 Many thanks toP.S. Wall author of If I Were a Man, I'd Marry Me and My Love Is Free... But the Rest of Me Don't Come Cheap for chatting with us August 23, 1999 Here's
the transcript! |
About P.S. Wall
"Name" the reporter asks.
"P.S. Wall," I say.
"How do you spell that?"
"Like a brick."
The reporter looks at me like his beak just poked through the shell.
"W-a-l-l," I spell slowly.
"Where are you from?"
"Born in Tennessee, 40 miles north of Nashville. And grew up in Alaska."
"Cool," he says, as he writes.
"Pretty much nine months out of the year."
"Your dad in the military?"
"No. My uncle homesteaded, and was a bush pilot and game guide. My parents decided to go for a visit, and we ended up staying."
"So, like your dad wasn't in the military?"
"No. My uncle homesteaded, and was a bush pilot and game guide. My parents decided to go for a visit, and we ended up staying."
"So, like your dad wasn't in the military?" the reporter says. "Cause that'd be a great hook, what with the base closings and all."
"Sorry."
"Too bad," he sighs. "So what exactly do you do?"
Some people might consider it unprofessional to know absolutely nothing about the person you've been sent to interview. I prefer to think of it as a reporter without an agenda.
"I'm a syndicated humor columnist with Universal Press--"
"So, you have a journalism degree from..." he writes.
"Actually, I majored in Environmental Science. I was in environmental sales until I started writing."
"How does a tree hugger make the leap to writer?"
"Well, I used to write these little snippets for fun, and my better half, Sweetie, made me take some to our local paper. It just sort of happened from there."
The reporter gives this some thought. "Didn't you make like really big money in sales?"
"We're talking company car, profit sharing and quarterly bonuses."
"Bet old Sweetie's kicking himself in the butt."
"A Day doesn't go by," I say.
"You haven't given me much to work with," the reporter says, closing his pad. "You know, most people pad their biographies."
"How shallow," I huff. "What difference does a bio make?"
"I guess it will help sell your book," he shrugs, tucking his pen behind his ear. "You know, more money."
"Did I mention I use humor to conceal my inner struggle with the dark side, which is the result of an unspeakable childhood event?"
"Angst is good," he says, flipping his pad back open. "Oprah loves angst."
| Named Best Humor
Columnist of 1996 by the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, P.S. Wall has caught
the attention of thousands of readers across the country with her nationally syndicated
column, Off the Wall, on everything from overweight felines to Elvis,
from dieting to weed whackers, country living to sexy French tour guides. Wall has been compared to Dave Barry and Molly Ivins and according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, she is "Erma Bombeck with attitude." Now, hot on the heels of her first collection of essays, My Love Is Free... But the Rest of Me Don't Come Cheap, get ready for her latest takes on men, women, relationships, and girlfriends, If I Were a Man, I'd Marry Me. I hear her dad was in the military. |
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