Jean Ellen Whatley

A Woman With a Past Is Off the Leash

Jean Ellen Whatley

Jean Ellen Whatley
Location
St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Birthday
April 24
Bio
Subscribing to the notion that we're all more alike than different, Jean Ellen Whatley feels privileged in her self-appointed role of cockeyed purveyor of our human condition. She's both perceptive and profuse, sometimes profound, rarely punctual and given to alliteration. An Emmy award-winning broadcast journalist, Jean has provided countless hours of live reports on everything from murder to mayhem, and prize winning pickles at state fairs from North Carolina to New Mexico. Whatley never skipped on any restaurant tabs. She has attracted a growing following on her blog, A Woman With a Past: The Post Apocalyptic Approach to Men which will soon be available on Amazon.com. Operators are standing by. Her current project, Off the Leash: Road Stories With My Dog is the next installment of her memoir, only this one REALLY moves, literally and figuratively. Jean earned critical acclaim for her screenplay, THE LOVE YOU NEED, in the Cinema St. Louis screenplay competition, but no movie deal. She was recently a finalist in a nationwide writing competition sponsored by, SheWrites, a Web-based women's writing forum with more than 15,000 members. She’s been published in MORE.com, has been a guest columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Winston-Salem Journal and the Albuquerque Journal and a guest host on KMOX (CBS) radio in St. Louis. Jean is the proud parent of four, remarkably well adjusted, mostly grown-up kids and two mutts. In her spare time, she cleans up the poop, the dogs’ that is.

MY RECENT POSTS

The email from her Blackberry said it all. “At a funeral. Back in the office soon.†It is a telling reflection of the world in which we live when a person feels a compunction to return an email in the … Continue reading

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FEBRUARY 13, 2012 12:30AM

Just One Minute of Real Love

I’m a hypocrite. From shabby motel rooms, made less lonely by my dog on the bed, from Toledo to San Luis Obisbo, last summer I waxed poetic about the wonder, the glory and the healing tide of love.  But I … Continue reading

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FEBRUARY 9, 2012 12:39AM

Be Careful What You Ask For

Wanted to pass along an update I put on my Kickstarter page tonight, which went to all the financial backers from last summer. The moral support that I’ve gotten from those included here is no less significant. Thanks to all … Continue reading

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FEBRUARY 6, 2012 8:06PM

I Will Never Leave You

* This is  a re-post from September. Apologies to long -time readers. I am re-posting for some new visitors to the site. September 2, 2011 I hear the low rumble of trucks on the freeway from my porch, back home … Continue reading

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Have you ever felt like running away? I mean truly running away;  quitting your job, checking out, going off the grid, saying goodbye to your family and friends, leaving town, the grocery store, the gas station, the lady who cuts … Continue reading

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JANUARY 1, 2012 5:07PM

It Gets Settled

If I could reach out to the victims of Jerry Sandusky with a single message, it would be this: someday it just won’t matter anymore. Before somebody throws a molotov cocktail through my front window, please hear … Continue reading Read full post »

DECEMBER 28, 2011 1:51PM

Wild Horses and French Horns

My mother used to have a saying, “Don’t count it a day lost when you learn something new”  and she especially liked, “learn a new word.”  She was big on vocabulary.

I’ve modified this treasured maternal maxim to include any number of lesser, albeit, pr… Read full post »

DECEMBER 4, 2011 2:56PM

The Last Detail

Here’s the thing about going on a road trip across America alone with your dog.  She can vouch for nothing. When I say, “Hey Lib, remember that herd of big horn sheep in Colorado that were really close to the … Continue reading

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So I’ve got all this neglected content from the journey, you know.  And I’m weaving it into the book, seen from the rear view mirror now, and some of this material will make the cut and some of it, well, … Continue reading

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Hi y’all, I’m working fast and furiously on the book, but wanted to share a short OP ED I sent to the New York Times today after reading about Steve Jobs, being born in San Francisco in 1955 under less … Continue reading

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OCTOBER 4, 2011 7:37PM

Scent of a Summer

I was looking for socks. Goddamn socks. Rummaging around in the middle drawer, annoyed that it’s already time to dig out the socks, knowing that colder, darker days are just around the corner, I came upon my traveling pants. The … Continue reading

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SEPTEMBER 25, 2011 4:04AM

The Working Class

So I’m sitting in a bar in St. Louis last week at a going away party for a friend. She got a new video editing job in another town, pays more, and she’ll be able to work on better projects. … Continue reading

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I order a vodka tonic, with my frequent flier drink coupon and settle back to look out the window at the clouds at 33 thousand feet. I feel overwhelmingly sad today — the realities of managing the pressing demands of … Continue reading

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SEPTEMBER 15, 2011 11:27PM

It’s All About You

I’ve missed you. I told you, “I will never leave you” and then I did. I didn’t mean to drop off the face of the planet since my last post on September 2nd. I have actually gone through withdrawals, kind … Continue reading

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SEPTEMBER 2, 2011 3:31PM

I Will Never Leave You

I hear the low rumble of trucks on the freeway from my porch, back home from my 8,600 mile odyssey. What just last night felt like a predator, the rattle and whirr of tractor trailer rigs, crowding me closer, closer … Continue reading

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AUGUST 30, 2011 1:19PM

In Honor of My Brother Don

Last night Libby and I reached mile 8,000 on our journey across America. It was just about sundown, near Grainfield, Kansas. Could there be a more appropriate name for a prairie town? Grainfield? I pulled over and snapped a photo. … Continue reading

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AUGUST 30, 2011 1:22AM

U-turn in Utah

I used to work with a great new shooter in St. Louis who said, “you know it’s not really a story until you’ve had to make three U-turns.” That was back in the day before GPS, when TV reporters, riding … Continue reading

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AUGUST 28, 2011 10:27PM

My Brother Mike

There just wasn’t putting it off any longer. Hell, I’d had the phone number for two weeks. My niece Amy had tracked it down through tax records. Take that, Google and Facebook. But I had waited. Waited until I was … Continue reading

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AUGUST 27, 2011 12:56PM

Tommy and Beverly Were Lovers

I hate saying goodbye. I left my son Nate and his wife Melissa in Los Angeles and drove up the coast a few days ago, my melancholy usurped by nerves.  I hadn’t really felt this way yet. One would think … Continue reading

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Hello humans, I figure it’s about time you heard it from the horse’s mouth, well really the dog’s mouth. And by the way, horses are huge and scare the crap out of me and sometimes they wear these scary masks! … Continue reading

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AUGUST 24, 2011 6:51PM

Louie, Sean’s Beast of Burden

The absolute worst nights of this journey have been the ones in which I laid awake in some Motel 6 somewhere, or in the quiet of a friend’s home and worried, “what have I done?”     I know this is old … Continue reading

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AUGUST 23, 2011 1:50PM

When I Had to Draw My Weapon

In observance of taking the on-ramp onto EASTBOUND 80 last night out of San Francisco which signifies, ladies and gentlemen, that I’m St. Louis bound, after what will no doubt be a pivotal plot twist stop here today in El … Continue reading

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AUGUST 21, 2011 6:40PM

Survivor: Albuquerque

We need to hook a U-turn so I can tell you about Albuquerque. Merely typing the letters, A-L-B-U-Q-U-E-R-Q-U-E evokes powerful emotions. That’s because I had to type that word 9,000 times in journalism school. And even though I’m holed up … Continue reading

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Friday night in L.A. and I am WAY behind on my stories, y’all. BUT I did want to share this little clip to amuse you on a Friday night. Judy runs a service called Schmuttles. Check it out. I am … Continue reading

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AUGUST 17, 2011 1:28PM

L.A. Inspirational

Hey everybody,  just wanted to post a quick update today, geographically, I’m out in front of the many stories I still have in my pocket about Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, but…. I HAVE NOW OFFICIALLY DRIVEN ACROSS THE UNITED … Continue reading

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