Someone in the comments asked if we know how Sam feels about being written about. In an interview with Powell's Anne Lamott said:
"I've written a few pieces about Sam at Salon, but we've had the discussion and he really doesn't want to be written about. But he also said I could publish all those older pieces; I'll be putting them together in another kind of Traveling Mercies. But I won't be writing about him."
Let's be clear. She admits he doesn't like to be written about. He has been pretty reasonable about what she wrote when he was a kid, more so than he had to be. But he doesn't want to be written about any more.
So I'm guessing getting slapped wasn't enough punishment for not doing a good enough job washing the car.
Sounds like public humiliation of being compared to Jeffrey Dahmer by your own mother in front of a national audience was part of the punishment.
Paraphrasing Calvin Trillan, the teenage years are hard enough without having to be the subject of your parents' humor columns.
But I guess Sam's life wasn't hard enough for Anne.
I'm sorry, this is one nasty woman.
CC
3 comments:
I am confused. Was her article about slapping him pretty recent? Because she says she won't be writing about him, but then there is this piece. Was this piece written and published before that quote? Or is she saying one thing and then doing something entirely different?
The date at the bottom of the page with the interview is: September 26, 2003.
The new article came out on Monday.
This is what lead me to my conclusion that she was publishing it to punish him.
His wishes matter until he REALLY pisses her off.
Then, they don't.
CC
While I don't find her article offensive in and of itself, her writing about him when he asked her not to is really wrong. Especially if she said she wouldn't write about him anymore, and then does!
Unless he changed his mind, which there is no mention of (and she should have mentioned if he had, given her previous statement).
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