ne
Celebrity
Orange on
the Outside
Best-selling author Piper Kerman inspires Salem State
University students to stay their course and make it colorful.
By Megan Johnson
P
iper kerman knows a
thing or two about making
mistakes.
The Swampscott native
and author of the best-selling memoir,
Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a
Women's Prison, spent almost a year in jail
for her single foray into criminal behavior—sneaking a duffel bag of drug money
across a European border when she was a
young woman fresh out of Smith College.
With that experience under her belt,
there's nobody better than Kerman—a
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KJ JanFeb14 Piper.indd 120
regal blonde who doesn't look all that different from Taylor Schilling, the actress
who plays Kerman on the Netflix adaptation of her book—to speak to a room full
of impressionable college freshmen.
It's a beautiful September day when
Kerman heads to Salem State University
to discuss her journey with the class. This
is her second time gracing the campus—
the first was as a high school student attempting to boost her SAT scores in math.
"I was a terrible, terrible math student," says Kerman. "Really, a disaster."
Real Life
Piper Kerman's story
of subterfuge
has captured the
attention of many,
including Netflix
executives.
photographs by mike sperling
11/21/13 6:18 PM
