Chapter 41. Isabel, the Assistant
At the center of Our Ladies is Scout Sage, and at the center of Sage is an enigma. For a person who has become so famous—whose every public appearance, song, video, criminal charge, and childhood detail has been pored over by legions and turned into legend—she remains a frustrating mystery.
It’s remarkable that we’ve never recovered any of her writings. No manifestos, no diary entries, no poetry, only her songs and rare interviews, all carefully calibrated for public consumption.
Who is the private woman and why did she commit such a remarkable crime? We might never know. Sage’s story is one narrated solely by the people around her.
Of course, our lack of access to Sage’s interiority has made her a flawless cipher for other people’s ideas over the years.
By being so empty and clean of her own voice, she remains a potent symbol, claimed and contested by various groups to this day.
One almost wonders if she did it on purpose.
But why would a woman who worked her whole life to become famous, then used her notoriety to make such an extraordinary statement, suddenly fall so damningly silent?
—Frances Vogel, “Our Ladies of the Dark: A History,” PhD dissertation presented to the UCLA Department of History