A friend over on Facebook asked me to find an article I once wrote about Anne Lamott more than a decade ago; a more intrepid soul did the job for me.
I remembered the article well — or thought I did. I had quite forgotten the last paragraph in which I dropped the reporter’s mantle of ironic distance and threw my lot in with Lamott’s fans. Predictably, however, I can’t remember what I did in the video store, or why. My best guess is that I re-arranged some titles. Yes, it sounds pretty petty. Did I ever deny being petty?
This piece was written just before the worst time in my life (so far) was about to begin. So the main thing I notice in reading it is that I was utterly oblivious to all the bad things that would happen in the next twenty months. I find that perspective especially terrifying.
Happy Monday!
It is terrifying. It’s what keeps some of us tamping down high expectations for fear of the inevitable crash. Then we realize that’s worse than crashing.
Thanks for the article–there’s plenty I’d like to tell Lamott–and for the new blog.
For those of us who have followed your writing since the Sunpapers, thanks for the look back. I can remember when Baltimore Blues came out and the buzz started, the ex journalist teacher in me thought “I hope this doesn’t mean she will no longer do feature writing” and then after The Sugar House came out the ex English teacher in me thought “Wow! This woman needs to become a full time novelist.” Demanding aren’t we Laura?
Oh, if I could capture the optimism I had about the middle of the last decade, I’d be unstoppable.
Or at least I’d believe it.
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