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With Rosa Lee, I was dealing with a family of drug addicts. I explained at the beginning of the
project that under no circumstances would I give anyone in her family money. I know how drug
addicts collect little bits of change from different people until they have enough to buy drugs. I knew
that they would simply use my money to buy drugs.
Every member of Rosa Lee’s family tried to scam money off of me. Rosa Lee’s daughter, Patty,
even offered me sex in exchange for money. But they eventually learned that this was a rule I was
never going to break.
So there was no exchange whatsoever for the entire four years you were reporting her story?
No, I just didn’t give anyone money. I told Rosa Lee that if she was hungry we would go to a
restaurant, and I would pay for the food. And if she wanted a pack of cigarettes, I’d buy them. But I
will not give you money to buy food or to buy cigarettes—because I knew where that money would
go.
But Rosa Lee inevitably broke some of your rules. You told her you wouldn’t be witness to any
criminal behavior, but she went shoplifting when she was with you. She also tried to use your
connection to The Washington Post to help her navigate government bureaucracy. You write, “I’m
angry at Rosa Lee for violating my trust, and I’m angry at myself . . . Why did I think she would
behave differently around me?”
In retrospect, it was very egotistical of me to insist that when she was with me she behave so
differently from the way she normally behaved. After all, this is a woman who has been shoplifting
since she was thirteen years old! She never paid attention to the rules! So why did I think I was going
to be able to impose rules on her? It was a mistake, although a well-intentioned one.
Rosa Lee obviously looked up to you. At one point, she asked you whether she should stop
teaching her granddaughter to shoplift. She asks, “So you think I should stop?” And you reply,
“No, no. I’m not getting into whether you should stop. I’m asking you how do you justify it?” Do
you ever worry about becoming too involved with your characters?
It is a very fine line between maintaining my role as a reporter and developing the kind of humane
relationship that inevitably occurs between two people who spend a lot of time with each other.
In the case of Rosa Lee’s teaching her granddaughter to shoplift, she crossed the line. I didn’t want
my opinion influencing her behavior. I wasn’t taking a moral position on what she was doing. All I
wanted was to understand her justification for it.
How do you convince your subjects to talk to you so openly?
I’m a pretty gregarious guy, and I’m very flexible and open about myself. I am very accessible.
Most of my subjects get addicted to the interview process and don’t want to stop talking.
Time is the most important factor in doing this sort of project. For example, when I was reporting