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It took me three years to work up the courage to go back to the newsroom. I had clips, but they were from high school: The senior class literary magazine was positively littered with my poetry, but I didn’t dare show my writing to a college newspaper editor. My first year, I tried to write for the paper - going so far as to walk to the office and introduce myself to the editor in chief - but because he asked for samples of my work, I was too intimidated to follow up. By the time I graduated from high school, I was grateful to be alive, relieved to be moving away and, despite the deep-seated suspicion that I was irrevocably damaged, genuinely hopeful that I might fit in to this new and unfamiliar college environment. They had divorced when I was 10 years old my mother remarried within a year, and her new husband regularly brutalized me physically, emotionally and sexually. These criteria were not vetted by my parents, who provided little to no guidance. I had chosen SUNY Albany for two reasons: I could only afford a state school, and my best friend Tammy was already attending.
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I was fascinated by the myriad voices of the writers and eagerly waited for each issue to be dropped in front of the campus center. There was coverage of edgy European films and, because Albany was the state capital, smart reporting about the local government. Publishing twice a week, the paper was opinionated, political and provocative. Back then, in the early 1980s, it was considered one of the best student newspapers in the country. We’ve been together ever since.The long road to my pandemic wedding By Debbie Millmanĭuring college at the State University of New York at Albany, I dreamed about writing for the Albany Student Press. Because I was nervous, I said, “Yes, just in case you want to have some personal time.” After dinner, I invited her to my room. She asked me if she should book her own hotel room. A month after our dinner, I suggested we spend a weekend together in Boston. I actually thought she was a little scary.
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She’s the smartest person I’ve ever known and a lifelong New Yorker who takes no shit from anyone. She ended up being the last person in line, and I was like, “Wow, she’s hot!” We had a beautiful dinner and, when we got out onto the street, she asked if she could kiss me, which was sweet and sexy and romantic.ĭebbie’s unlike anyone I’ve ever met. I didn’t know what she looked like, so at the book-signing afterwards, I wondered if each woman was her. I was in New York for a book event in October 2018 and we arranged to have dinner after that. The way she phrased it was adorable, and she was persistent, so I agreed to have dinner with her the next time I was in New York. Several emails later, she asked me out on a date.
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Then Debbie sent me a lovely email talking about the impact Hunger had had on her. I didn’t know who she was, so I told her to contact my publicist. Roxane: In 2017, Debbie emailed me to ask me to appear on her podcast, Design Matters.