AFFAIRS OF THE HEART from page 41 1045 Brush Street - Detroit • hone (313) 965-1245 • www.sweetob.com he flealtI, Mediterranean Cuisine 1110WENTRIMI CERME GOURMET SANDWICHES •DINE iN/CARRY OUT • CATERING Outstanding Excellence & 5uperior Qualit LV OFT TOTAL BILL with coupon Expires 4/15/04 28639 Northwestern hwy. • 5outhfield (in the rromenacle Plaza) 248.827.0077 • fax :21-8.827.0099....9.-ortier New Hours: Mon-Sat 7-8 Sundays 8-3 OPEN SUNDAYS from Sam-3prn! 15% OFF Entire Bill L Specials Excluded on Weekends Only . .... Expires 02/26/04 I ............... 21754 W. 11 MILE RD. • HARVARD ROW • 248-352-4940 FAX: 352-9393 SIMONE VITALE 505 S. Lafayette Royal Oak MI 48067 Call Simone at: 248.544.7373 Website: simonevitale.com Email: infoesimonevitale.com Voted est Band Jewish News r^11.1.** .1 41111r is right here in your weekly Jewish News. JN 2/13 2004 42 Call to get your issue delivered directly to your door! 248.351.5174 JN: What role does Judaism play in your life today? And was it important for you to marry someone Jewish? SS: Though I'm not traditional, my favorite writers are Jewish. My parents knew they were in trouble when I told them Philip Roth was my role model. Portnoy's Complaint is one of my favorite books. So is Erica Jong's Fear of Flying. I love Yehuda Amichai's poetry. I'm glad I married a funny Jewish writer because we speak the same lan- guage. But I couldn't have married a Jewish Republican -banker. JN: How big a role does sex play in a love relationship, and was it difficult for you to be so specific in your writing? SS: I made my Michigan friend Laura Berman (a writer for the Detroit News) read a novel I wrote that everybody loved but nobody was buying. It was based on a true story about two sis- ters-in-law who switch lives. I asked Laura what was wrong with it. She said, "You have no imagination whatsoever; write a memoir. You have a complicated love-hate relationship with your sister-in-law; write about people you adore. And two sisters-in-law is a boring subject. Write about sex." I was trying to sell out for years; nobody was buying. I was trying to be raunchy because sex sells. But sex is more interesting with somebody you love, which is what I write about. JN: How do you deal with feelings of vulnerability about exposing so much about your own life in both the pro- HEART SMART from page 41 feedback frorri people with whom I disagree, notably the people who believe that it's wrong to take medica- tion [preventatively]. I'm expecting to get public feedback from Dean Ornish, whom I name in the book. I couldn't disagree with him more strongly. By insisting that we stay away from medication and move only to healthy diet and exercise as the sole way to prevent heart attacks, he is pro- moting a position I think is wrong and [not] good medicine." Salgo's book presents a chapter that provides and analyzes a self-test that readers can take to evaluate their personal risks for heart attacks. fessional and personal realms? SS: A brilliant adviser gave me a rule for staying successful and happy: "Lead the least secretive life you can." It works! I now have two careers I love — teaching and writing. I just sold a sec- ond book and finished a third; I quit cigarettes, lost weight, feel very exhila- rated and healthy. I have an agent and editor I adore, am going on the Today show, have tripled my income, feel madly in love with my husband, feel closer than ever to my family. Repression makes you sick and angry. [As] John Updike says, "Naked honesty is engaging." It actually makes excellent business and creative sense for me to be open. JN: How did the men in your life contribute to shaping your career? SS: The reason I think the book works is that I'm a raging feminist who adores men. I can't stand women who kvetch about what cads all men are. As I stress in my book, the men in my life have been extremely supportive. My last chapter is about how my father insisted on paying.for my pri- vate school, college and graduate school. He didn't even want me to move to Manhattan but helped me pay my ludicrously expensive rent for years when I couldn't afford it. My husband supported me when I quit freelancing to finish the book. In the most cathartic section of Five ./k/n, which takes place on my 40th birthday, he and my dad and brothers get me my first computer, all hooked up — with a laser printer and AOL and soft- ware installed. How amazing is that? ❑ He also discusses the impact of the use of antibiotics and points out that the pathogen he describes is not the one associated with sexually trans- mitted disease. "Since I finished the book — and one of the reasons I put an adden- dum in the book — there were sever- al articles published in the British Medical Journal discussing a Tolypill,' a concoction which essen- tially is a statin plus an aspirin plus a few other meds," Salgo says. "The pill dramatically reduced the heart attack rate, according to their stud- ies. In fact, the editorial in the BMJ used a word I had never seen used for heart disease — cure." ❑