SELECTED INTERVIEWS ABOUT A SILENT TREATMENT
NPR Weekend Edition | with Scott Simon
I did write it out of love. So I hope that comes through, especially to her.
Electric Literature | with Annie Liontas
There’s that anechoic chamber in Minneapolis. It’s supposed to be the quietest place on earth—so quiet people can hear themselves blink. They freak out. They don’t know how to orient themselves. When I first read about it, I thought, Well, that’s a nice metaphor for my mom’s silent treatment.
Poets & Writers (pdf available)
When an impediment arrives, I try writing about it. This helps me remain patient.
Largehearted Boy
After some friends learned I was making a playlist for my memoir A Silent Treatment, they asked if John Cage’s ‘4’33’ would be included. But my mom’s silent treatment seems more like noise music. It’s aggressive. The distortion shifts unpredictably. It feels punishing.
Shelf Awareness | with Kerry McHugh
When I'm going to write about the past, I find that having a period of time, a narrative present that I'm working within, one that is relative and recent, gives me more flexibility. I feel like I'm getting closer to the truth.
Adroit | with Marisa Siegel
For her, the silent treatment was self-preservation. And writing the book became a form of self-preservation for me. I could remove myself from the situation—not always, but just enough—and gain some distance on what was happening.
I did write it out of love. So I hope that comes through, especially to her.
Electric Literature | with Annie Liontas
There’s that anechoic chamber in Minneapolis. It’s supposed to be the quietest place on earth—so quiet people can hear themselves blink. They freak out. They don’t know how to orient themselves. When I first read about it, I thought, Well, that’s a nice metaphor for my mom’s silent treatment.
Poets & Writers (pdf available)
When an impediment arrives, I try writing about it. This helps me remain patient.
Largehearted Boy
After some friends learned I was making a playlist for my memoir A Silent Treatment, they asked if John Cage’s ‘4’33’ would be included. But my mom’s silent treatment seems more like noise music. It’s aggressive. The distortion shifts unpredictably. It feels punishing.
Shelf Awareness | with Kerry McHugh
When I'm going to write about the past, I find that having a period of time, a narrative present that I'm working within, one that is relative and recent, gives me more flexibility. I feel like I'm getting closer to the truth.
Adroit | with Marisa Siegel
For her, the silent treatment was self-preservation. And writing the book became a form of self-preservation for me. I could remove myself from the situation—not always, but just enough—and gain some distance on what was happening.
Baltimore Fishbowl | with Marion Winik
Writing memoirs can feel like a betrayal to one’s family, but the greater betrayal is to support the idea that anybody human is perfect. It’s not fair to them. I guess my memoirs reflect my delayed adolescence. I finally see my parents as imperfect parents.
Craft | with Matti Ben-Lev
Here’s some advice I tell students, which is advice I regularly need to tell myself: Whenever you want to say, “I can’t write,” reframe it as “I can’t notice.” Writing is hard. Noticing, though? Noticing is more manageable. And noticing the significance in smaller, everyday moments revealed new possibilities for organizing the book.
True Magazine | with Brandon Arvesen
I don’t know how to write a book.
Memoir Nation | with Brooke Warner and Grant Faulkner
Hopefully there won't be a sequel.
The Stranger | with Katie Lee Ellison
I wanted there to be a lyricism that didn’t necessarily come from each sentence on its own, but from how the book moved and how it enacted thinking.
Writing memoirs can feel like a betrayal to one’s family, but the greater betrayal is to support the idea that anybody human is perfect. It’s not fair to them. I guess my memoirs reflect my delayed adolescence. I finally see my parents as imperfect parents.
Craft | with Matti Ben-Lev
Here’s some advice I tell students, which is advice I regularly need to tell myself: Whenever you want to say, “I can’t write,” reframe it as “I can’t notice.” Writing is hard. Noticing, though? Noticing is more manageable. And noticing the significance in smaller, everyday moments revealed new possibilities for organizing the book.
True Magazine | with Brandon Arvesen
I don’t know how to write a book.
Memoir Nation | with Brooke Warner and Grant Faulkner
Hopefully there won't be a sequel.
The Stranger | with Katie Lee Ellison
I wanted there to be a lyricism that didn’t necessarily come from each sentence on its own, but from how the book moved and how it enacted thinking.