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Greetings, Earthlings!
We’ve tweaked the format of our podcast a bit, and consequently, I will do the same – for now – on the blog. I welcome (and let’s face it, require) my guests’ individual lists. It makes us all feel a little happier to realize that someone we respect or think we know in the public sphere really cares about “Wild Kingdom” reruns, or only goes to movie theaters where they have real butter for the popcorn….
However, I do feel like on the podcast my 5 things slowed us down and got in the way of my interview with honestly interesting people. For now my five things will live on my blog, down below.
My guest this week is a lovely young woman, Lucia Evans, whose name I first noticed when I read about the legions of women who were “allegedly” harassed, assaulted, and raped by Harvey Weinstein, the movie producer. Having known Weinstein in the 1990s I followed these stories particularly avidly. I knew him to be angry, profane, slobby, bullying, and petty, but I had no idea that he was a sexual predator. As a former young woman and the mother of two young women, I was glued to the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporting of Ronan Farrow, Megan Twohey, and Jodi Kantor. Who could be such a pig? And who could get so many underlings to enable this behavior? And for so many years?
Lisa Birnbach and guest Lucia Evans
Lucia was notable for having her case picked up by the NY Police Department. They brought her to the Manhattan D.A.’s office to begin a criminal proceeding against Harvey Weinstein. They had decided, several years ago, that her account was the one they could best use to send him to jail. Thanks to her courage and the fortitude of Ronan Farrow, we now know that all of Weinstein’s accusers as well as the more dogged journalists who pursued the stories were threatened and slandered by Weinstein’s high powered lawyers and high priced spies. Each woman, whose life and trust had already been damaged by a sexual assailant, now had to see her reputation smeared in the press. She had to endure being shamed on social media by paid trolls.
If you didn’t already know that it was true, you might not even believe it.
Lucia spent the first morning of Harvey Weinstein’s long-awaited trial not in the courtroom but in our studio. She is able to hold her head up high, and many days she can laugh and put that awful episode behind her.
Please listen to her story on this week’s podcast.
Thank you.
Lucia Evans’ Five Things:
1. Lacrima del Morro d’Alba wine
2. Her dogs, Alfred and Georgia (who are her children)
3. True crime - podcasts/shows/ID channel.
4. Potato chips from around the world - the more uncommon the flavor, the better.
5. Creative problem solving // working through a crisis // that feeling you get when you don’t know how it’s going to work but you just know it’s going to (e.g., writing)
More about Lucia Evans:
An Award-Winning Brand Storyteller, #MeToo Silence Breaker, and Authenticity Advocate.
I am dedicated to helping individuals, brands, and businesses achieve their goals by expressing their unique narratives and Owning Their Truth.
Website: https://luciaioevans.com/
Instagram: @luciaioevans
Lisa’s Five Things:
1. I’m getting much better at adapting recipes for the restrictions of my beloveds. I made a super lamb stew without garlic or onion that won raves. And a beef stew that was gluten-free. Tonight I’ll be making a Bolognese sauce with Impossible Burger instead of beef. I can almost not believe myself.
2. The New York Times Cooking App. It’s easy to use. Choose the ingredients or the level of difficulty or the chef or the diet or the cuisine. The app can send the shopping list to your phone too. It’s fantastically user-friendly.
3. Congressman Adam Schiff. He patiently, doggedly, eloquently has laid out the case for impeachment – not with joy or smugness, but with gravity and clarity. A shining example of clarity.
4. Fairway Market. There have been reports of its financial demise before, but this week the New York Post announced that this NY supermarket institution was shutting its doors forever, filing for bankruptcy. (And not the “restructuring” chapter 11, but the “giving up” chapter. Today I went to the Broadway branch of Fairway and was told that the news story was incorrect. It’s not always fun to shop there, but Fairway has almost everything you could want. (Not preserved lemons.) It’s also kind of a very New York place – yes you could go to Whole Foods, or Westside Market, or Trader Joe’s, but Fairway is ours. And that’s where I buy the coffee beans for my magnificent coffee.
5. Wandering around last weekend with my #ExhibitC ™. She works about 80 hours a week and spends her weekends mostly sleeping and doing laundry. We hung out Sunday night alone and I had the best time with her.