Shrimp Shells in My Cleavage

Ever stood on a hill in the middle of Europe waiting for the Blessed Virgin to appear? Gutted rabbits in Macedonia or sold eggs and potatoes door-to-door in Brussels? Been a bag lady outside Victor Hugo’s house in Paris? What about sitting on a wine tasting panel in the Hungarian mountains or vacuuming roaches from the apartment of a Dolly Parton lookalike? Stella Pulo has done the lot and, with shrimp shells in her cleavage, she tells it all.

I love to read women’s adventures: scaling high peaks of the Himalayas, encountering grizzly bears in Alaska, solo wilderness canoeing, plunging into the jungle to find primitive tribes ... But Stella Pulo has discovered another kind of women’s adventure: encountering the denizens of the western world, observing their frustrations, their inexplicable behavior and making no judgments about the obstacles they present but adjusting to them just as other adventurers adjust to what nature in all her wildness presents.

I met Stella after seeing her work in Actors Studio sessions in New York City, tackling with gusto and an open mind challenges that other actresses might think twice about before jumping in. She brings that same wonderful down under spirit to this group of encounters. They are here to enjoy.

New York City, 2011