LZ Sunday Paper Newsletter: The "Finally" Edition
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Readers,
Greetings from Lexington, Kentucky! Home of bluegrass, bourbon, and borses. That is, if the equines would allow me to have my alliterative way with them.
Speaking of having one's way with someone, many people have written to ask what I think of the Harvey Weinstein story.
As some of you know, I have had business interactions with Harvey for decades. Since Kids, the amazing, brilliant, and shocking movie that Miramax ended up distributing. Years later, we worked closely on Project Runway, which originated at Bravo and then ignominiously departed Bravo, 5 seasons later.
To be perfectly honest, I estimate that there is a future chock full chapter-and-a-half's worth of great storytelling regarding those business deals alone. They are fascinating. I once wrote down a piece of the Runway story, but only about how it flopped, not how I got harassed in a hotel room. Which I didn't. Were there many parts of each experience that were tense, humiliating, bad business, and bully-ful? You betcha.
When I think about doing business in hotel rooms, honestly it's weird. Believe it or not, I've been in many hotel rooms with many guys (and sure, women) who I worked with. It sounds bizarre! But when you're on the road and you have to work-- in private, or on deadline, or for one reason or another-- that's what you sometimes do. You might ask, what in the world do you mean? I don't know! But honestly I think about being in some city and you don't have an office and you had a couple of hours of work to do. There was the regular stuff like a publicist or marketing person or a writer helping to put the finishing touches on a speech for some conference or panel or other. There were innumerable corporate Powerpoint presentations that needed a multi-hour re-draft or just a light polish. There were also weird professional things that did, indeed, turn semi-personal-- things like work conducted while doing Emmy hair & make-up. To this day, networks take a suite and invite a spate of producers to come up and pitch their show ideas, sequentially, all day. For real! You're multi-tasking; you're stressed; and you ask people to come to you to save time, or money. They do. You do your work. They leave.
Guess what you don't do? You don't ask them to give you a massage. Or watch you to take a shower.
The showering and massage allegations are bad enough. But what about this doozy--watching your boss masturbate. Into a plant? What!? This particular part of the Weinstein story is so unbelievable that it's actually quite believable. The most believable thing about it are the limits to which we (women) can be pushed to say to a friend--right then and there--the equivalent of "that was incredibly gross, bizarre, and offensive," and then shove the offense away the way we couldn't shove the guy away, and get on with the business at hand. Just move on.
Why did some women finally decide that they were not gonna move on? That they were going to go on the record after years of not being able to feel able to do so? I go on the record in this piece which gets at the heart of the trajectory, tracing the path that Gretchen Carlson laid. She says "Be Fierce."
Side note: if I had been the President and First Lady of The United States of America, of all the internships in all the media landscape in all the world, I perhaps would have called in a favor from someone at another company. Any other company. But as a very smart person pointed out to me, it was probably the first time that a woman--any woman--let alone a young African American woman, had more power in that office than Harvey (or anyone else).
These days, every week the news is fierce-making. This week, like every other, I encourage you to help me expose and recirculate interesting content that is about, and frequently by, women in politics, business, media, and tech, along with a dose of ultra-relevant culture. Even in a week like this one, I hope to deliver at least one good laugh.
Thank you to so many subscribers who wrote in this week.
You can always use the tip-line here, for anything of interest to you.
Follow me on Twitter to get a daily fix. Which now feels like minute-by-minute.
I am on Insta @LZSundayPaper.
@LZFloors reflects my outlook on life. There's always something interesting out there, even when things are looking down.
Forgive rambles, typos, and any other errors. Like I say-- I'm in Kentucky. The bourbon trail can possibly be traced to my own hotel room here.
See you next week!
LZ
THE PIC(K) OF THE WEEK:
Will Hollywood Stars Finally Condemn Their Kingmaker? via The Daily Beast
Why Harvey Weinstein's Apology Is So Hard To Believe via Salon
Gretchen Carlson's Lawsuit and Cosby's Accusers Paved The Way For Weinstein Allegations To Go Public via The Los Angeles Times
NEWS:
Stephen Paddock Shared A Trait With Other Mass Killers: He Abused Women via Quartz
Danish Police Recover Body Parts Of The Journalist Kim Wall via The New York Times
POLITICS:
The Sexist Bullying Of British Prime Minister Must Stop via The Daily Beast
Trump Just Took Away Birth Control From Millions To Punish Sexually Active Teens via Gears Of Business
Ginsburg Slaps Gorsuch In Gerrymandering Case via The New Yorker
BUSINESS NEWS
Financial Firm Behind 'Fearless Girl' Will Pay $5 Million For Allegedly Underpaying Women and Minorities via Adweek
The Most Innovative Women In Business Issue via Inc.
GE Announces A Slew Of Executive Changes, Including New CFO via CNBC
ARTS, MEDIA, FASHION, SPORT, CULTURE
'Disposable' Women? TV Wives Keep Dying On Shows Centered On Male Actors via The Washington Post
Bladerunner 2049's Politics Aren't That Futuristic via Wired
Roman Polanski Accused Of Rape By Former German Actress via The New York Times
Nina Simone Nominated For The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame -- Finally via The Atlantic
Women Are Going To Crazy Lengths To Stop 'Earlobe Sag' via The New York Post
Christian Louboutin Is Releasing A Collection Of Red-Soled Baby Shoes via Cosmopolitan
Ruth Asawa Reshapes Art History via The New Yorker
The New Midlife Crisis via Oprah.com
Emotional Labor Is The Unpaid Job Men Still Don't Understand via Harper's Bazaar
The Bitter Pill: Harvard and The Dark History Of Birth Control via The Crimson
AND WHAT'S NOT TO LOVE ABOUT:
What Planned Parenthood Looked Like In The 1940's via HyperAllergic
The LZ Sunday Paperâ„¢ launched at the dawn of 2014. We expose and recirculate interesting content that is about, and frequently by, women in business, with a dose of ultra-relevant culture. We think that culture comes high and low, not much in between. Our audience is vast and not gender-driven. Every week we expect to deliver at least one good laugh. Send suggestions, clips, or names of people you think might enjoy this to LZSundayPaper@gmail.com.
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