My Life with Piper: From Big House to Small Screen
The other true story behind ‘Orange Is the New Black’
By Larry Smith
I was 29 years old and living the dream, or at least my version of it, when everything changed. I was in love with an amazing woman and had a rent-controlled sublet in New York City’s West Village and a good job at a glossy magazine. By any estimation as I now recall my life before it was tossed upside down, my girlfriend and I had no discernible problems.
I was a senior editor at a magazine called P.O.V., which was aimed at young guys who wanted to make a ton of money and spend it trekking in Tibet (tagline: “Work hard, play hard”). Five days a week I walked 10 blocks to my job, hunkered down in my cubicle, shot the shit with the editorial crew, and settled into making life better for twenty- and thirty-something guys who already had it pretty good. And I had it pretty good, too. How hard can things be when your big goal for the day is to write an article for a grooming column on how to get the perfect shave? I was cruising along with my story (“Step 3: Apply a preshave moisturizer to open up pores and loosen hairs”) when Piper called to…
