Anyone aware of Kathleen Rooney’s controversial exit in 2010 from Senator Dick Durbin’s Chicago office might be disappointed that her new political book isn’t a tell-all. An accomplished writer with several books under her belt—including poetry and a memoir, Live Nude Girl, about being an artist’s model—Rooney published her first work, the autobiographical essay collection For You, for You, I Am Trilling These Songs, while working as a Durbin aide. When word of the book got back to the senator’s D.C. office, its author was abruptly fired. A particular source of contention was a piece in which Rooney describes, albeit in third person, a complicated flirtation with her boss, Durbin’s district director, to whom she gives the fictional title “chief of staff.”
Initially, did the process of writing O, Democracy! seem like a chance to respond to your dismissal from Durbin’s office? [Given her relatively lowly position, Rooney felt she had little power to contest the decision.]
Now I’m a professor. Recent graduates tell me that they kill off parts of themselves, don’t let their employers know they’re a musician or a painter or a yoga teacher. So it’s not just in a political office, where outside interests aren’t [valued] and the dominant attitude is “You work for us.”
Part of that is tied into this founding father narrative—these foundational myths that run through the book. I wanted the names of people to suggest that they should be read as archetypes. Again, I’m not looking to be like, “This one guy was a huge jerk.”
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