It was nearly one year ago—to the day!—that Traci Nobles, a cheerleading coach from Athens, Georgia, “made a few provocative comments” on a Congressman’s public fan page.
Little did Ms. Nobles know that she had put herself on a collision course with Weinergate, the biggest, most embarrassing, most depressing—“ridiculous bulge in my shorts now. wanna see?” passes as romance in 2011?—Twitter-borne political sex scandal of our time.
To commemorate the anniversary, Ms. Nobles has written a book, “I Freinded You”—the title is indeed spelled that way—the first-ever Weiner sextee tell-all, which will be published soon and was excerpted in The Daily Mail earlier this week.
We know what you’re thinking. Or at least we’re thinking: Why Traci, WHY? This is painful, and too much—like a forced feeding after Thanksgiving.
History and the human condition circa 2011 may lead you to the hunch that Ms. Nobles is in this for the money, or perhaps a reality show. But, she says she did it because of the journalism.
Though the consensus on Weinergate coverage may be there was much too much, Ms. Nobles (who in those first few days became known as a gym teacher from Athens, Georgia who messaged Weiner “could eat ya with a spoon!”) is critical of the media for giving too little, at least of her.
As she writes in a column in The Daily Mail, “Why I’m Writing this Book Now”:
I was motivated by my need for clarity. I wanted to provide clarification for the lies and untruths, both know and unknown.
For me personally, it is important to address how I was portrayed, as well as how my involvement has affected various aspects of my life, as well as those who are close to me. The memoir is not specifically about Weiner or his family, it is me explaining my involvement, what has transpired since it all began, and the truth that has yet to be told.
The excerpts published in The Daily Mail are in fact, specifically about Weiner and his family. But small beans!
We’ll take Ms. Nobles’s crusade to right media’s wrongs as seriously as we take The Daily Mail as a truth-telling forum.
This is after all, not the first time Ms. Nobles has shared her story. Back in July, she was on the Today show with Ann Curry. At the time, she said she had “no regrets”.
Erika Fry is a former assistant editor at CJR.