Thread by @jentaub

⭐️ Shared this story last weekend at my 30th reunion during our Moth 2.0 event

1/

Holy Stable Genius! I never imagined going to Yale would transform me into an occasional cable news pundit with direct access to my writing

Here’s how it happened.

2/

I turned twenty in early December of my sophomore year at Yale. It was not a happy moment.

3/

Picture it. A lonely young woman from Michigan, perched on a stairwell window seat in Saybrook College. Knees to chest. A bit teary eyed. A bit lost. Dressed all in black. Maybe smoking a camel light cigarette.

4/

Before I left the Midwest, I’d dreamed of becoming a writer. Or an actress. Or a dancer. Or a singer. But, I’d been rejected by the singer groups. Not their fault. I cannot carry a tune. I’d failed to land a role in a single play after several embarrassing auditions.

5/

I cannot act. And, I didn’t even dare to try out for Yale Dancers. I even attended meetings of Zirkus, the literary magazine. But never submitted a story. You get the pattern.

6/

Back to the stairwell. I was there, alone, when suddenly, my always cheerful friend Richard appeared. He was on his way to file a story with the Yale Daily News. He corralled me to join him. I’d been a co-editor of my high school newspaper but never considered become a Newsie

7/

That evening changed my life. I met Stephanie and Tim, the features editors. And Jay and the business team. I’ll fast forward now through the manual typewriters and late night Est Est Est Pizza, and becoming a Features Editor myself to the point of this story.

8/

While covering the news or just because I was born a fangirl, I watched Lisa Birnbach (author of the Preppy Handbook) talk. (And, no I did not know it was a satire. I thought it was a guidebook. I still do).

9/

I interviewed award-winning author Gloria Naylor and learned how she began writing “The Women of Brewster Place.” I even got Allen Ginsberg to both authograph my copy of “Howell,” but also to bum a cigarette from me.

10/

But the best brush with greatness was the moment I met Bob Woodward in the Daily News building. I was rushing down the stairs and he was on his way up. I realized who he was and extended my hand greeting. Who knows what I said.

11/

Probably mumbled something about Watergate and how he and Carl Bernstein were my role models and heroes. Woodward and Bernstein. Gutsy, intrepid, investigative journalists. Nixon resignation era heroes.

12/

Okay. Now let’s get to the present. I gave up journalism. And went to law school like everybody. I practiced law then became a professor. Academia gives you a lot of free time — to spend on Twitter.

13/

Somehow, maybe because I’ve been a Twitter-critic of this “presidential” administration since day one. Perhaps also because I helped launch a nationwide protest march on Tax day 2017 — that involved giant chickens. Who knows.

14/

But somehow, I was invited in summer 2017, for the first time to appear on cable news programs to talk about the Mueller investigation and other allegations of White House White Collar Crime and corruption. And they kept inviting me back.

15/

I would sit in a small room in a satellite studio with an earpiece in my ear staring at a green light. Before air time the guy in the studio reminded me not to interrupt the other guests. Then he told me to ask whoever was on the other end at CNN who my co-guests would be.

16/

I would sit in a small room in a satellite studio with an earpiece in my ear staring at a green light. Before air time the guy in the studio reminded me not to interrupt the other guests. Then he told me to ask whoever was on the other end at CNN who my co-guests would be.

17/

So I spoke into the air and asked. And what I heard included a bunch of names I did not recognize. It sounded like the teacher on Charlie Brown. Wa wa wa wa wah. Until one that I did know. Carl Bernstein. OMG. Carl. F-ing Bernstein.

18/

I was going to be on LIVE television with Carl Bernstein!

19/

😮

It was like rainbows and unicorns. My whole life flashed before my eyes in those few seconds before the segment began. How was in possible. Me, a little girl from the Midwest could be on the same expert panel as Carl Bernstein of Woodward and Bernstein!

20/

I was flushed, I was scared, I was in awe. I was humbled. Okay I wasn’t that humbled.

21/

With the pressure on, I answered questions posed to me through that tiny ear piece and tried to smile pleasantly and nod occasionally when others spoke. It’s hard to signal to the host that you want to speak.

22/

But there was a question that I really, really wanted to answer. And I try to make a gesture with my head, and hands and even tried to jump in. And the host said my name. But what do you know? Some one cut me off —

23/

I recognized the voice. It was Carl. F-ing Bernstein. Fuck you, Carl!

24/24

Edit. Should say writing heroes