#MeToo: My story (ies) of sexual harassment

October 19, 2017

I once had a movie producer kiss me on the neck.

How’s that for an opening sentence? Pretty good, huh? Got your attention, right?

It was at the end of an interview when, shaking my hand goodbye, he suddenly lurched forward and kissed me on the neck. (It may have been more of a bite than a kiss, but I don’t actually remember and don’t want to overstate what was a pretty bizarre sendoff.)

Afterward, the embarrassed publicist apologized, concerned that I would be writing about this. But I was a young journalist and had, as a woman, been raised to soldier on. So I said, wrote and did nothing about this. And I hadn’t thought about it until Harvey Weinstein’s alleged sexual harassment of, well, just about every woman on the planet opened the floodgates of ew-ness. ...

The beauty trap, continued

September 18, 2017

Amanda Hess’ Sunday New York Times Magazine piece about our ambivalence toward anti-aging is but the latest commentary about the disconnect between ourselves and our bodies, and by “ourselves” I mean women and their bodies. It is a disconnect that affects men as well – though not to the extent that it does women.

Hess describes how Allure magazine has declared war on “anti-aging,” featuring Helen Mirren on the cover, draped in a boy-toy – the same Helen Mirren who played Cleopatra, of whom Shakespeare wrote, “Age cannot wither her nor custom stale her infinite variety.”

And yet, Hess notes, the same issue of Allure carried an ad for the new L’Oréal Paris moisturizer, part of its Age Perfect brand (of which I’m a big fan), featuring – you guessed it, Helen Mirren. ...

He just can’t quit him: Trump, Putin and ‘Brokeback Mountain’

July 7, 2017

A shout-out to Frank Bruni of The New York Times for a truly terrific column about President Donald J. Trump and Vladimir Putin and the bromance of the century (although French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau may yet give them a run for their money).

Brilliant though the column is in comparing Pump (Putin-Trump) to the great love stories (“Romeo and Juliet,” “Casablanca”), Bruni missed one, “Brokeback Mountain.” When the haunting movie of Annie Proulx’s sparely beautiful story came out in 2005, much was made of the gay love story. ...

Whither the female gaze in the Trump era?

January 15, 2017

Years ago, I had a dream job with Gannett Inc. as senior cultural writer. One of my beats was to cover the big arts stories of the day and so it was that I found myself on one occasion interviewing Richard Cragun the American-born star of the Stuttgart Ballet and one of the finest male dancers of the 20th century.

In those days, Gannett recycled our stories in its many publications, and my Cragun piece found its way into one of the tabloids overseen by a favorite editor who was fond of the Daily News and New York Post. It was with some sheepishness then that I handed the publicist a copy of the publication with the words “Ballet Hunk” in the headlines. I needn’t have worried. He was thrilled.

I covered most of the great “ballet hunks” of the 20th and early-21st centuries ...

Of talent and temperament: Nick Kyrgios and Tim Tebow

November 16, 2016

In his new book, “Shaken” (Waterbrook, 213 pages, $25), Tim Tebow considers the failure of his NFL career after his successful run with the Denver Broncos. He’s now trying to make it as a baseball player with the Arizona Fall League, where, once again, he’s been hailed for his good work ethic, leadership skills and clutch play but is still struggling to master the outfield. NFL legend and ESPN analyst Steve Young is among those pulling for him. But many who admire Tebow say he simply doesn’t have pro-quality aptitude.

He has, in other words, the temperament but not the talent. ...

Colin Kaepernick – man for our ‘Time’

September 26, 2016

During an idyllic Greek lunch overlooking the warm, teal Mediterranean Sea during Times Journeys’ recent “Legacy of Alexander the Great” tour, the conversation rolled around to Colin Kaepernick and his Anthem protest as a way to raise awareness of police violence against blacks. One of the Alexandrians in our group said that many in San Francisco view the protest as Kaepernick’s way of holding on to his job as backup quarterback of the city’s 49ers team as he isn’t very good.

But I don’t think Kaepernick is either that bad a quarterback – I believe he’ll be back as starter before December – or that Machiavellian a man. (I also think that there are easier ways to job advancement than turning yourself into the object of hatred that Kaepernick has become in some people’s eyes.)

Mostly, however, I take people at face value. If someone says he’s doing something for a particular reason, I believe him until proven otherwise. ...

Colin Kaepernick – a standup guy?

August 31, 2016

In the continuing saga of people I admire becoming cause célèbres this summer, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick sat during the National Anthem before a preseason game Friday to protest violence against blacks, garnering praise and condemnation.

I remain a Kaepernick fan – just as I remain a fan of Ryan Lochte. I believe people are more than the one comment or action by which we may judge them. And he, of course, has the right to protest this violence, which he understands as a biracial man in a way I as a white woman can’t.

But to me “The Star-Spangled Banner” is bigger than racism and violence, as is the Stars and Stripes. These are about our country as a whole and its place on this earth, all those Americans who came before, including those who died in defense of its freedom, and all those who have come and will come after. ...