By Serena Kim

SISTER ACT

- Frances Park and Ginger Park are sisters who have written several books for adults and children. The award-winning authors grew up in Virginia and now live in Washington, D.C., where they also own a boutique called Chocolate Chocolate.

- Books: My Freedom Trip (Boyd Mills Press, 1998), The Royal Bee (Boyd Mills Press, 2000), When My Sister Was Cleopatra Moon (Miramax Books, 2001), Where on Earth is My Bagel? (Lee and Low Books, 2001), To Swim Across the World (Miramax Books, 2002), Good-bye, 382 Shin Dang Dong (National Geographic Children’s Books, 2002), The Have a Good Day Café (Lee and Low Books, 2005)

- The Have a Good Day Café is about a working-class Korean American family that survives on the meager earnings of a fast food cart. When the boy’s grandmother can’t stop thinking about the food from the motherland, they think of a great way to revamp the cart’s culinary offerings. “In the kitchen Grandma opens the refrigerator,” writes the Parks. “She takes out a big piece of beef, two heads of cabbage, and all the carrots and zucchini she can find.” (Ages 5-9)

- Sarah Says: “Though they are co-authors, they actually work separately. One of them will sit down and start writing, and then the other one will either revise or continue writing the story.”

HISTORY BUFF

- Linda Sue Park, a Newbery Medalist, is a giant in children’s literature. She was born in Illinois and grew up near Chicago. As a child, she won several poetry competitions and was first published at age 9. After studying English at Stanford, Park worked as a public relations writer, journalist and teacher. She now lives in upstate New York with her husband and two kids.

- Books: Seesaw Girl (1999), The Kite Fighters (2000), A Single Shard (2001), When My Name Was Keoko (2002), The Firekeeper’s Son (Clarion Books, 2004), Mung-Mung: A Fold-out Book of Animal Sounds (Charlesbridge Publishing, 2004), Bee-bim Bop (Clarion Books, 2005), Yum! Yuck! A Fold-out Book of People Sounds (Charlesbridge Publishing, 2005), What Does Bunny See: A Book of Colors and Flowers (Clarion Books, 2005), Archer’s Quest (Clarion Books, 2006), Tap Dancing on the Roof: Sijo (Poems) (Clarion Books, 2007), Project Mulberry (Yearling, 2007)

- The Firekeeper’s Son is about a fire signal system used in 19th-century Korea to warn the king of invasions by sea. A boy’s father climbs the mountain near their village every evening to light a fire, which signals to the next firekeeper that all is well in the land. “He picked up one coal with the tongs — and dropped it,” writes Park. “It broke into a hundred red jewels that glowed for a moment, then died.” (Ages 5-8)

- Sarah Says: “Linda Sue Park fills a very important gap in providing well-researched Korean history to contemporary children’s audiences.”

COLORING OUTSIDE THE LINES

- Yangsook Choi is an award-winning author, illustrator and painter. She grew up in Korea and studied at Sangmyung Women’s University in Seoul. She earned her M.F.A. at the School of Visual Arts in New York, where she now lives.

- Books: The Sun Girl and The Moon Boy (Knopf, 1997), The Name Jar (Knopf, 2001), New Cat (FSG, 2001), Peach Heaven (FSG, 2005), Behind the Mask (Frances Foster Books/ FSG, 2006)

- Peach Heaven is about a young girl in the peach-growing community of Puchon, Korea, who helps out the farmers after one potentially devastating storm. “The road was muddy and the cart was heavy,” writes Choi. “But we pushed and pulled it up the mountain.” (For ages 4-8.)

- Sarah Says: “Yangsook Choi is a prolific writer and illustrator. Her colors are rich and lively, and she’s a good storyteller.”

WOMAN OF LETTERS

- Soyung Pak was born in Seoul, but immigrated to America at the age of two. She grew up in the suburbs of South New Jersey. She went to college at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and earned her master’s degree at the University of Chicago. Now the writer lives in the Windy City, but she also loves to travel the world.

- Books: Dear Juno (Viking, 1999), A Place to Grow (Arthur Levine Books, 2002), Sumi’s First Day of School (co-written with Joung Un Kim, Viking, 2003)

- Dear Juno is about a Korean American boy who communicates with his Halmeoni in Korea through a series of letters. This picture book won the prestigious Ezra Jack Keats Award, which honors new writers and illustrators in the field of multicultural children’s books. Pak writes, “He wondered if any of the planes came from a little town near Seoul where his grandmother lived, and where she ate persimmons every evening before going to bed.” (For ages 4-8.)

- Sarah Says: “Pak’s A Place to Grow — illustrated by Marcelino Truong, a Vietnamese English Frenchman — is my personal favorite. Pak wrote it with the concept that war, particularly the Korean War, uproots and displaces families. The synergy of the text and illustrations is absolutely stunning.”

JUGGLING IDENTITIES

- Sun Yung Shin is a poet, essayist and children’s book author. Shin was born in Seoul in 1974 and adopted by white American parents at the age of 1. She grew up in Brookfield, Illinois, a working suburb of Chicago. Now she creates, mentors and lives in the Twin Cities. She and her husband have a daughter and son who are of mixed heritage.

- Books: Cooper’s Lesson (Children’s Book Press, 2004), Outsiders Within: Writing on Transracial Adoption (South End Press, 2006), Skirt Full of Black (Coffee House Press, 2007), Riding Shotgun: Women Write About Their Mothers (Borealis Books, 2008)

- Cooper’s Lesson is about a young biracial boy who feels left out of both the Korean and white world. He looks to a Korean greengrocer for answers. “Cooper sighed,” writes Shin. “His mom always insisted on speaking Korean to Mr. Lee, even though Cooper could barely follow along.” The book is in both Korean and English. (For ages 4-8.)

- Sarah Says: “It’s one of a few children’s books to broach the topic of biraciality, and Sun Yung Shin does it with nuance and believability.”

DIVING INTO HISTORY

- Paula Yoo has known she was going to tell stories for a living since she learned how to read in kindergarten. Yoo got her B.A. from Yale, a journalism degree from Columbia and an M.F.A. from the Warren Wilson College in South Carolina. She’s worked as a journalist for People magazine and the Seattle Times and also as a TV writer. She writes, camps, plays violin and lives with her husband in L.A.

- Books: Sixteen Years in Sixteen Seconds: The Sammy Lee Story (Lee and Low, 2005), Good Enough (Harper Collins, 2008)

- Sixteen Years in Sixteen Seconds: The Sammy Lee Story is about the first Korean American to win a gold medal in 1932. The diver was not admitted to the public pool because of the color of his skin. But he overcame these obstacles to make his athletic dreams come true. “Sammy would have to wait until Wednesday when people of color were allowed to go inside,” writes Yoo. “In the meantime, he would get no relief from the blazing California summer sun.” (Ages 5-10)

- Sarah Says: “Paula Yoo is definitely up and coming, and illustrator Dom Lee is just, well, awesome.”

For The Big Kids

Those who have grown out of the storytime phase can check out these KA authors who write for the young adult market

By Sook Nyul Choi:

• Year of Impossible Goodbyes (first in a trilogy)

• Echoes of the White Giraffe

• Gathering of Pearls

By Marie G. Lee:

• If It Hadn’t Been For Yoon Jun

• F is For Fabuloso

• Necessary Roughness

• Finding My Voice

• Night of the Chupacabra

• New Year, New Love

By An Na:

• Wait For Me

• A Step From Heaven

By Helin Jung

Regina Park interviewed more than 40 academics, journalists and surgeons for her film, but it turned out to be as much a personal examination as a professional pursuit.

Regina Park wants answers.

At an interview in which she is the subject, Park awaits a table at Koryodang Bakery in Manhattan’s Koreatown strip. It’s a chilly fall evening and Park is swaddled in outerwear, as she explains that she is suffering from jetlag upon her recent return from a trip to Bangkok.

When asked about her occupation, she replies, “I’m sure you don’t want a boring play-by-play of my day.”

Raising her voice to be heard over a booming club remix of Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab,” Park cheerfully commands, “Tell me about what you do! What is it like?”

Park, a first-time documentary filmmaker, much prefers asking questions to answering them. She has been quietly promoting her film, “Never Perfect,” a feature-length exploration of double eyelid surgery.

The second child of Korean immigrants who owned a small chemical solvent company, Park, 33, was raised in Cincinnati at a time when there were few other Asians living there.

Park started dreaming about becoming a filmmaker when she was in high school. During her undergraduate education at Barnard (she fled the Midwest as soon as she could), Park participated in graduate film projects. Her professional life has included stints with Academy Award winners Michael Moore and Jessica Yu, and though she still supplements her income with freelance work, she currently pursues her own film projects full-time.

Park’s mother frequently traveled to Korea, returning with bags of store-bought, eyelid tape intended for her single-lidded daughter. “Just try it,” her mother pleaded, chasing her around the house. “‘Just try it!’“

The tape would double the crease along the lid, Park says, making her eyes appear larger, which her mother considered a more attractive look. To be placating, Park reluctantly applied the sticky plastic on her eyes.

Her mother also suggested surgery, but Park resisted. (“I always had a strong connection to my single-lidded eyes.”) However, a fascination with eyelid surgery stayed with her.

The idea for “Never Perfect” formed in 2004 on a whim. There was a vague plan (“some man-on-the-street interviews”) that might have amounted to a short film, Park says, but it morphed into a more encompassing endeavor.

She discovered that the prevalence of eyelid surgery among Asians around the world is tied to identity, perceptions of beauty, and how these are formed. It would take more than 10 minutes to tell the story, she realized. But, as time is money, where would the funding come from?

As it turns out, it ended up coming from Park’s pocket. She, along with her husband and co-producer, Ted Robinson, financed it independently.

“Not really having a guarantee that anything was going to happen, I just took the leap, crossed my fingers and did it,” Park says.

The rest of the process also functioned as a gamble. They worked for three years, interviewing more than 40 academics, journalists and plastic surgeons, all without having found a willing interviewee who would provide the narrative thrust of the film.

“I could not find her,” Park says, speaking of the person who would serve as the film’s main subject. “Admitting to having surgery is not an open thing. … It is so commonly done, but people are very reticent.”

After nearly a year of looking for a subject via Internet searches and correspondence, and through different doctors’ offices, Park found Mai-Anh Tran, a 27-year-old Vietnamese businesswoman from Southern California.

Tran’s decision to be filmed was a “thoughtful” one,” Park says, describing how Tran agreed after taking some time to think about it. Tran said she felt she would learn more about herself by participating in the film. She has yet to see the completed production — a prospect that makes Park rather nervous.

“I think that my portrayal of her is honest,” Park says. “I don’t think it’s a negative portrayal.”

“Never Perfect” has had “modest” success, garnering praise at Stateside film festivals, including a Silver Remi Award at the 40th WorldFest International Film Festival in Texas. It had a run in Seoul at the EBS International Documentary Festival, and has been sold recently for distribution on DVD and airing on television.

Park’s next project is about HIV/AIDS education. Again, she will work with Robinson. They plan to film in the U.S. and Thailand.

The filmmaker’s inquisitive nature accompanies her following the interview, as Robinson shows up to meet Park for dinner. As they relax in a booth at Wonjo Korean Restaurant, a popular tableside BBQ restaurant on 32nd Street, Park orders sundubu, and Robinson orders his meal, kimchi bokkeum, in Korean.

When the side dishes are presented at the table, the Korean-style potato salad ends up squarely in front of her husband.

“Have you noticed,” Parks says, “that they always put the potato salad by the non-Koreans? Why is that?”

By Brian Shin      Photos courtesy of Hunter College

At 14, Evgeniya (pronounced yev-GAY-neeya) Kim had already captured her age group’s national title, played with the Uzbek national tennis team and traveled all over Asia and Europe for international tournaments.

The talented teenager, who first picked up a racket at 7 years old, was accustomed to winning big. She would go months without dropping a single set and was known for her devastating serve and relentless crash-the-net mentality.

But while she was hitting the prime of her developmental tennis years, Evgeniya says being an ethnic minority meant relentless discrimination. Her grandparents had been part of the 1937 forced migration of 200,000 Koreans from the western Soviet Union, as ordered by Josef Stalin who believed the ethnic group might serve as spies for the Japanese. Most of the transplants settled in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, where it was not uncommon to be harassed.

“They’d call me names and make racial remarks, and if I ever talked back, they’d throw stones at me or spit on me,” Evgeniya says, recalling her dreaded daily walk to a segregated school for Koreans in Uzbekistan. “In the winter, I’d have to dodge snowballs, ones with rocks slipped inside them.”

Her father, Viktor, eager to give his wife and three daughters a better life, hired an American immigration lawyer to help move the family to the United States.

Five days before Christmas in 2002, the Kim family arrived at JFK airport in New York City. Viktor was shocked when authorities forced his family into a windowless cell after handcuffing him and his wife, Galina, in front of their three daughters. He learned that he was carrying fraudulent immigration papers courtesy of a scam artist. Liana Schuster had posed as an attorney and successfully swindled the family’s life savings of $10,000. (Shuster, having defrauded multiple people, later pleaded guilty to forgery and fraud.)

“It was completely shocking,” recalls Evgeniya, who speaks with a slight Russian accent. “For my dad, it was a lifelong dream to come to the States. He worked so hard back in Uzbekistan, and finally we had this opportunity to come. My dad is always in control of situations, but that was the first time I saw my dad lost and confused. He brought his children with him to a different country, and here he is being handcuffed.”

The Kims’ request for political asylum was denied, and they were transported to a federal immigration shelter in Leesport, Pa. Refusing to give up, Viktor hired an attorney who successfully pushed for a judge to hear the case. After seven months behind bars and under the close watch of armed guards, asylum was granted and the Kims were freed.

Adjusting to American life required a lot from Evgeniya in particular.

“I really had to grow up a lot,” she says. “As the eldest child and the only one who could speak English, I had to deal with a lot of stuff: immigration papers, looking for an apartment, looking for a job, paying bills, basically taking care of everything.”

When Evgeniya, known as “Eve” to her friends, began attending Benjamin Cardozo High School in New York in 2004, it had been more than 18 months since she last touched a tennis racket. It didn’t take long for her to get her court legs back. She dominated opponents and went undefeated during all three years at Cardozo. After graduating in the top 2 percent of her high school class, she spurned high-profile tennis programs and opted to stay close to home. She is now enrolled in Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College, a Division III school.

Coming off her second consecutive undefeated season, the 19-year-old sophomore has enjoyed the honor of MVP two years in a row.

“I don’t take too much pride in being MVP, but it’s nice,” she says. “Our team getting to nationals last year was a bigger achievement. It was the first time that a CUNY got into nationals for tennis, and we did it again this year too.”

Balancing academics and sports is an easy balance, especially because Evgeniya doesn’t forget where she came from.

“People play tennis in the United States for recreation. People play tennis [in Uzbekistan] because it’s something that can get them a better life. The condition of living in Uzbekistan is so bad they think the only way they can make it is to become a tennis star.”

But Evgeniya doesn’t have her eye on Wimbledon. Instead, her family’s immigration story has inspired her career aspirations. “I want to make sure no one has to go through what we did,” she says.

Which is why she’s chosen to major in political science and dreams of working for the United Nations.

“I wanted to do something with law, I wanted to help people,” she says. “[But] I realized so many times you want to do something, you want to prove something, but you can’t because it’s not written in law books. So I told myself instead of trying to fix the outcomes of certain laws, why not fix the cause, eliminate the cause itself? I thought OK, instead of being an immigration lawyer, maybe I can go a little further.”

Those around her believe in her abilities. Melissa Trapani, 19, was one of the first American friends Evgeniya made and has seen how the Korean Russian has always managed to persevere.

“She’s optimistic, energetic, intelligent, hard-working and an amazing friend,” she says. “She always has this way of turning a bad situation good. I’m just amazed by her. There was never any doubt in my mind that she would be able to rise to the top.”

With her father now working for an auto parts business and her mother recently having opened a Russian deli, Evgeniya says her family has adjusted to American life, renewed their Christian faith and grown closer at the same time. She’ll never forget their initial traumatic experience in the States, but she says now she can look at it with perspective.

“It helped me to understand my parents more, seeing what adults actually have to deal with,” she says. “It pushed me to achieve so much more. Having gone through trouble in the past and persevering, I don’t fear anything in the future.”

By Michelle Woo
Photographs by Chiuling Chen, Erik Ginn, Eric Sueyoshi and Ho J. Yun

It was beginning to look a lot like a star-studded Christmas at KoreAm Journal’s sixth annual gala, “Unforgettable.” As 470 guests swept through the golden doors of Los Angeles’ historic Park Plaza Hotel on Dec. 15, there was a swirl of giddy excitement. Partygoers stargazed as John Cho walked the red carpet, Bobby Lee posed for cameras, Joseph Hahn entertained reporters and Margaret Cho arrived with her entourage.

“Hey, there’s Rex Lee!” said “American Idol” contestant Paul Kim. “I’ve seen that guy on TV.”

After mixing and mingling during the cocktail hour featuring Crown Royal Cask No. 16 (a new premium blend!), guests made their way up the dramatic staircase to the ethereal Terrace Ballroom, where they were greeted by wintry floral centerpieces, garland decked with holiday lights and an open bar. On each table sat a cluster of elegantly wrapped gifts, courtesy of Hanmi Bank, Disney/ABC Television, Intertrend, Ra Beauty Core, Kabuki, Korean Air, Hannah Koo and FHI Heat.

News reporter Lee Ann Kim and actor Leonardo Nam emceed the black-tie event while guests savored the dinner that included sake marinated Chilean sea bass and marinated rib-eye roulade.

The night, title-sponsored by CJ Entertainment, was fueled by a jam-packed lineup of musical performances and awards. Soulful singers Lola Fair & Baby J and Paul Kim belted pop numbers, while k-pop sensation Tim, who journeyed all the way from Korea, left female audience members swooning with his sweet, heartfelt ballads.

But the showstopper of the evening was when actress/comedian Margaret Cho took the stage. Dressed in a retro striped dress, she gave a special surprise performance that set off roars of laughter.

As a nod to the strides KAs have made in Hollywood and beyond, KoreAm used the night to honor three individuals with Entertainment Achievement Awards. The first went to Rex Lee of HBO’s “Entourage.” During his acceptance speech, the loveable actor confessed a little secret: His parents wanted him to be a doctor.

The second awardee was Keli Lee, executive vice president of casting at Disney-ABC Television Group, who has advocated for diverse casts on shows such as “Lost,” “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Ugly Betty.”

Funnygal Margaret Cho accepted the final award of the night. She thanked her parents, who were sitting in the audience, and gave a special shout-out to her mother, the woman behind the comedian’s famous imitations.

“This is wonderful,” said a wide-eyed Kae Whang, a contestant on NBC’s weight-loss reality show “The Biggest Loser.” “Seeing all these Korean Americans making a difference is so empowering.”

Of course, the evening wouldn’t have happened without the event’s additional silver and corporate sponsors: Helio, 011 Communications, Cygnus International Corporation, Crown Royal, Enhance Plastic Surgery, Le Cercle, MDB Capital – Ray Kim, Mindlinq, Paramount Pictures, Park Plaza, Premiere Plastic Surgery, Sherin’s Bridal and Ten Communications.

The soiree continued at a bumping after-party hosted by Jinro and Hite. With DJ Shy spinning the tunes, guests showed off their moves on the dance floor.

In the end, all walked out into the night filled with stars.

How unforgettable it was.

By Michelle Woo
Photograph by Eric Sueyoshi

Nestled under a canopy of mature trees in Los Angeles’ Silver Lake district is the backdrop for the day’s photo shoot. There sits a run-down bungalow, a treasure trove of hula hoops, stacks of old records, checkerboards and other vintage surprises.

Awaiting the arrival of this month’s cover girls — indie pop-rock duo Meg and Dia Frampton — KoreAm staffers are a tad nervous. While the eccentric locale is a photographic heaven, its quirks may be a little off-putting. (One editor made an emergency run for toilet paper and other missing necessities.)

But all anxieties are zapped moments after the sisters appear on the dirt walkway. Casually scoping the scene, Meg turns to a man holding a dusting brush.

“Is this your house?” she asks. When he answers affirmatively, she gushes, “It’s awesome!”

Dressed in jeans and T-shirts, Meg, 22, and Dia, 20, possess none of the rockstar snootiness you might expect from two frontgirls whose current album, “Something Real,” was praised by Rolling Stone and whose band, Meg & Dia, holds the No. 1 rock video spot on MTV Asia’s listener-voted show “Amplified” this week.

Getting primped and primed, the girls hear New Order’s “Bizarre Love Triangle” buzzing from the speakers and start singing along as if they’re lounging in their own living room. For the first shots of the day, they curl up together on the bohemian-style bed, glancing at each other and giggling as the camera clicks away. Dia’s laughter suddenly amplifies into a strident cackle.

“Come on, be serious,” Meg commands with playful, big sister authority.

Dia takes a deep breath and puts on a businesslike face. “Serious,” she repeats.

You can’t blame them for taking some time to be silly. Their band, which consists of Meg (guitar, vocals), Dia (lead vocals), Nick Price (drums), Carlo Gimenez (guitar) and Jonathan Snyder (bass), just wrapped up a marathon touring year, which included a coveted spot on the world-famous Vans Warped Tour. They’ve finally reached a rest stop before hitting the road at the end of this month for one of their biggest opportunities to date: a 29-city tour with San Diego’s Angels & Airwaves, fronted by former Blink-182 vocalist-guitarist Tom DeLonge.

For now, they rock out to the photographer’s CD collection, feed each other sour apple candies and describe what they’ve been doing during their time off in Florida, where their family now lives. “I’m cooking all this crazy stuff,” says Dia. “My mom taught me how to make sundubu, tofu beef soup and cucumber kimchi.”

Their eyes light up when they speak about their younger sisters, Jade, 15, who’s a tennis phenom, 11-year-old twins Rena and Nikki, who are obsessed with Japanese manga, and Misty, who’s 9.

“I try to think of what their childhood will be defined by,” says Dia of her four “biggest fans.” “When we were kids, Meg and I loved ‘Peter Pan.’ We tried to create a flying machine to go to Neverland.”

It must have worked. Meg and Dia soared.

***

The Frampton sisters grew up in Draper, Utah. Their father, Dix, was once a deejay for KBS in Seoul, where he met his wife, Sunhee Kim. After settling back in the States, the couple supported the family by running a series of small businesses, including a video store, a sandwich joint and a flower shop.

A bouncy little girl with an ear for country folk music, Dia taught herself how to yodel. Impressed with her natural abilities, her dad would sign her up for yodeling contests at rodeos and county fairs, where she’d enthuse crowds with her powerful, pitch-perfect voice. “When she sang, it was obvious that she had real talent,” Dix says.

Meg, more low-key and introspective, developed a passion for songwriting after receiving her first guitar. Late at night, while the rest of the family was asleep, she would jolt out of bed and scribble down lyrics and chords. She read constantly and credits authors like J.D. Salinger and Chuck Palahniuk for influencing her lyrical style.

In their early teens, Meg and Dia gathered a few friends and started a band called Jade Harbor, inspired mostly by ‘90s alternative rock. When the family relocated to Las Vegas, they joined another band called Cowards Courage. Early on, they knew that they never wanted to be a manufactured, bubble-gum spectacle. “We didn’t want to do that girl band pop stuff, which was popular at the time,” says Dia. “We wanted to be original. We wanted to be ourselves.”

Meg moved back to her home state to attend the University of Utah, where she earned a full scholarship. Dia eventually followed her sister to Salt Lake City. Describing high school as “miserable,” the teen enrolled in a home schooling program to finish up her junior and senior years.

In 2005, the girls self-released 1,000 copies of the Meg & Dia debut acoustic album, “Our Home Is Gone,” which floods with angst-ridden lyrics and wailing vocals.

For Meg, while it started out as a hobby, music slowly took center stage. One day, she called her dad and told him she wanted to quit college to play with Dia. He told her to go for it. “It wasn’t ever, like, this is what I have to do with my life,” Meg explains. “It was more something that I would be drawn to over and over again.”

A heap of encouragement came the day Meg went in to get her car fixed by a local mechanic named Nick Price. They started chatting and Meg casually mentioned the project. Price, who happened to be a drummer, showed interest. That night, having been looking for a bigger sound, Meg and Dia drove to his studio to hear him play. As the three of them rocked out together, they knew he was the one.

“Music is a really scary thing,” says Dia. “You don’t know where your next paycheck is coming from. Nick is the one who really pushed us. It’s really, really hard to find a good drummer.”

From there, they threw themselves into Meg & Dia, recruiting an additional guitarist and a bassist. Through MySpace, they started blasting out messages in hopes of securing some gigs. Some people would write back, “Sure, come play at our house party. But we can’t pay you.” Still, they would show up ready.

“Our first tour consisted of many, many basements and many occasions where we’d show up and the venue would be locked or shut down,” Dia describes. “We played at bars for literally three really drunk people. It was a process of having to prove ourselves, especially for Meg because you don’t often see girls playing the guitar. She wasn’t very good back then, but I think now she’s really something to see.”

In the fall of 2005, they were signed by Ohio-based Doghouse Records, the label of indie rock successes such as The All-American Rejects and Say Anything.

Their big break arrived in the form of an online message from MySpace founder Tom Anderson. They were about to delete it, assuming it was spam, but decided to give it a glance. Apparently, their MySpace page somehow caught a virus and the technical staff planned to shut it down. But before they could do so, Anderson gave some of the songs a listen, liked what he heard and entered them into a listener-voted contest to become the official MySpace House Band on the Vans Warped Tour. They won.

Those summer days, the girls toiled away on the testosterone-laden tour, waking up at 6 a.m. to build their stage, performing two sets in a steamy tent and then taking everything down in the evening. Manager Mike Kaminsky says they never complained.

“It’s nonstop for them,” Kaminisky says. “But these girls can handle it. They’re one of the most hard-working bands I’ve ever met.” What’s also surprising to him is how Meg and Dia have maintained their personalities and values in an industry that’s very much about image.

In August of 2006, Meg & Dia released its second album, “Something Real,” made up of new works and revamped versions of acoustic songs from “Our Home is Gone.” While critics compared the Framptons to other young sister acts such as Canadian rockers Tegan and Sara and teen pop duo Aly and AJ, their lyrics took on more grownup themes. For instance, the song “Indiana” centers on the classic novel by George Sand about one woman’s emotional journey through a series of abusive and unhappy relationships.

“That book touched me so much,” says Meg. “After reading the last page, I cried for about six hours.”

“I want to write about truth that I’ve found through experience,” she adds thoughtfully. “I want to write about something as ordinary as drinking a cup of coffee in the morning, but be able to describe how beautiful that morning is.”

The buzz of their first album landed the girls spots in Teen People, Cosmo Girl and on TRL. Their music video, “Monster” — an eerie spectacle of furniture being spewed against the walls as the girls, clad in white dresses, bob rhymically to the beat — was nominated for the MTVU Viral Woodie Award. This year, the band signed a deal with Warner Bros. Records.

With Angels & Airwaves, they’ll be playing at big-name arenas across the country, something they’ve never done before. Meg says she gets a thrill each time she takes the stage: “What goes through my head is, ‘What is everybody thinking?’ and ‘I hope young girls are inspired by us’ and ‘This is really fun,’ and ‘I’m so lucky to be here right now.’”

***

For the final shots of the day, the photographer guides Meg and Dia outside to embrace the crisp December morning. Stepping over rocky terrain, Meg picks up two long slabs of wood she discovers by her feet.

“Hey, can we have a sword fight with the wood?” she asks her sister mischievously.

Dia shrugs, takes one of the slabs and busts out with a surprise attack. Both girls giggle.

“I don’t want to play sword fight anymore!” Meg whines.

“Fine, it was your idea,” Dia says.

Dia says that like any sisters, she and Meg have had their fair share of spats. One time, when they were children, Meg took out the couch cushions, threw Dia onto the vacant spot, put the cushions back on and started jumping on her.

“I can’t remember what I did, but I was so mad,” Dia recalls.

Today, their fights mostly revolve around little things like who gets to use the shower first, but for bigger arguments about working and performing as a team, Dia says they’ll always sit down and talk it out.

“I love always having a sister around,” Dia says. “Being around so many boys, we need to have our girl time.”

After their tour, Meg and Dia will hit the recording studio once again to begin their new album, which they have already started writing. When asked if she has any memorable touring stories from the past year, Meg simply declares, “There’s crazy stuff happening every day.” Both say their goal is to keep improving their art.

Clinging to each other for laughter, friendship and support, Meg and Dia have, in many ways, created their own Neverland. With their music and voices as swords, they’re on a mission to fight the pirates, the doubters and anyone else who gets in their way.

No evidence North Korean leader is dead http://t.co/Wl42cfFN via @CNN

RT @originalspin: Jeremy 10 pts 3 asts. Kobe 6pts 0 asts. Maybe Kobe knows who @JLin7 is now? #saymyname #linsanity

Video Roundup: Jeremy Lin Rap, Hoekstra Ad Parodied, Daniel Radcliffe Speaks Korean http://t.co/oZy9okXn

Believing the Unbelievable: Why Kim Jong Un Death Rumors Won't Die - The Atlantic http://t.co/u3ZxS2bK via @AddThis

Three S. Korean women kidnapped in Egypt's Sinai - Yahoo! News http://t.co/BbJgk4tJ via @YahooNews