will be
a cozy reception and cere-
mony at an art gallery in
New York's SoHo, officiated
by Rubin's father, who is a
judge.
"Our Michigan wedding
will be a big event, but our
New York one will be an un-
traditional party for friends,
colleagues and shrinks," she
says.
But don't look for Shapiro
to be taking her wedding
vows in a flowing, frilly,
white satin dress. "Black is
my color," she laughs. '1 al-
ways wear black clothes, and
this has been a constant joke
I write about all the time.
Growing up, my mother
used to buy me white and
pink and pastel clothes and
I used to go, 'Yuck.' She
would say, 'What are you go-
ing to wear to your wedding,
.purple? And I would answer,
— and that's what I'm
doing."
For the honeymoon, there
won't be any Caribbean
cruises. Instead, the couple
will be celebrating their nup-
tials here in Detroit, teach-
ing a two-day comedy
workshop next week. "We
don't like to do anything
the conventional way," she
says. ❑
Writing Comedy for Print,
TV and Film, presented by
the Hollywood Literary Re-
treat, will be held 6-11 p.m. Fri-
day, Aug. 10, at the Kingsley
Hotel in Bloomfield Hills and
from 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday,
Aug. 10, at Mark Ridley's Com-
edy Castle in Royal Oak Susan
Shapiro will be teaching how to
write, produce and publish com-
edy, and Charlie Rubin will :..)e
giving pointers on how to get
started in comedy, sitcoms and
film. The fee is $195-$250. For
more in.formation, call Lynn
Isenberg at (810) 584-4764.
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