Posted on 01/27/2006 2:55:59 AM PST by advance_copy
Former Chapel Hill author Nasdijj won national acclaim writing memoirs about his brutal childhood as a Navajo Indian in the Southwest and as a father to two adopted sons who died of AIDS and fetal alcohol syndrome. In truth, he was Timothy P. Barrus, a man of Scandinavian descent who grew up in a solidly middle-class neighborhood of Lansing, Mich., and had a career writing gay pornography, according to public records and several people who know Barrus.
The likelihood that Barrus had fabricated his past -- and parlayed the fiction into three successful nonfiction books -- was first raised Wednesday in a lengthy article in a Los Angeles newspaper that outlined similarities between Barrus and Nasdijj.
On Thursday, The News & Observer was able to confirm that they are the same person. The paper had a Social Security number for Nasdijj because it had paid him for free-lance work. A check of the database of public records collected by Accurint, a private company, matched Barrus to the Social Security number. And an Esquire editor said the magazine had made out a check to "Tim Nasdijj Barrus" for the 1999 article that was the author's breakthrough piece.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsobserver.com ...
Too funny! But then, in a culture that seems to accept "West Wing" as the Real-White-House-in-Exile, I guess it's not surprising that flakes like this have ceased to distinguish between reality and their fevered dreams.
Glad the paper tracked him down and caught him. They must be taking lessons in investigative journalism from bloggers!
Timmy the gay Indian Vietman vet.....
So....This guy is basically what you would get by cloning Ward Churchill with some James Frey DNA spliced in ????
Another winner from the creative nonfiction genre.
Another example, an outstanding one, of what the concept of "truth" means to social Marxists.
Another "fake, but accurate" episode?
"The left lies because it must"
This A-hole, along with the one busted by Oprah – will be making all memoirs suspect. I hope the public’s usual attention span holds true and they are soon forgotten. My own memoirs will be hitting the stands within a couple months.
shttp://www.laweekly.com/index.php?option=com_lawcontent&&task=view&&id=12468&&Itemid=47
Link to original LA Weekly article referenced to in this article.
It's a long and interesting read. Note than another large publisher-Houghton Mifflin, i.e., not just Ballantine-, is implicated. At issue are questions of Houghton Mifflin passing off fiction as 'memoir' and Barrus, ala' Ward Churchill, representing himself as something that he isn't. AND, the utter failure of Houghton-Mifflin, Esquire,.... to authenticate 'Nasdijj'.
A good bit of the article also explores the issue of non Native Americans hijacking Native American genre.
My dad often admonished me to 'don't believe anything you hear and only half of what you read'. If he was alive today, I suspect he would revise downward.
Another product of Public School values?
Good point. Like the acclaimed memoir of the boy who grew up in drugs and prostitution (in fact written by a middle-class woman) entitled - "The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things". LOL! Ain't it just!
read it!! thanks much for the link to this fraud
Thanks to both of you for those links.
Check out this load of baloney, which "Nasdijj" sent to a Salt Lake library. There doesn't appear to be an iota of truth - or truthiness- in it.
What a creep.
http://www.slcreads.com/pages/nasdijj_letter.htm
No, I think you would get a turd if you did that - this guy is just butt wipe - I could be wrong but I am certian that whatever you would get it would not be good.
I never knew you could make a living out of a career writing gay pornography. Must be a lot more fruits out there than we suspect.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.