Opening song downloaded in 2006 as podsafe music: David Acton’s “The Prodigal” DISCLAIMER This bonus episode of CraftLit likely belongs at the end of Herland, but since the inciting incidents didn’t occur for several years, I’m putting it here, but with a warning - language and subject matter are NOT what you will find in the other 475± episodes of CraftLit. This is NOT an episode to have a first-listen with your kids in the car. To that end, I am well aware that there will be parts of this episode that will anger you. If you’ve listened to CraftLit for awhile you’ll know that I often hold information or comments for the end—it’s the theater side of me, wanting to book-end these essays so that they are dramatically and structurally consistent. But I’d be an idiot if I didn’t know you would have responses while you listen. I encourage you to use the recording app on your phone and switch back and forth between listening and responding so you have your thoughts in order. Then, when you’re done, you have the choice to send me the complete file at [email protected] OR you can call our listener line at 1-206-350-1642 and speak your mind. And, finally, You might be expecting me to deal with this topic through the lens of classic literature. With one exception, that will not happen in this episode. This is personal. This is nothing more than my thoughts—a culmination of 31 years of my experiences and thoughts—on this topic. We have faced many characters in complicated relationships where we in the modern world have very different responses regarding issues of consent. Byronic Heroes are not unknown to us. However, you may wish to hunt down the post by David Wong at (of all places) Cracked.com called Consent: 7 reasons why guys don’t understand it. It’s both funny and upset-stomach-inducing—and written by a guy for whom I’d like to buy a drink if he’s ever in Eastern PA. 3:10 Before I begin, there is a transcription of this over at CraftLit.com/476. Included there are links out to everything I mention that is link-to-able. 3:51 Hello, The number of times I’ve been compelled to do something like this could be counted on a hand inside a very nicely knitted mitten, but Ehren Zigler started it, and comment threads I’ve been reading have pushed me to try—at least for we sane people—to end it. To begin at the beginning, my husband pointed out a month-or-so ago that every woman he knew had put a #MeToo hashtag on their feed. Sadly, none surprised him. However, he asked why I hadn’t. I was the only one he knew of who could have but didn’t. And I didn’t. 4:30 I mentioned–very briefly–my past a few years back on CraftLit and I left it there. For a long time it had defined part of me, but then I got married, then I had a son, then I was teaching HS the day we were evacuated from the tip of an island off the coast of North America when a plane tried to drop a building on us, then I had another son, then I became a podcaster, an author, a speaker—I outgrew simple definitions. There is nothing simple about the conversation that is swirling around us right now—and I say that as both a #MeToo and as a mother of young men. The mother of some rather justifiably nervous young men. 5:15 When I was teaching HS in NYC I learned something very important that I need to share with you: I knew nothing about being white. I mean, yes, if you’ve heard “Stupid Shit White People Say” you’ve probably laughed–just like me. Ha Ha. I get it. What I mean is I knew nothing about what being white looks like to anyone who isn’t. You might remember the spectacularly biting SNL clip of Eddie Murphy’s “White Like Me” complete with what happens in the white world when anyone of color leaves the room. It’s hilarious. And it’s not. One of the most revealing conversations I ever had was with a class of recidivist freshmen. These 20 kids were massively in the minority at our very-college-focused NYC Public School. This was not their first time in Freshman English. It might hav