Patricia Smith scandal

         I commend the Boston Globe for doing the right thing in the

    Patricia Smith scandal. Her talent for fabricating characters and

    quotations could have been honorably employed in writing FICTION.

       Perhaps she will redeem herself in the future. There was a good

    heart behind her deception. But it is unforgivable as journalism !

       Out of curiosity I just read her May 11,1998 column in the Boston

    Globe. Very strange " interview " with a cancer patient whose middle

    name she gave as " Claire ".

         The horror of the piece reminded me of a short story by Guy de

    Maupassant - " The Horla " - written not long before his mental

    breakdown : " I've gone casket shopping. I've had dreams of lying in

    one with a hole in my head which you can see right through. I'm

    driving my mother crazy ",  Claire says.

       In her  Apology column, Patricia Smith writes : " To those colleagues

    and readers who salivated daily at the thought of my head on a platter,

    congrats."

       Perhaps there is an " ogre " lurking in her. Perhaps she needs

    professional attention. I do not say this meanly. I wish her a

    happy life .




       I can appreciate an editor's job more after reading this sad story!