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RIP Jennifer Frey

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Drip, Mar 28, 2016.

  1. Gator

    Gator Well-Known Member

    I'm not one to read too many long-form pieces, but that was pretty great. And extremely sad. You just never know what's going on inside someone's head and how guarded they are on the outside.
     
    Xsportschick likes this.
  2. playthrough

    playthrough Moderator Staff Member

    Maybe not, but the clause about how they could come after you for the whole balance of the mortgage plus interest for missing one payment got my attention. Holy smokes.

    Very strong piece. The only thing I find some fault with is the headline, but I don't want to belittle addiction either. It's very real.
     
  3. Bronco77

    Bronco77 Well-Known Member

    Me, too. Makes you laugh, cry and just about every other emotion in between.
     
  4. CD Boogie

    CD Boogie Well-Known Member

    the writer who was too strong to live? That's a really dumb headline and detracts (however slightly) from a great piece. Absolutely stunning how some people can't pull themselves out of a tail spin.
     
    SnarkShark likes this.
  5. Doc Holliday

    Doc Holliday Well-Known Member

    Agree. I really don't see the importance of this part of the article. I got the feeling the writer was trying to say the mortgage situation only exacerbated her problems, leading her to drink more. Perhaps he was just trying to tie it in with the GoFundMe page. Either way, it seemed out of place an unnecessary.
     
  6. BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo

    BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo Well-Known Member

    I actually was OK w/the root of the addiction remaining mysterious. That's often how it is. Not everyone is Josh Hamilton, getting into a serious car crash and growing bored w/o baseball and falling into a bad crowd at tattoo parlors. For many people, it's just always been there.

    What I was curious about was how her professional path grew so shaky. Obviously, that is connected to the addictions, but she clearly blurred some lines in getting busted while speeding in Bobby Bonilla's car. There were other thick allusions to inappropriate relationships with athletes both in the Deadspin piece and the old City Paper feature, which is the last thing you'd expect from someone whose early forays into a locker room included a jackass embodying every awful cliche of the athlete-female sports journalist dynamic.
     
    gingerbread likes this.
  7. Xsportschick

    Xsportschick Member

    Brutal story, great, haunting read. Including the mortgage angle made sense to me, given how smart she clearly was, because it indicates how her judgement eroded.
     
    gingerbread likes this.
  8. Doc Holliday

    Doc Holliday Well-Known Member

    That makes sense. But I think a lot of very smart people fell victim to the housing scandals of that time frame. Just because you're a great writer doesn't make you great with numbers/math and vice versa. It's something to consider for sure.
     
    Xsportschick likes this.
  9. BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo

    BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo Well-Known Member

    I had no problem w/the mortgage angle. Including her review of Kit Kitteridge, and how she was able to tie the mortgage crisis into the movie, provided evidence she still had it, even as she was falling apart.
     
  10. justgladtobehere

    justgladtobehere Well-Known Member

    Come on. Her mortgage had nothing to do with any alleged malfeasance by the banks. Bringing it up is just scoring political points.
     
  11. BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo

    BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo Well-Known Member

    Why would he want to score political points?
     
  12. Dyno

    Dyno Well-Known Member

    I agree with this take. She had a dad who was a PhD in math and used to solve math problems at the dinner table with her brother. She went to Harvard. People said she was the smartest person they met. The mortgage stuff wasn't in there as a political statement.
     
    Last edited: Oct 29, 2016
    Xsportschick and Doc Holliday like this.
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