Mallary Tenore Tarpley, an assistant professor of practice, published her memoir, SLIP, on August 5. She will continue her book tour until her final appearance at the Texas Book Festival in Austin on November 8–9. Tarpley spoke with The Daily Texan about the message of her book, which explores the complex idea of full recovery and her own experience with an eating disorder.
The Texan Daily: How did you go about making SLIP a reality?
Mallary Tenore Tarpley: This book has been in the works for a long time; I began working on it when I was around sixteen years old. I would create a new version of the book every few years, but I didn’t start working on this most recent version until 2020.
DT: Do you remember any particular instances?
MTT: I examined what it means to exist in this liminal state between severe illness and complete recuperation. I had long believed that I was the only one in this area where I was better, but when I polled (more than 700) people, 85% of them stated they could relate to this concept of the middle ground.
DT: Regardless of the topic of the story, what adjustments do you believe journalists can make to increase the effect of the (middle place) narrative?
MTT: Whether you’re writing a tale about someone’s loss or sorrow, an eating problem, or another mental health issue, it’s crucial to examine the messy middles of people’s journeys. However, we frequently have a tendency to concentrate on the story’s beginnings and the destination of the characters. How did they get from point A to point B? (Journalists should ask). What was the nature of that journey? And that’s where journalists can be crucial in revealing those tangled middles.
DT: Is there anything in particular you want your student audience to understand?
MTT: I believed that I ought to have overcome my eating disorder by the time I was in college. I never acknowledged that I was still having a lot of difficulties because I believed that everything should be better. I would advise students to consider who they can confide in and who they can talk to about their mistakes. They may experience failures, but if we keep our mistakes to ourselves, it keeps us ill and stuck.
DT: In your book tour thus far, what have been some of the most fulfilling moments?
MTT: My father was present during my (a stop) in Massachusetts last week. Along with some of the nurses who cared for me while I was in the hospital, there was a group of my former middle school teachers who played a significant role in my life following the death of my mother. It has been 20 to 25 years since I last saw them. I had also been treated with other girls when I was thirteen or fourteen years old. Seeing everyone in the crowd who had a significant influence on my early years and knew young Mallary—many of whom are also the characters in my book’s earliest chapters—was lovely.
