Enough with the privacy guilt, already!

[Jules Siegel]

Greg Montalbano wrote:
> 
> On Thu, 24 Oct 1996 17:59:39 -0400 you said:
> >     Dear Guilty in DC,
> >
> >     Just wanted to let you know that I was glad to read your recent
> >     comments re the online interview with Chrissie.  I share your
> >     feelings.  I have been concerned that I have been giving in to
> >     my baser instincts by reading the interview -- and I disagree,
> >     btw, with Jules that this is like feeling guilty about jerking off.
> >     For me, it's a matter of not liking the fact that I've done something
> >     that I know is unkind or unpleasant or distasteful to someone who has
> >     made their feelings/wishes about it clear.
> >
> >     Not feelin' holier than thou here, just a bit regretful...
> >
> >     Guilty in NY,
> >
> >     Chris
> >
> Perhaps the more sensitive of us would feel better about all of this if we
> kept the questions on the level of the literary & the scholarly -- other
> authors he may have read/liked, influences, opinions on, etc -- and left
> the PEOPLE MAGAZINE material alone.

I think people should ask the questions they feel like asking. I also
very firmly believe that any feelings of guilt or embarrassment are
absolutely silly. Perhaps when we get Chrissie back here and she answers
the queztions about the models for his characters, she can comment about
how she feels about having been repeatedly caricatured. How about me? I
haven't looked myself up in his work, but the fact that he might have
changed my name and mixed in some other parts of other people doesn't
change the facts. He used us. He didn't ask our permission. We didn't
get all huffy about it. It was no big deal.

Let me assure you that I am just as concerned about my privacy as Tom
is. From time to time, I would have a remission from the obsession and
cooperate fully in publicizing some book or Playboy article, principally
by doing phone-in interviews, but I have never allowed myself to be
photographed by any but a Playboy photographer, among other
restrictions. At the same time, I do like seeing my name in print and I
do welcome the commercial effect this has. I never allowed my address to
be published or my telephone number until I went on on-line. I finally
just decided that the secrecy no longer had any value. As it is, I live
on an island within the main island of Cancun, one of the most secure
places in the world. The world is dangerous. I have three children. My
life has been threatened more than once because of what I've written. I
once had to live with an armed guard patrolling outside my window
because someone with a gun came out looking to kill me.

I'm sure that Tom, who is much more self-protective than even I, would
not be at all offended by our analysis. Although we never talked about
it, I feel confident that he was concerned about being ridiculed, not
appreciated, as we are doing here. His personal security is in no way
being compromised.
-- 
Jules Siegel Website: http://www.caribe.net.mx/siegel/jsiegel.htm
Mail: Apdo. 1764 Cancun QR 77501 Mexico
Street: Green 16 Paseo Pok-Ta-Pok Zona Hotelera Cancun QR 77500 Mexico
Tel: 011-52-98 87-49-18 Fax 87-49-13 E-mail: jsiegel at mail.caribe.net.mx