Add Another One To The List Part V: Matt Lauer

This morning, the list of prominent men accused of sexual harassment and/or abuse of their female staff grew to added one more name: Matt Lauer.

After hosting NBC’s The Today Show for twenty years and becoming one of the faces of morning news television for a generation, he lost his job and his reputation this morning.

At this point, I have no sympathy for these men. They got caught and in the process, were exposed for the predators that they are.  While I feel for Lauer’s family and I admire his victims for stepping forward, I am still shocked and reeling from the news.

We, as a culture, need to change. We need to change how we treat women. We need to teach our sons to respect the women around them and we need to teach our daughters that they are valuable and important beyond traditional female roles. Most of all, we need to put men who acted as Lauer did in his place and remind them that just because they have female subordinates does mean that these women are there to be his sexual playthings.

I just hope, that when this is done, that real change is enacted. If not, then all of this was for nothing.

P.S. Does anyone else see this as karma, especially considering how Lauer treated Ann Curry when she was fired in 2012?

P.P.S It is ironic and a sad telltale sign that while Lauer and others who have done such heinous acts have lost their jobs and reputation, a certain man in Washington D.C. who has been accused of similar acts is still in office. Why?

 

 

 

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Lies Jane Austen Told Me Book Review

On the surface, it’s easy to dismiss Jane Austen’s novels as just another series of romance novels. The key with Austen is to look deeper, to find the subtle and subversive message that Austen has left for her readers, if they know where to look.

In Lies Jane Austen Told Me, by Julie Wright, Emma Pierce thinks she has it all. A solid career and a boyfriend named Blake who is about to propose. But the proposal does not go as Emma though it would. Heartbroken and angry, Emma throws herself into work. Then Emma finds out that her boss is hiring Blake’s brother Lucas as a consultant.

Emma is determined to keep the relationship as professional as possible, but Lucas is the polar opposite of his brother. He also has his own secrets.  Emma will learn that romance and relationships are as complicated in real life as they are on the page. Can she create her own happy ending from the chaos that is her life?

There are two types of modern fiction writers who use Austen’s characters and narratives for the backbone of their novels. One type of writer only skims the surface without truly understanding what Austen was writing about. The other type of writer not only understands Austen, but finds a way to integrate her work into their own without making the reader feel like there is a disconnect. The problem with this book is that Ms. Wright is the first type of writer.

Do I recommend it? Maybe.