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Not really comedy tonight, but the line was too good to pass up.
In light of recent discussions about only writing trauma when you "know" the trauma, I found this article from New York magazine particularly interesting. It's about legal superstar Larry Lessig and his surprising (because he doesn't generally do this type of law) representation of a man who says he was molested decades ago at the Boychoir School in New Jersey, where Lessig also went. As it turns out, Lessig was also a victim, but his life has turned out quite differently from his client's, which is not to say that he wasn't affected. His client draws a fascinating analogy: "Within 24 hours after [the client] told [another person] about being raped by the school’s cook, [his] mother was killed in a car accident, propelling his paranoia to imponderable heights. His daughter was in the car, too, but she 'walked out unscathed,' he says. 'And I got to thinking later it was a metaphor for molestation. Some are killed, some are scarred, some are crippled. Others walk out untouched. It all depends where you were sitting in the car.'" There are common and uncommon reactions to trauma; there's rarely a "right" reaction; and writing fiction about trauma is a minefield whether or not you survived trauma yourself.
Tomorrow night I'll be in Philly, aiming to misbehave.
In light of recent discussions about only writing trauma when you "know" the trauma, I found this article from New York magazine particularly interesting. It's about legal superstar Larry Lessig and his surprising (because he doesn't generally do this type of law) representation of a man who says he was molested decades ago at the Boychoir School in New Jersey, where Lessig also went. As it turns out, Lessig was also a victim, but his life has turned out quite differently from his client's, which is not to say that he wasn't affected. His client draws a fascinating analogy: "Within 24 hours after [the client] told [another person] about being raped by the school’s cook, [his] mother was killed in a car accident, propelling his paranoia to imponderable heights. His daughter was in the car, too, but she 'walked out unscathed,' he says. 'And I got to thinking later it was a metaphor for molestation. Some are killed, some are scarred, some are crippled. Others walk out untouched. It all depends where you were sitting in the car.'" There are common and uncommon reactions to trauma; there's rarely a "right" reaction; and writing fiction about trauma is a minefield whether or not you survived trauma yourself.
Tomorrow night I'll be in Philly, aiming to misbehave.
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But it seems to me that even without such evidence, he would obviously be within the scope -- it's not like going to a bar after work and getting into a fight, as the defense attorney said, because the teacher used his position to gain access to the boys, and used his authority to intimidate them and facilitate his encounters. I don't even know why this would be such a big issue.
But maybe I'm not understanding or the magazine is not being precise.
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