In this picture, Lila (as in "lilac"), 19, is standing in the veggie section of the QFC in the Broadway Market on Capitol Hill. Although she's not in her own neighborhood—she lives on Queen Anne—she looks entirely within her element. She comes across effortlessly comfortable in black hand-me-down boots (price unknown) made by a company called Bronx. Her black denim jeans ($70, Nordstrom Rack, 1601 Second Ave, 448-8522) were designed by Joe's Jeans. Her lovely vest ($25, Urban Outfitters, 401 Broadway, 632-0409) was designed by Kimchi & Blue. As for her red, merino-wool sweater (price unknown), it was a Christmas present from the brother of her boyfriend, who sometimes goes by the name LL Cool Trev.

LL Cool Trev is a twist on the name of a rapper who was really famous back in the 1980s and '90s, LL Cool J. This rapper had a heap of hits: "Mama Said Knock You Out," "Jingling Baby," and the fantastic "Doin' It," which sampled Grace Jones's "My Jamaican Guy," a song about how Grace has a man who gets wild in bed. The song came out in 1982 and was loved by gay men because, well, Grace Jones looks like a man. So when she'd sing about her Jamaican guy, it looked like a guy singing about a guy, and that's really what being gay is all about—guys liking guys. LL Cool J, however, is known to keep it straight. He is not so famous these days, though he is trying very hard to make it in the movie business, just like Will Smith, who also was a big rapper, the Fresh Prince, back in the 1980s and '90s. The Fresh Prince's first big hit, "Girls Ain't Nothing but Trouble," sampled the theme song for the TV show I Dream of Jeannie, which starred Larry Hagman, who played the evil and mean oil dealer J. R. Ewing on the soap opera Dallas. Hagman would not be alive today if it weren't for a liver transplant in 1995. According to Wikipedia: "Numerous reports state he was drinking four bottles of champagne a day on the set of Dallas." No kind of liver can handle that kind of drinking. Although Hagman played a capitalist monster on Dallas, he is no fan of George W. Bush or that horrible war in Iraq. Hagman has said things about the current president of America that J. R. Ewing would have never said in a million years. That's why it's a good thing J. R. is dead and Hagman is still alive.

The red bell pepper Lila is holding came from Mexico.