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| It’s fortunate that I was a writer with a schedule and a deadline -- as well as a day job and three kids -- and not a philosopher, or I might still be trying to figure out what to do. What I told myself was that any friendship -- whether it began with a book contract or not -- was perilous. Every friendship was poised between love and treachery and must be constantly, thoughtfully renegotiated in order to stay alive. This ethical dilemma I found myself in with Arianne was complicated by the book, but in many ways it was no different than other hard decisions friends have to make about friends every day. What I finally decided was that any decision I could make would be a betrayal of some kind and that I had to choose the betrayal I could best live with. My book, Full Court Press, was published about a year later with what I hope are important insights into Arianne’s character, her love of the game and her difficulties with her coach. But there is only a passing mention of the crisis. We are still friends. Lauren Kessler is the author of nine books, the editor of this magazine and the director of the literary nonfiction program at the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication. |
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