E. Jean, my FAVORITE line in your MSNBC interview is "I'm an old journalist..." You are a HERO to all us "old professionals," women who are still vital, and smart and wise and creative, and full of wisdom and experience. You give us the backbone to keep on keeping on.
hear hear. I have been mulling over an "ode to Jean" post for Substack although I worry about not adding anything new to the discourse because what more is there to say aside from: wow and hot damn and thank you.
First things first: You look and sound absolutely fabulous. Like, seriously crushing it.
Second, how exhausted am I by the whole "a woman can't ______" fill-in-the-blank nonsense? OF COURSE you can! The courtroom is basically a comedy goldmine wrapped in serious business (which, yes, you totally nailed in that interview).
As a former criminal defense attorney (public defender life, represent!) and current judge pro tem (aka the substitute teacher of the legal world), I can confirm: there's ALWAYS a good laugh lurking in those hallowed halls of justice.
Here's the tea: Anyone coming for you about using the word "funny" is basically clutching their pearls while the patriarchy crumbles around them. They're still playing by the old rulebook where women must be _______ (insert outdated expectation here).
Your courage? Chef's kiss. Your style? Immaculate. The fact that you're owning your story with humor? Pure gold.
I'm already cackling about the book's behind-the-scenes moments—the sleeping, the gas passing, the photo mix-up with wife number two. It's HILARIOUS because it's real life, and real life is absurd!
But here's what's really funny (not funny): the old guard can't handle a woman taking ownership of her own narrative. She must be serious! She has no sense of humor! She can't take a joke! She's too emotional! Not emotional enough! She's... insert impossible standard here.
Gavin de Becker said it perfectly on Oprah: "A woman's biggest fear is that a man will kill her; a man's biggest fear is that a woman will laugh at him."
So keep laughing. Keep slaying. Keep being absolutely brilliant.
Can't wait to devour your book and write the glowing review it deserves!
E. Jean, you're our present-day Mark Twain - journalist, humorist, author extraordinary, wielding wit like a scalpel to cut through the nonsense.
I can't help but notice all those Peabody Awards going to brilliant minds who take serious events and find the absurd humanity in them. Stephen Colbert. Seth Meyers. John Oliver. Jon Stewart. Hmm... what could they possibly have in common that you don't? 🤔
You're doing exactly what great satirical journalists have always done - using humor as a truth-telling weapon. Mark Twain skewered the powerful with a smile. You're carrying that torch, and it's blinding them.
You're a rock star, and while you clearly don't need our validation, know that we're surrounding you with love - behind you, beside you, in front of you, 100%. Your voice matters. Your laughter matters. Your truth matters.
Debra, I don't know that I have anything more to say than what you've said. I love what you've said in this absolutely superb comment, and I endorse your statement!
E.Jean, you knocked it out of the park! Actually you knocked it out of the state, and all the way to Hawaii! You look and sound terrific in the video.
So well said, Debra. Especially loved, “As a former criminal defense attorney (public defender life, represent!) and current judge pro tem (aka the substitute teacher of the legal world)…”
Brava Debra; So well said ! *Our hero E Jean is my (and our) Mark Twain. She is persevering to plunge and twist the knife of truth that I cannot and will not be ever able to do. That buffoon had the audacity to mouth the words "I am your vengeance" or words to that affect that were utter lies to those who are perpetually*aggrieved, resentful and entitled. Bah; Examine if you will my lovely, determined avenging angel, wielding only truths like a rapier !!!
? I read it again. What do you perceive that I missed David ? *Perhaps you should reload the page. I sometimes make corrections / additions accompanied by an * for honesty.
You must have done something to it that fixed it. Or maybe I read it wrong. In any case, there's no verb missing, so I am now going to remove my comment about said nonexistent missing verb.
Debra said "owning your story with humor". That's it, that's the nub of it.
There are always those who try to stop you from speaking out for yourself, and with that aim, tear away at anything they can find to pick on. Clothes, age, humor, lack of humor, hair, demeanor - the more personal, the better.
Women are far more vulnerable to such personal attacks than men. We've historically been stuck in second place, supporting the menfolk and claiming no thunder.
Screw that. It's 2025 and we're no longer in junior high, post-WW II and, having welded ships and assembled bombs, finding ourselves again routed to the kitchen.
Hold up, bucko. Second place will no longer do, and we'll use our voices as WE see fit. With laughter? Yes. With obscenity? Sometimes. With truth? DAMN STRAIGHT.
Margaret Atwood should be the one given authorship for “Men are afraid women will laugh at them. Women are afraid men will kill them.” Gavin de Becker may have said this on Oprah, but it belongs to Atwood.
I'm with Beth -- all the adjectives! Delighted to see you on Morning Joe yesterday in your dazzling blue flight suit topped with a snazzy blazer and oh, the boots! You looked radiant! My copy of your book will arrive today, and I'm especially looking forward to the funny parts.
E. Jean, our friend, you use whatever word you like. You were the victim of that piece of sh*t, so you get to say whatever you want! I don't believe there is a way to respond to that question of his saying, "You're not his type". I think if you have a vagina and he can have power over you? You're definitely his type. He's a slug.
It is your story and therefore, you get to tell it as you see fit.
Joan Rivers once said, "Nothing's sacred." Her point was that if we couldn't find the humor even in life's tragedies, there was no hope for redemption. I love the word 'tragicomical' (elisions are my jam) as it fittingly describes so much of life's struggles.
Life is a tragicomical surreal absurdist movie, starring you! None of this is real, really, and none of us gets out of here alive.
He is a thoroughly unserious man who is all id, chaotic impulse without self-awareness. As is the way of the malignant narcissist, he cannot see anything beyond his immediate needs and lives in a state of constant delusion. That is dangerous, as you know, in a very real way. However, he is surrounded by a coterie of unserious and obsequious sycophants who incept him with an endless array of awful ideas he believes to be his own. They are parasitic and I am sure having to endure his legal team was, indeed, tragicomical. He has an entire administration of cartoon reality TV villains performing kayfabe to keep us all distracted while they do truly evil things.
Your perspective and your voice at this moment? Chef's kiss! Keep being you, E. Jean. In the words of another iconic woman, Bette Midler, "Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke."
Oooooo tragicomic! What a great word, and yes, “Fuck em if they can’t take a joke.” Also get out of the game if you can’t take the heat, right? He started the shitstorm and will now have to live with the thoroughly laughable consequences.
Ahh, Glorious E. Thanks for addressing this all too common frenzy where everyone misses the forest. People never cease to disappoint in what they choose to get in a huff about. Absurd. That’s my word. (And I personally laughed my ass off all the way to your bank, so funny also works for me).
E. Jean, my FAVORITE line in your MSNBC interview is "I'm an old journalist..." You are a HERO to all us "old professionals," women who are still vital, and smart and wise and creative, and full of wisdom and experience. You give us the backbone to keep on keeping on.
Joanne!!! Thank you!
hear hear. I have been mulling over an "ode to Jean" post for Substack although I worry about not adding anything new to the discourse because what more is there to say aside from: wow and hot damn and thank you.
and no need for the word "still" as in "still vital."
First things first: You look and sound absolutely fabulous. Like, seriously crushing it.
Second, how exhausted am I by the whole "a woman can't ______" fill-in-the-blank nonsense? OF COURSE you can! The courtroom is basically a comedy goldmine wrapped in serious business (which, yes, you totally nailed in that interview).
As a former criminal defense attorney (public defender life, represent!) and current judge pro tem (aka the substitute teacher of the legal world), I can confirm: there's ALWAYS a good laugh lurking in those hallowed halls of justice.
Here's the tea: Anyone coming for you about using the word "funny" is basically clutching their pearls while the patriarchy crumbles around them. They're still playing by the old rulebook where women must be _______ (insert outdated expectation here).
Your courage? Chef's kiss. Your style? Immaculate. The fact that you're owning your story with humor? Pure gold.
I'm already cackling about the book's behind-the-scenes moments—the sleeping, the gas passing, the photo mix-up with wife number two. It's HILARIOUS because it's real life, and real life is absurd!
But here's what's really funny (not funny): the old guard can't handle a woman taking ownership of her own narrative. She must be serious! She has no sense of humor! She can't take a joke! She's too emotional! Not emotional enough! She's... insert impossible standard here.
Gavin de Becker said it perfectly on Oprah: "A woman's biggest fear is that a man will kill her; a man's biggest fear is that a woman will laugh at him."
So keep laughing. Keep slaying. Keep being absolutely brilliant.
Can't wait to devour your book and write the glowing review it deserves!
Stay fabulous and stay safe! 💪✨
You have primed me and lifted me, Debra, and are sending me out ARMED!!!
E. Jean, you're our present-day Mark Twain - journalist, humorist, author extraordinary, wielding wit like a scalpel to cut through the nonsense.
I can't help but notice all those Peabody Awards going to brilliant minds who take serious events and find the absurd humanity in them. Stephen Colbert. Seth Meyers. John Oliver. Jon Stewart. Hmm... what could they possibly have in common that you don't? 🤔
You're doing exactly what great satirical journalists have always done - using humor as a truth-telling weapon. Mark Twain skewered the powerful with a smile. You're carrying that torch, and it's blinding them.
You're a rock star, and while you clearly don't need our validation, know that we're surrounding you with love - behind you, beside you, in front of you, 100%. Your voice matters. Your laughter matters. Your truth matters.
Debra, I don't know that I have anything more to say than what you've said. I love what you've said in this absolutely superb comment, and I endorse your statement!
E.Jean, you knocked it out of the park! Actually you knocked it out of the state, and all the way to Hawaii! You look and sound terrific in the video.
"..... Mark Twain skewered the powerful with a smile. You're carrying that torch, and it's blinding them." YES !
ROCK STAR ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️!!!
So well said, Debra. Especially loved, “As a former criminal defense attorney (public defender life, represent!) and current judge pro tem (aka the substitute teacher of the legal world)…”
Brava Debra; So well said ! *Our hero E Jean is my (and our) Mark Twain. She is persevering to plunge and twist the knife of truth that I cannot and will not be ever able to do. That buffoon had the audacity to mouth the words "I am your vengeance" or words to that affect that were utter lies to those who are perpetually*aggrieved, resentful and entitled. Bah; Examine if you will my lovely, determined avenging angel, wielding only truths like a rapier !!!
? I read it again. What do you perceive that I missed David ? *Perhaps you should reload the page. I sometimes make corrections / additions accompanied by an * for honesty.
You must have done something to it that fixed it. Or maybe I read it wrong. In any case, there's no verb missing, so I am now going to remove my comment about said nonexistent missing verb.
Lol.. How are you doing David ?
Pretty good. I had a good run with my dog today, and just ordered E. Jean's book, which I am so looking forward to reading. How are you doing, D4N?
Yes sister, say it!
Debra said "owning your story with humor". That's it, that's the nub of it.
There are always those who try to stop you from speaking out for yourself, and with that aim, tear away at anything they can find to pick on. Clothes, age, humor, lack of humor, hair, demeanor - the more personal, the better.
Women are far more vulnerable to such personal attacks than men. We've historically been stuck in second place, supporting the menfolk and claiming no thunder.
Screw that. It's 2025 and we're no longer in junior high, post-WW II and, having welded ships and assembled bombs, finding ourselves again routed to the kitchen.
Hold up, bucko. Second place will no longer do, and we'll use our voices as WE see fit. With laughter? Yes. With obscenity? Sometimes. With truth? DAMN STRAIGHT.
Margaret Atwood should be the one given authorship for “Men are afraid women will laugh at them. Women are afraid men will kill them.” Gavin de Becker may have said this on Oprah, but it belongs to Atwood.
The fact is, he’s not YOUR type!
He's so unworthy it's ridiculous!
You get ALL the adjectives--hilarious! side-splitting! extremely humorous! Most of all--supremely ironic!!!
I like ironic!
Comically ironic 😉
I'm with Beth -- all the adjectives! Delighted to see you on Morning Joe yesterday in your dazzling blue flight suit topped with a snazzy blazer and oh, the boots! You looked radiant! My copy of your book will arrive today, and I'm especially looking forward to the funny parts.
Pamela, you make me very happy!
Aww, that makes me happy! Best of luck with all the interviews, appearances, etc. Sounds tiring to me, but you will shine!
E. Jean, our friend, you use whatever word you like. You were the victim of that piece of sh*t, so you get to say whatever you want! I don't believe there is a way to respond to that question of his saying, "You're not his type". I think if you have a vagina and he can have power over you? You're definitely his type. He's a slug.
Happy pub date! Proud to share it with you (from the fiction side of the aisle).
Wait! Is a LAURA LIPPMAN out today too! Such JOY!!!!!
And it’s about a 60-something woman coming into her power!
Congratulations, Laura!
Congratulations!
Bravo Laura !!! 🖋️✍🏼
I think “funny” is appropriate but maybe not intense enough. “Absurdity of it all”…”lunacy”—both are apropos. Now I’m going to go order your book.
Jaye! Thank you!
Yes!
E. Jean, I just watched you rock that interview. OMG, you were so fantastic.
Can hear me shouting in the countryside of Philadelphia? Well, woman, I am!
xoxoxo's,
MJ
It is your story and therefore, you get to tell it as you see fit.
Joan Rivers once said, "Nothing's sacred." Her point was that if we couldn't find the humor even in life's tragedies, there was no hope for redemption. I love the word 'tragicomical' (elisions are my jam) as it fittingly describes so much of life's struggles.
Life is a tragicomical surreal absurdist movie, starring you! None of this is real, really, and none of us gets out of here alive.
He is a thoroughly unserious man who is all id, chaotic impulse without self-awareness. As is the way of the malignant narcissist, he cannot see anything beyond his immediate needs and lives in a state of constant delusion. That is dangerous, as you know, in a very real way. However, he is surrounded by a coterie of unserious and obsequious sycophants who incept him with an endless array of awful ideas he believes to be his own. They are parasitic and I am sure having to endure his legal team was, indeed, tragicomical. He has an entire administration of cartoon reality TV villains performing kayfabe to keep us all distracted while they do truly evil things.
Your perspective and your voice at this moment? Chef's kiss! Keep being you, E. Jean. In the words of another iconic woman, Bette Midler, "Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke."
Oooooo tragicomic! What a great word, and yes, “Fuck em if they can’t take a joke.” Also get out of the game if you can’t take the heat, right? He started the shitstorm and will now have to live with the thoroughly laughable consequences.
TV villains performing kayfabe to keep us all distracted while they do truly evil things...says it all. I had to Google "kayfabe".
I only just discovered it in trying to understand the Trump/Elon drama last week.
Justice!
Coup
We so love you - Stay the ocurse.
Use “Funny” E. Jean. Stand with it, loud and proud. You have earned the right!
Funny!! Men like Trump and MAGA are terrified to be laughed at by women, especially strong smart women. You are perfect!
Truth.
Ahh, Glorious E. Thanks for addressing this all too common frenzy where everyone misses the forest. People never cease to disappoint in what they choose to get in a huff about. Absurd. That’s my word. (And I personally laughed my ass off all the way to your bank, so funny also works for me).