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The Nose Tangos With Monica Lewinsky

Credit kokopelli67 / Flickr Creative Commons
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Flickr Creative Commons

You may have forgotten Monica Lewinsky, but she has not forgotten you. She's back with a Vanity Fair interview that re-ignites the whole debate about her.

The more I think about Lewinsky, the more confused I get. On the one hand, she seems to have suffered for one youthful episode of very bad judgment, the kind of punishment one associates with Greek mythology - hounded across the face of the earth by unrelenting furies - and at that level, I do buy her argument that a lot of powerful people expended energy protecting both Clintons, and hardly anybody stuck up for her. She's absolutely right that women who self-identify as feminists said cruel and dismissive things about her.

On the other hand, like so many people associated with a huge national news event, she seems oddly trapped back in that time in a way that works to her disadvantage. Accompanying her 4,000 word essay in Vanity Fair is a layout of photos in which she looks, at 40, remarkably as she did as a college intern. So, who won't let this matter drop?

We'll also talk about why the television shows that you read about in magazines by high-profile critics, are not actually the shows that people watch in droves? The enduring power of uncool television.

What do you think? Comment below, email Colin@wnpr.org, or tweet @wnprcolin.

GUESTS:

  • Jim Chapdelaine is a musician, producer, composer, and recording engineer
  • Rand Cooper is an author, essayist, and restaurant critic for the New York Times
  • Rebecca Castellani is a scholar of modern literature

Colin McEnroe is a radio host, newspaper columnist, magazine writer, author, playwright, lecturer, moderator, college instructor and occasional singer. Colin can be reached at colin@ctpublic.org.
Chion Wolf is the host of Audacious with Chion Wolf on Connecticut Public.
Betsy started as an intern at WNPR in 2011 after earning a Master's Degree in American and Museum Studies from Trinity College. She served as the Senior Producer for 'The Colin McEnroe Show' for several years before stepping down in 2021 and returning to her previous career as a registered nurse. She still produces shows with Colin and the team when her schedule allows.

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