Jean Ellen Whatley
A Woman With a Past Is Off the Leash
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
- If You Don’t Stop That,
You’ll Go Blind
April 29, 2012 01:53PM - Just One Minute of Real Love
February 13, 2012 12:30AM - Be Careful What You Ask For
February 09, 2012 12:39AM - I Will Never Leave You
February 06, 2012 08:06PM - A Woman, Her Dog and the Road
Trip to Revival
February 05, 2012 12:16AM
MY RECENT COMMENTS
- “Unbreakable -- you are a
loyal fan and an amazing
writer in
your own right.
Thank…”
January 01, 2012 10:28PM - “Beautiful. In this day
and age of hand sanitizers and
heads
down virtual
preoccu…”
December 29, 2011 12:30PM - “A puff is a pack. I'm
hooked. I followed the smoke
trail from
Cognitive
Dissonanc…”
December 29, 2011 11:47AM - “Cog,
Simple and
true. Thank
you.
Jean”
September 27, 2011 07:10PM - “Cog!
All right,
my friend, you're on. I've
missed you. Well, I guess
I
already sai…”
September 17, 2011 09:44AM
Jean Ellen Whatley's Links
APRIL 29, 2012 1:53PM
If You Don’t Stop That, You’ll Go Blind
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 …
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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 …
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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 …
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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 …
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FEBRUARY 5, 2012 12:16AM
A Woman, Her Dog and the Road Trip to Revival
Have you ever felt like running away? I mean truly running
away;Â 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 …
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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
NOVEMBER 11, 2011 1:22AM
Thanks for Coming, Don’t Forget to Tip Your Waitress
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, …
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OCTOBER 11, 2011 5:03PM
If You Died Tomorrow Would You Live to Regret It?
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 …
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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
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
SEPTEMBER 24, 2011 12:57PM
Amarillo or Vail? The Answer Is Not So Obvious
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 …
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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
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 …
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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. …
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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
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
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 …
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AUGUST 26, 2011 2:34PM
The Best Day of My Life, So Far (by Libby)
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! …
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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 …
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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 …
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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 …
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AUGUST 19, 2011 10:17PM
Laurel Canyon Doggie Diva, only in L.A. Dude
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 …
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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
Salon.com