Welcome to the second week of my version of the iconic Proust’s Questionnaire found on the back page of every issue of Vanity Fair magazine. This questionnaire explores the profound and the superficial at the same time — all in a wonderfully playful and personal way. I will be interviewing various members of the Fieldston community and my second choice is the infamous athletics coordinator, GloriAnne DiToro.
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Being happy every day. A stressless life with happy people.
What do you most look forward to in your day?
Happiness. Fun. I wanna have fun. I wanna laugh. I wanna look forward to being happy and cheerful.
What is the best quality an athlete can have?
Self-confidence. I mean, no matter how bad or good you are, if you don’t have confidence you can’t exceed. It’s not about your coach, it’s not about your friends, it’s about having the confidence to do the best you can and succeed.
Which living person do you most admire?
Is it too cliché to say my mom?
Favorite ice cream flavor?
Anything that’s loaded with chunky stuff to crunch? Anything with nuts, chocolate etc.
What’s better for the teacher: an apple or an orange?
Ooh, an apple.
Where would you most like to live?
You could be in the most gorgeous place on Earth and not have the people you need around you. Any place that surrounds me with good friends and good family because it’s not about the location, it’s about being backed up with happiness.
If you were to participate in any Olympic sport, summer or winter, which one would best represent your personality and why?
I would have to say baseball. Is it still there? Baseball more than softball. I played more baseball as I was growing up and I connect more with baseball. It’s very intellectual. Each move you make is very important–and people think it’s boring but I don’t.
What’s better in your opinion: being built for school or being built for life?
I would say being built for life is better because school is a representation of life and it is there to prepare you for life. School is definitely not life, but school builds you for life.
What’s your favorite car model?
Oh God. If I had my choice? I like old Corvettes from the 50s and 60s. I don’t know if I can pick one but I really like them.
If you could choose one historical sports figure to have dinner with, who would it be and why?
I could go to the cliché side or the intellectual side…I’ll say Jackie Robinson because of everything he had to overcome as brilliant and spectacular as he was. He had to worry about all those other parts of society that were holding him back and I would love to hear what that was like for him to overcome it.
Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
I’ll go with “um” and “awesome.” “Dude” is also another one that is way overused.
If you could reincarnate as a tree, what type would you be?
There’s these trees that we would visit in the jungle in Ecuador and I don’t know what they’re called, but they’re massive all around and the roots are coming out of the ground. They’re unbelievably amazing and huge. They’re mother trees. I would love to become one of these trees.
Which talent would you most like to have?
I wish that I could sing. Like really sing. Can’t sing, not well anyways.
Who is your favorite music artist?
Oh, Dave Matthews Band.
(Favorite music artist) asks you to pose. Describe which pose you are doing?
I would do a heart signal with my hands.
What song is your theme song?
I don’t know if I have a constant theme song…but my new favorite song is called “Recently” by the Dave Matthews Band.
If you could change one thing about Fieldston, what would it be?
I want the school day to end at three thirty instead of four o’clock. It’s a long day.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
I would say my greatest achievement was when I first moved to New York City in 1990 and was able to excel as a female drummer at a time where there weren’t female drummers. Now, of course, there are many but back then there were almost none and back then I was one of them.
Carrot cake or chocolate cake?
Chocolate.
What is your most treasured possession?
I have a bracelet that my uncle gave me from when he was in the Peace Corps in Senegal in the 1970s and when he came back, he had these heavy, beautiful, hand carved metal bracelets that he gave to his brothers and sisters but not to me–of course he couldn’t go back to Senegal to get more bracelets–but when I graduated from college, he gave me his personal bracelet that was his most cherished possession and gave it to me and it meant a lot to me.
Mustard and sauerkraut, or ketchup on a hotdog?
Ketchup. I don’t like sauerkraut.
What do you most value in your coworkers?
Honesty.
What is your motto?
Self-respect and self-confidence. It’s a reminder of doing your best and that it’s okay to fail.
Coca-Cola or Pepsi?
Pepsi 100%.
That’s it for this questionnaire! Who do YOU think should be next?
