This is my first book cover for the memoir I’m writing here in Memoir S-K-O-O-L 📖✨ I’m sharing it as part of the creative process, so I’d really love your thoughts. What do you like about it? Is there anything you’d do differently or want to see explored visually? Reading a memoir while it’s being written is a rare thing — your perspective becomes part of the atmosphere around the story, and I’m grateful to be creating it in conversation with you. @Annie John

One day in Japan, I was on the 33rd floor of a high-rise, shooting a commercial. Lunch was a bento box that did not agree with me. I collapsed on the floor from the stomach pain. A woman helped me up. And then the earthquake hit — and I went straight back down. No matter where you go, there you are.

This image was taken in Japan in 1987 during a test shoot. There was no money exchanged — it was arranged through my agent, purely for creative and portfolio purposes. At the time, I was working with a very well-known Japanese photographer, someone whose work I deeply respected and felt honored to be shooting with. That day felt special even then. I invited my closest friend and two of my Japanese friends, Reiko and Tetsu, to come to the studio with me. They were curious about the world I was moving through, and I wanted them to experience it from the inside — the quiet intensity of a set, the lights, the pauses between frames, the unspoken language of photography. They had photos taken too, but over time, those images disappeared. This is the only one that survived. I’m grateful this image survived. So much from that time is gone, but this moment remains — and it matters.

1, 2, or 3? Which intro do you like the best for this scene?

1st Modeling Session 1982 Model Cristal Photographer Peggy Sirota My mom sat behind me on the carpet and carefully braided my long black hair into hundreds of tiny braids, pulling each one tight so my waves would dry perfectly by morning. She didn’t say much as she worked — she never did — but her hands told the whole story: patient, steady, intentional.