Thursday, February 20, 2003 Dear JohnAaron Sorkin, Come on now. Seriously. I'm all right with CJ having no voice in public policy (even though the other people who aren't supposed to influence public policy, like Toby and Sam and Will Bailey, do so all the time). I'm all right with every single other woman on the show, with the exception of the rare guest star and Mary Louise Parker, being a goddamn secretary. But the interns, Aaron. The young pretty girls in their pretty clothes who aren't expected to know anything and wear numbered jerseys so that we don't have to know their names. Look at them try to write! Boy, they aren't very good at all! Isn't it funny? Boys have to be interns, too, Aaron. Boys have to work just as hard as girls. And girls who have internships at the White House? Aren't just fucking around with their lives. I'm sorry, but is it a stretch to assume that people who are interning for the White House's speechwriting staff are interested in speechwriting? Even if they are women? Girls want things, have ambition, dream of higher things. Girls aren't always content being secretaries. Girls aren't always content with silence. I'm a girl, Aaron, and I've loved your writing for a long long time. You make me want to write more better. You make me want to write. But I watch an episode like tonight's and I know I'm oversensitive, but I've been an intern, goddamn it. I've worked ten hour days for no money and a faint glimpse of a dream. I worked hard, because I wanted it, and I wouldn't be so close to my dreams today without that experience. And my bosses took my free labor and you know what? I wasn't the butt of a goddamn joke, because they had been where I was. They worked to get where they were. And they knew that I was working to get somewhere, too. Some of my bosses were men, Aaron. And they didn't treat me like a secretary or a second banana. They knew my goddamn name. I may be a girl, but I'm also a writer, and I've worked my entire life to be able to say that. And when you make fun of the women trying to write, it makes me want to hit things. I've loved you for a long, long time, Aaron. But the love is beginning to fade, and I just don't know if I can go on like this. I just don't know if I care enough. I don't know why I bother to watch anymore. Because I'm trying to be a writer. I'm learning to be serious, and take myself seriously. And right now, you're not helping with that. Sincerely yours, Das Lizlet | permalink blog • archives • photos • about • contact This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. All content © 2004.