Someone recently asked me why my blog title is Just Jennifer. This question thrilled me greatly as I was under the impression that the only entities reading my blog were ring - tone ‘bots and those other ‘bots that have that word that starts with Vi- and ends with gra… as these are the only entities that are responding to my blogs. In great number. REALLY great numbers.
But… now one reader of my ramblings has asked why Just Jennifer.
To make a long story short, when I was a TV news photog, I was the only woman on a photographer staff of 12 and all the other women in the newsroom were reporters and producers. These beautiful, sleek women dressed and acted quite the 1980’s glam divas that they were, whereas I wore sweatshirts and camo-cargo pants, trying to hide my girl-look.
The newsroom women didn’t associate with me, as I wasn’t one of them, and the photogs didn’t engage me into any camaraderie or invite me into photog membership. The photogs didn’t even address me by name, at first, just called me The Girl, as in: “Who took my camera and didn’t charge the batteries?”… “Oh, The Girl did it.” Nice guys, they were. It was kinda lonely in those days.
But I persevered, and after many months of trying to make my place in the newsroom, I felt I had been making progress, until one night. Our station was in an older scary downtown area, and no one ever wanted to walk out to their car alone when our shifts ended.
This night, everyone was sitting around, relaxing after the show, but I commented that I needed to leave, and I headed for the back door, alone. Once at my car, I realized that I had forgotten my coat, and went back inside towards the photo lounge. Walking down the hall, I heard one of the photogs saying, “oh, Sue is leaving, she needs an escort,” and the reporter in question walked out the door, with 4 of the guys in her wake.
I asked her about it the next day, and she said, “Oh, they always walk the women to our cars, didn’t you know that?” No, I didn’t. I asked the one photog that was my friend, and he said, “well, of course we never think about you like that, you’re Just Jennifer.”
So, I wasn’t One of the Guys, I was the Girl, but I wasn’t one of the women, either, I was Just Jennifer.
Just mindless musing about a lifetime in a galaxy a long long time ago.
Entries (RSS)