I’ve always had something of a fantasy about Vanna White—though of exactly what I can’t say. She is the perfect question mark. Growing up, I looked at her and imagined that she had a rich inner life. And somehow, watching her week by week on Wheel of Fortune, in a kind of trance, I became certain she did.

I’ve never been very good at any game that involves filling in the blanks—I was always more interested in the spectacle of it all. Vanna faces the camera while the phrase is being solved, and half the time I would just look at her, not the letters. I was more interested in what she might have been thinking. Seeing the same person on television every day, a certain curiosity develops. It’s like the neighbor you see leaving their house at the same time every day—where are they going?

When I described this phenomenon to my friend David, he said he didn’t think other people thought about Vanna White as much as I did. But I think they do. She is especially deep in the subconscious of anyone who grew up in the ’80s and ’90s, when we consumed television shows at scheduled times. I looked at the clock in such a different way then—making room for television, planning for it (while now I can gorge myself at any moment). And Vanna was there every weeknight, making words appear in her twinkling, energetic way. I was never able to remember Pat Sajak’s name, while hers sort of glowed, impossible to forget.

Wheel of Fortune has been on the air for forty-three years now, with Vanna cohosting the show for thirty-six of those years. I attribute much of its success to her specific vibe—a warmth somehow devoid of condescension. And to Merv Griffin’s clever way of linking gambling to a skill— the fantasy of any gambler: that they can somehow take control of chance. It’s also calming to hear all that clapping, to see the wheel turn and hear that weird grinding sound it makes. Someone once told me that the poet Gwendolyn Brooks was a dedicated fan of the show—everyone knew not to call her when it was on. I don’t know if that’s tru,e but I believe it.

         —Leopoldine Core

I. “I LIKE IT WHEN THEY ALL WIN”

THE BELIEVER: I’m so excited to have you on the phone. It feels like some kind of dream.

VANNA WHITE: [Laughs] I’ve been here a looooong time.

BLVR: I want you to know that I don’t have an angle; I just find you interesting. As a kid I would watch Wheel of Fortune...