y friend Stephanie has a regular role on the television show Law & Order: Special Victim's Unit. It's called "SVU" only we call it "SUV" because it seemed funny at the time and I don't know about her, but now I can hardly refer to it any other way. Stephanie plays Alex Cabot, the blond lawyer with fabulous bone structure and a propensity for going above the law. She's the one who appears in the last 15 or 20 minutes of the show to nail it to the perv. Once, during a particularly penetrating cross examination, she made John Ritter cry. I was so proud.
"SUV" is successful, if not always great, and so for those of us who know Stephanie, who have knocked on wood for her ever since she was studying acting at Northwestern and kicking around the Chicago theatre scene, it's a reason to celebrate. We give her some ribbing, of course. Her sister Charlotte had a drinking game with her friends at Tulane. Whenever Stephanie said the phrase, "We don't have a case!" everyone finished their beer.
It's funny watching someone you care about -- someone you snuck off to parks to smoke with, someone you knew when she was gawky and bookish and 11, who helped you find your Science class on the devastating first day of sixth grade -- rise to (an admittedly moderate level of) fame. I sometimes see her face when I'm flipping through InStyle or People or Good Housekeeping. It unnerves me. That doesn't look like her, I always think. And then I usually think, But she still looks pretty. And somewhere in there I feel proud. I don't know why, exactly, but I do. I guess it's because she pursued a career that was statistically so unlikely. She got lucky, sure: A small part in a Chicago production of "Death of a Salesman" starring Brian Dennehy that moved on to sell out Broadway and win an armful of Tonys. (As I write this the show's poster is in my periphery, signed by the entire cast, including this, in the prettiest script of all: "For Stephanie. Thanks - Arthur Miller." Umm, any time, Arthur. Jesus.) But she's doing what she always dreamed of doing, and I find that inspiring.
These days, I'm staying at Stephanie's place, although she's not here. She has a minor role in Chris Rock's new movie "Head of State," which Rock directs and stars in as the president. (Yea, Steph!) That means she's spending most of her summer in Baltimore and coming back to Manhattan for a few days here and there with stories about Bernie Mac and Mr. Rock himself. It also means I can live in her place all by myself and pretend like it's mine, all mine, and that the letters from NBC Studios are really to me. I'm a natural: [removing glasses and squinting just slightly into the camera, an optional toss of the hands] We don't have a case!
Thank you, thank you ladies and gentlemen.

written in New York City, New York