I guess there weren't as many single parents around back then, and Mr. Spier had to learn for himself how to raise a child on his own. For a long time, I think he tried too hard. He was very strict with Mary Anne. He controlled how she wore her hair (in braids) and how she dressed (in young-looking outfits) and basically, how she lived her life. But finally, just in the last year or so, he's begun to let her take responsibility for herself. Now Mary Anne chooses her own clothes, and fixes her hair the way she likes to. In fact, she recently had it cut short. Plus, she got a kitten named Tigger, and a boyfriend named Logan Bruno.

Mary Anne got something else recently, too. A bigger family! Her father met up with an ex-girlfriend from his high school days, fell in love with her again, and married her. Mary Anne acquired a stepmother, a stepbrother, and a stepsister. And the best thing was this: the new stepsister was Dawn Schafer, another member of the BSC and Mary Anne's other best friend. Dawn grew up in California, and only

moved to Stoneybrook when her parents got

divorced and her mother decided to return to

her hometown. The move wasn't easy for

Dawn, but I think meeting Mary Anne and

becoming a member of the BSC made it nicer

for her. Unfortunately, her little brother Jeff

never really made the transition. He ended up

moving back to California to live with his dad.

Dawn is a pretty cool person, and I really

admire her. She's very self-assured. She

doesn't hesitate to speak her mind, yet she

manages to do so without putting her foot in

her mouth the way I so often do. Dawn is

pretty, too, with long blonde hair so light it's

almost white, and big blue eyes, and a way

of dressing that looks comfortable and elegant

at the same time. She has a healthy glow about

her, which is probably due to the fact that she