other key figures. She has been quoted in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, and others. Thompson left politics after managing the most nationally watched Senate campaign in 2002 and moved to Australia. Born in Chicago, Thompson has lived in twelve cities, seven states, and three countries, and has traveled to many more. She currently lives in Redlands, California.
Thompson applied the "Page 99 Test" to her new book, Wild Pivot: Notes from a Political Life Rewritten, with the following results:
From page 99:Visit Jen Thompson's website.It was Sunday morning, and the street was totally silent. I stood on the front stoop for a few moments to get my bearings, and as I began walking, I remembered the old saying about how discovering God’s meaning is like chasing a wild boar in the forest. Even if you search for many days on end, you might never catch the boar; you might not even catch a glimpse of him. But there is absolutely no chance of catching the boar if you don’t even attempt the chase.I had never heard of the Page 99 Test before, but then I turned to page 99 of my memoir, Wild Pivot: Notes from a Political Life Rewritten. How brilliant of author Ford Madox Ford to come up the idea that the quality of the whole will be revealed to you by turning to page 99. Wow! That is an absolute truth about page 99 of my memoir.
Chasing the Boar is an old proverb that I use throughout my book. It appears in the third vignette, several chapters are entitled Chasing the Boar, and it is the very last sentence of my memoir. It is also front and center on page 99!
I say often that Wild Pivot is a book that’s all about politics that has absolutely nothing to do with politics. Yes, the thread of the book is the nationally watched, very intense Senate campaign that I ran years ago, but really, Wild Pivot is about having the courage to listen to our inner calling and transform ourselves into the most real, truest versions of who we are. “Chasing the Boar” is how I’ve described that process.
After I almost died in a fiery car crash on the campaign trail, I had a moment of clarity that changed my life, and I started to listen – finally, after decades of shutting my inside voice down – to what my insides were trying to tell me. I discovered that everything I’d given myself to promoting (achieving power, money and fame at any cost to boost my own ego) was fundamentally misaligned with the person I am at my core. This process of discernment took me years. It was messy, painful, and confusing. I mean, really: Who gives up all the things I did in a search for inner truth? Nobody! It’s so difficult to admit that the job, or the marriage, or our lives don’t fit who we are. But I believe we all have that inner voice, and mine told me to keep chasing the boar.
Wild Pivot travels back and forth in time through vignettes between my past and present with painful lessons described in raw, jarring detail. But it is also funny, because I believe that laughing at myself is a very powerful medicine. In the end, Wild Pivot is meant to be a memoir of hope. The rewards of authenticity are immeasurable.
I’m still chasing the boar!
--Marshal Zeringue
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