Member Spotlight: Katherine Avery

Author: Samarasin Tavaral, February 2017

Who better to interview in this month of reds and pinks than our very own Highest of the Red Ajah, Katherine Avery?

Katherine Sedai, or Kaths Sedai, has been around TarValon.Net since 2005. She became bored at her high school job one day, and decided to look for spoilers for the set of books she'd just been given. Katherine Sedai came across TarValon.Net, and the rest is history. She was also one of the first to experience the guesting process: "About two weeks before I became Accepted, the guesting system was put into place. I already knew I wanted in Red, but I also guested in Green and Brown."

When she's not performing duties as the Highest of Red, Katherine Sedai is very active with the Girl Scouts of America. She helps lead her own daughter's Troop, as well as assisting as needed with other Troops. One of her favorite memories was "this summer when I went to camp with my freshly broken elbow, I got to follow the older (15-17 year old) girls around and make sure they went where they were supposed to go. They were so great to me carrying my water bottle and getting my food and washing my dishes." Another favorite memory was going to pick up cookies at the cookie warehouse during a freak Valentine's day snowstorm.

As if she wasn't busy enough, Katherine Sedai also enjoys sewing. She won an award at TarValon.Net as the Tailor's Guild "Craftiest Member" in 2011. Katherine Sedai especially enjoys sewing period costumes, having made three bustle dresses and one 18th century dress. Her favorite piece is a black velvet bustle dress, where "the bodice alone was 17 pieces. It was a study in time and patience, because everything had to be precise." Her green Eowyn dress was the first dress where she had drafted a bodice based on her own measurements. The newest project, an 18th century outfit, "was complicated and beautiful and...It's wrong! I did everything right, and I sewed it well, and it's just wrong. It looks good on the outside, but all I see are the flaws." When asked how long she'd been sewing, Katherine Sedai said that she received her first sewing machine in the seventh grade.

Another of Katherine Sedai's passions is garage sales, also known as rummage sales. This woman can find the absolute best deals on items! When she visits a sale, she is almost guaranteed to have some awesome find. When asked what her favorite find was, she responded "my white Kool-Aid pitcher. I had one when I was a little girl and I found him for 50 cents. Best day ever."

Katherine Sedai, in addition to being the Highest, is also known as the Evil Overlord. When asked why everyone thought she was evil, I received no comment. Asking about her next evil plan, she stated "I don't monologue." I did find that her evil lair is located at the Girl Scouts of Kentuckiana's Camp Shanituck.

As my final question, I asked what everyone really wanted to know. Does Katherine Sedai prefer puppies or kittens? Katherine Sedai's vote is for puppies "especially super wrinkly ones".