We left the bar on Third Ave., headed down
to the East Village, and caught up with Tracy and her friends.
Once there, I spoke with Tracy, careful to avoid shop
talk. Our conversation was pleasant, relaxed. Before
parting, we agreed to meet the next night. Once again,
the conversation was pleasant, so pleasant that the
Stallman e-book became almost a distant memory.
When I got back to Oakland, I called around to various
journalist friends and acquaintances. I recounted my
predicament. Most upbraided me for giving up too much
ground to Stallman in the preinterview negotiation. A
former j-school professor suggested I ignore Stallman's
"hypocrite" comment and just write the story. Reporters
who knew of Stallman's media-savviness expressed
sympathy but uniformly offered the same response: it's
your call.
I decided to put the book on the back burner. Even with
the interviews, I wasn't making much progress. Besides,
it gave me a chance to speak with Tracy without running
things past Henning first.
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