Girls between the ages of 12 and 20, as well as a smattering of boys and grown-ups, filled the downstairs of McNally Jackson last night to meet the girl who started a style blog when she was 11 and now seems to be heading a feminist resurgence, infused with 90’s nostalgia and go-girl self-acceptance, at the release party of Rookie Yearbook One. The book is a collection of pieces from the site’s first year, edited by Ms. Gevinson.

“I feel so old,” hissed a woman in her early twenties.

“She might be like 16, I don’t know,” we overheard someone say, referring to Ms. Gevinson. She is.

“Everyone has Tavi’s haircut,” noted someone else in the crowd. Ms. Gevinson wore her blond hair in braids pinned atop her head, so we couldn’t actually see her haircut, but the crowd’s sartorial inspirations were obvious. Floral crowns (a Rookie DIY project from last year) dotted heads in the audience, who sat cross-legged on the floor.

Soda in fun flavors like pineapple and orange, candy necklaces, blow-pops and other assorted candy stood in for the usual book event wine.

Contributors to the magazine read their pieces from Rookie Yearbook on subjects like hooking up with a guy over a shared love of the Smiths, dealing with a mother’s disappointment after coming out and the stupidity of calling things “guilty pleasure” and liking things ironically (“Cool and interesting are in the eye of the beholder, and that is you.”)

“I hope that I have daughters and I hope that they grow up in a world where this exists. And thank you Tavi for doing this,” said guest reader Lena Dunham. Based on the crowd’s enthusiastic response to Ms. Dunham, they must have HBO. Ms. Dunham read from her recently found “millennium journal” to people who were either toddlers or in utero at the end of the millennium. She also read a new piece about running away from home off of her iPhone.

Tavi Gevinson stood in the corner of the room throughout, looking proud. When it was her turn on stage, the applause and cheers swelled, which was notable since teenage girls clap and cheer a lot.

“My face hurts from being in permanent heart-melt,” she said, before reading an essay she wrote called “How to Not Care What People Think of You.”

Novelist Emma Straub wore a floral crown as she read a piece about her memory of high school friendships. Sarah Sophie Flicker, the trapeze artist, writer and style icon, before reading from a piece about not being a perfect mother or person. She ended by advising the crowd to talk to their moms. Grown man and comedian Dave Hill read a piece about asking a girl out in high school.

The final act was a Q&A. The audience asked the Rookie staff and contributors for advice about life, feminism, family and friendships (boys, relationships, and sex didn’t come up, which is not how we remember high school).

One girl asked for hair advice (“wear it curly!). Another asked for advice on staying close to a friend who moved away (make mixed cds and talk on the phone a lot). A middle-aged man asked for writing advice and got cheers when he told the crowd that he had recently come out of the closet.

A 12-year-old girl said that after she told a middle school boy that she was a feminist he kept bringing it up. She wanted to know if people are afraid of her for being a feminist. “Yes! They are afraid,” was the consensus.

Lena Dunham wanted to know what people want to see on television. “When your parents find your sex toys,” suggested one Rookie contributor. “Female jealousy,” suggested another.

We slipped out as the crowd jostled into an orderly line to get their books signed by Ms. Gevinson. As we left, we felt our own cynical heart melting from the contagious, rah-rah, “You go, girl!” earnestness, and wondered whether we will ever be as composed and mature as Ms. Gevinson and her fans.

With the reopening of the Algonquin Hotel, we must consider who will be chosen for the honor of one of the 11 seats in the Algonquin Round Table. 

Started as a practical joke in 1919 by publicist John Peter Toohey to mock  Alexander Woollcott, the Round Table soon became as legendary as the Bloomsberry Set, except American and meaner. The social satirists and cultural trendesetters included Dorothy Parker, Franklin Pierce Adams,  Robert Benchley, Heywood Broun, his wife Ruth Hale, Marc Connelly, George S. Kaufman, Harold Ross, and Robert E. Sherwood.

Who today could live up to such an illustrious group of names? We took a stab at our own 11: tell us who you would have in your own literary draft in the comments.

Jon Hamm, the man (RookieMag.com)

Jon Hamm is a curious leading man. After the success of Mad Men, Mr. Hamm made a conscious effort to differentiate himself from Don Draper by appearing almost exclusively in funny roles--everything from multiple SNL appearances to Bridesmaids to 30 Rock to the alt-comedy of Comedy Bang Bang! and Between Two Ferns.

But being a funny dude is taking its toll on Mr. Hamm, as evidenced by his recent appearance on RookieMag.com-- that teen girl blog edited by Tavi Gevinson--where he just phoned (vlogged?) in the answers to relationship questions written by high school-aged girls.

Yes, he will answer your questions about farts. But he doesn't have to be happy doing so, and he is going to look really hungover while giving you kind of a dad-lecture. He doesn't say "Look at your life, look at your choices," but he looks like he's half a second away from it.

The whole effect of Mr. Hamm's "minimal effort engagement with this project has, ironically, made him seem more early season Don Draper than ever. Like when he found out Peggy was pregnant and visited her in the hospital? This reminded us of that scene, except Don Draper would never go to a hospital in a Cardinals shirt and pajama pants, because what is he? A hobo?

Make up your mind, Mr. Hamm! Do you like your new role as a "funny" guy who is relatable to his audiences, or not? And for gods sake, get yourself a shower and a shave. 16-year-old girls don't take advice from men who look like their depressed uncles.

The performance was part of a screening party for an animated short called "Cadaver" by director Jonah Ansell. As The Standard's blog tells it:

One would think the stars of the film, Hollywood legends Christopher Lloyd and Kathy Bates would make enough of a splash, but let’s face it, everyone was there to witness Tavi Gevinson add singing and acting to her already precocious fashion world success.

Seeing as how The Observer is herein neither a sufficient critic of Neil Young standards or sixteen year-olds, we'll simply stick to noting anything other than the fact that, according to The Standard's blog, Neil Young approved the cover (also featured in the film) himself. As a general rule, most people do not get the people whose songs they cover approving of said covers when they're 16. Let alone Neil Young's.

And also, that it's kind of great.

[It's not that nobody in New York City's media set—adored or otherwise—has any remotely interesting talents other than those with which they use to do their jobs (though, besides the occasional softball game, this is probably kind of arguable); it's that none of them are likely to ever put them on display (with exception to the occasional comedy night) for reasons not worth getting into here but that are generally along the lines of the same reasons everybody restrains themselves from doing that which may expose them to ridicule or failure, except they are all grown-ups with far less to lose in that department than they probably imagine. For that alone, this is noteworthy.]

fkamer@observer.com | @weareyourfek

On Sunday, up-and-coming Chicago director Jonah Ansell (best known, to date, for his viral save-the-date wedding video, which was featured in Glamour) will screen his animated short film Cadaver for a select audience at The Standard East Village.

Based on a poem Mr. Ansell wrote to help his sister fulfill a creative assignment at Northwestern's medical school, the seven-minute film, which stars Ms. Gevinson, Kathy Bates and Christopher Lloyd, is about a cadaver that comes back to life to say goodbye to his wife. When he decided to develop the story into a short film, Ms. Gevinson, a family friend of Mr. Ansell, was his first pick for the lead, a young doctor.

“I kind of consider her a little sister to me,” said Mr. Ansell, who previously cast Ms. Gevinson in his first post-film school short.

“She stood out, even out of everyone that auditioned,” he said of their collaboration. “She has a profound awareness and insight into the world around her, even at a very young age.”

“This was before Tavi had become the Tavi that’s been imbibed by the public,” he explained.

The short also features Ms. Gevinson performing a rare Neil Young-sanctioned cover of “Heart of Gold,” which Mr. Ansell recorded in a Chicago home basement studio on Easter morning. (Ms. Gevinson is rumored to be performing it live at the Standard this weekend.) Mr. Ansell said the track, along with the short film and an adult picture book version, will be released later this year.

Ms. Gevinson and her costars are on board with expanding the project into a full-length feature, according to Mr. Ansell, who is looking for a production company with which to partner.

CADAVER - The Film - Trailer from JAMS on Vimeo.

Rookie

In return she provided Mr. Sagal some tips for talking to his Tavi-aged daughters.

GEVINSON: You should just speak in like, abrevs.

SAGAL: Abrevs?

GEVINSON: Yeah.

SAGAL: Like, all right, already I'm at sea.

SAGAL: So what is an abrev?

BODETT: An abrev is an abrev.

GEVINSON: Yeah. There you go.

SAGAL: It's an abbreviation. So give me an - so abrev is like abbreviate. So give me an example.

GEVINSON: Like, "ur tots jel of that boy, yo."

BODETT: Oh man.

GEVINSON: This is how I talk to my peers.

In spite of the pro tip, she said she is not a "parent spy."

Playing off her age, her game concerned the interests of the elderly, called "Frankly, I really miss "Murder She Wrote."

(Little did they know she knows Advanced Style too.)

Ms. Gevinson resides in the Chicago area, where the program is produced, and is friends with NPR star Ira Glass.

Tavi Gevinson sat down with New York’s The Cut to discuss her new project Rookie today and revealed that not only does she have an interest in higher education, but may also enter a field perfectly suited to a Garage contributor.

Here’s the relevant question:

Do you have any plans to go to college?
Definitely. I don't know how long I'll work on Rookie. I think I'd like to be able to do a lot of different things, definitely write, but maybe explore something like movies, too. Which is probably why I'll go to college for something that's just a good, broad foundation of knowledge, like art history.

Like Punxsutawney Phil or the investments of Warren Buffett, the movements of Tavi are to be watched closely, if only for their future significance. Mark our words, art history is going to be a cool thing in five years. Watch out, comp lit.

In addition to the celebrities reportedly involved (Miranda July, Winnie Holzman, Joss Whedon, Jack Black, Dan Savage and Fred Armisen), Ms. Gevinson actually hired contributors from the open call for submissions she posted on her blog almost a year ago. She received thousands of applications, according to Ms. Condon.

Following through on that promise is move that might have been harder to pull off at xoJane.com, where Ms. Gevinson was originally planning on publishing her teen-oriented content. Ms. Gevinson backed out of Sassy editor Jane Pratt's project at the eleventh hour (sans acrimony, Ms. Condon says) because she wanted to own her own work. xoJane.com is published by the jargon-happy marketers Say Media.

Rookie contributors include many precocious, self-publishing young people like Ms. Gevinson, as well as some pros, including xoJane.com fashion editor Laia Garcia, Girlcrusher Emma Straub, Girls staff writer Lesley Arfin, fashion blogger and Bon Appetit designer Elizabeth Spiridakis, Daily Intel blogger Joe Coscarelli and novelist Stephanie Kuehnert.

Rookie plans to pay contributors, managing editor Emily Condon told the Observer. New York parent company New York Media will exclusively sell advertisements, but there were no investors covering the overhead.

Friends of Ms. Gevinson are helping out pro bono, including This American Life founder Ira Glass, who performed with Ms. Gevinson at the Sassy magazine tribute, and his wife, Anaheed Alani, who is Rookie features editor. Ms. Condon is a This American Life alumna. (Ms. Gevinson lives in Oak Park, Ill., outside Chicago, where This American Life was produced for many years.) The Awl founders have also served as informal advisers.

Tavi Gevinson, thestylerookie.com

Teen fashion blogger Tavi Gevinson has decided not to launch her web magazine Rookie under the umbrella of Jane Pratt's partnership with SAY Media, xoJane.com, reports WWD.

Perhaps our ambivalence toward clothes had prevented us from understanding the full extent of Ms. Gevinson's genius, but to us this decision signals some serious savvy.

SAY Media is a web publishing company that provides advertising sales services to help SAY "creators" leverage their "influence" into lucrative "brand experiences," including advertisements created by the creators, SAY told us back when xoJane.com launched. They trade in the slick content commodification that makes people who care about ideas and writing miserable.

From the SAY site:

"Connect is an influencer driven program that syndicates brand experiences across a tailored collection of sites and communities, anchored in conversations and passionate voices."

"Real voices make brand programs personal and conversational."

"Advertising is content."

Maybe SAY Media is the future of getting paid to write. If it is a good fit for any site, its xoJane.com, which is almost entirely voice-driven personal narratives ("Everything we write is an exclusive, because it only happened to us") that SAY thinks makes readers feel like they can really trust whatever shampoo brand they're advertising.

Unlike xoJane's dishy older sister take,  its the inexperience that allows Ms. Gevinson to describes things adults already know about with sweetly unchecked emotion and (what feels to us like) revelatory simplicity. She doesn't sound like a shampoo commercial, not even a subversive viral anti-commercial commercial. She's more memorable for her insight and her perspective than her voice.

Ms. Gevinson added that instead of partnering with a corporate publisher she's hired her own design and sales team.

“It was just that I want to have full control, and it’s important to me that we’re independent, not so that we can be indie and ‘down with the Man,’ but because I find a lot of comfort knowing that it’s all in my control," she told WWD.

We're extrapolating, here, but it seems like Ms. Gevinson's Google-driven love of the 90s (which she didn't live through, as we love to point out) yielded not just a Courtney Love haircut, but a Gen Xer's suspicion of marketers and a DIYers entrepreneurial wherewithal.

And now that we know she's such a boss, we selfishly hope she outgrows her interest in writing about clothes. She's good at writing about other stuff too.

Jane Pratt (Getty Images)

Magazine impresario Jane Pratt did not speak at last night's tribute to her departed magazine, Sassy--despite the presence of marquee speaker Tavi Gevinson, the youthful dynamo collaborating on a future venture with Ms. Pratt (about which Ms. Gevinson spoke last night!). Per another speaker, Marisa Meltzer, "she was out of town on vacation" from her compelling duties managing website xoJane. "She sent a video."

What does it take to command Ms. Pratt's presence? Well, in a fifty-percent markup on the rate of the supermodels Ms. Pratt's magazines once disdained, Ms. Pratt doesn't get out of bed for less than $15,000.

We called the speaker's bureau representing Ms. Pratt and told her we wanted her to deliver a brief address to a small group a month from now, in New York. We were just interested in hearing about Sassy, we said, when asked if there were any alternate speakers in whom we might be interested. We were quoted a fee of fifteen grand--because Ms. Pratt is local.

That's fine, but can we choose her outfit?