Karen Reed is free!
With the common cynicism around social media, I wonder if young people remember the excitement around blogs? Short for web log. As the term “log” implies, blogs were never soundbites, never limited in the number of characters.
Part of the excitement of this new, improved medium was that it would provide people with a “community,” freed from geography. One needn’t attend university to sit at a tiny table, young man and woman, leaning forward to discuss the meaning of life. Instead there could be a long discussion thread of like minds for this, and a zillion other topics, that one might not discuss with “guys who do lunch.”
Today, I won’t say that I feel any community on any blogs, but I do enjoy a chance to think and form my sentences, the way I would before speaking up during a panel discussion at a convention, provided I like the host of a blog. Here is some discussion on three posts of Penelope Trunk.
One
She wrote about the Karen Read trial, where it was if police and prosecutors and judges had colluded to frame an innocent person. Penelope provides links to folks including the pathologist.
Sean says, Thank you for reporting. I too am angry. Cases like this are why Canadians are resisting Washington’s pressure to become the 51st state. Forget that noise.
This insulting pressure, even before tariffs hit, even before the reported border horrors, is why Canadians were booing during the US national anthem at hockey games, and first began reducing their tourism to the US.
(Meanwhile, at the state level, trying to distance themselves from the feds, the states are offering hotel and travel discounts to Canadians, but it’s not working)
Penelope says, Bribing Canadians to come to the US: pathetic. Meanwhile I bet tourism is down across the board—not just Canada.
… …
Two
Penelope was angry about some misinformation that women could have it all: family, children, and a greater than 40 hour week white collar career job, so she provided some counter-research.
Sean says, I don’t know anything about parenting research, but I remember my mother, a housewife with six children, was so haggard that I wouldn’t bring home notices from elementary school because I figured she was already stressed enough. My sister, to avoid the same haggardness, had a job where every penny went to daycare: like working for free.
This year I read a slim advice book by a grandmother. In chapter one she passes on some advice she was given:
…let your children know you are delighted to have them… Not something my poor mother could do, but something I try to do with my disabled clients. (Where I only have to work eight hour shifts)
Penelope says, I love this comment. There are two things that really resonate with me. The first is that when parents look like they’re overwhelmed the kids perceive the parents cannot care for themselves so kids start caring for parents. I see this in my own life. And I hate to admit it, but I see when my kids do it with me.
Also, the part about delight. I wish this were the standard for good parenting. Do your kids feel like they delighted you each day simply by being themselves. I think about what makes people have kids.
… …
Three
I was in a self-help group where we would share things society wouldn’t believe, and it was healing to believe each other about things we had in common.
A celebrity, Diddy Combs, is on trial for abuse, and Penelope, herself a victim of spouse abuse, noted how traditionally the police would believe the man.
Sean says, I believe everything you say in this post. Including about your personal life, which I am sorry about.
Sad but true what you say about the system.
After a drunk driver destroyed my friend’s job, because of her injuries, without facing consequences, except when the driver missed a court date, a policeman told her, “We don’t have a justice system, we have a financial system.”
Penelope says, Oh my gosh, I see that in my son’s court case against Uber. Even though no one is denying it’s the Uber driver’s fault, it’s hard to peg financial damages when a kid does not work. It’s just such a messed up system.
… Editor’s Note: The boy, after years of private lessons, had been accepted to the prestigious Julliard school in New York City (like Hollywood’s Fame) but could no longer perform after the accident.
… …
… …
Sean Crawford,
Calgary,
June, 2025
Footnotes:
Penelope’s blog link https://blog.penelopetrunk.com/
BBC on Karen Read
