AUTHOR'S NOTE: Greetings! I was having such a difficult time thinking of how to introduce myself - a good indicator that I should never attempt speed dating - and have decided instead to provide a third-person biography like Jimmy in that Seinfeld episode.
Born on a snowy and frigid December night in Toronto over 20 years ago, Amanda (or @a_coletta on Twitter) is still waiting for her body to acclimatize to the Canadian winter. Her life changed after 19 months on Earth when she had her first haircut, and corkscrew curly locks (with whom she now has a love-hate, but mostly hate relationship) began to grow in the same place lovely straight hair had been before. She currently stands a couple of inches shorter than Emanuele Giaccherini, but still hopes regardless of the medical literature on the correlation between age and growth that she will one day experience a final growth spurt.
A xenophile and a Masters student with a passion for Renaissance history and Italian literature, Amanda PVRs Jeopardy and always has a book in her purse or by her bedside. She can speak three languages but believes, unbiasedly, that Dante Alighieri's is the most beautiful. Though she hasn't featured in any prominent role on this site, Amanda has covered collegiate sports including field hockey, swimming, and basketball for her university's student newspapers. Her heart, which still enjoys a physical copy of a newspaper, hopes to turn her passion for storytelling into a career, while her head, which is primarily guided by reason, thinks this is a horrendous idea. As you might expect, the two are often at odds.
Amanda has never played football at any level except for when she was forced to in Physical Education class. She was never any good at it, but was asked to join her high school badminton team. She refused. Instead, she spent a large portion of her childhood at the dance studio, and while she still gets a sick feeling in her stomach when she looks at pointe shoes, she will take her tap shoes out for a spin in her unfinished basement from time to time. She's still pretty good.
It was Alessandro Del Piero who, while unable to win the final, captured Amanda's heart during Euro 2000 and made her a Juventus supporter. The verdict is out on whether or not that was a good consolation prize. She's been fortunate enough to have seen the squad play three times in person - twice in Toronto and once, this past summer in Udine, which was magical. Though her passion for the club runs deep, she hopes she can be both balanced and reasonable.
While not fiercely cynical, Amanda tries to approach life in the exact opposite way of Pangloss in Voltaire's Candide. Oh, and she enjoys peppering her writing with literary references. She likes to think she is honest and dignified, but can be very easily bribed with a case of figs or a scoop or two of gelato.
Her favourite flavours are melone and fiordilatte.