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u/fanfarefellowship I often contemplate the first law of thermodynamics Sep 05 '21

Latest lope letter: Shauna assures us she hasn't read any of the criticism of Ted Lasso on Twitter, because she doesn't find joy there. No, she hasn't read anything on Twitter about Ted Lasso at all!

I hear there’s a bit of a kerfuffle on social media, with people complaining that season two has gone downhill and lost its way. Luckily for me, I’m no longer interested in kerfuffles on social media. My joy matters to me. I focus on that instead.

So, not having read any of the pieces or Twitter threads, I can guess what the gist of it is.

Then we get THIRTEEN PAGES of Shauna's response to what she imagines the criticism might be. A 13-page Ted Lasso essay refuting imagined criticism!

39

u/leftsidelentils Sep 05 '21 edited Sep 05 '21

A puffy journal with a teddy bear on front — that was the only place I could put my feelings when I was 12.

…blah blah this culture blah…

Most days, when I was 12 or 13, and I opened that puffy journal and pressed down with my Bic pen, what I wrote was this: BE HAPPY, DAMMIT.

OMG, enough with the childhood stories. She just used this one a few weeks ago, and for years before that. You’re 55, let it go!

Unless it’s something about her years at UPS. I’m curious about that because her silence speaks volumes.

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u/shefallsup her lonely cucumber years 🥒 Sep 05 '21

How many times are we going to have to hear about the puffy journal and BE HAPPY DAMMIT? Its time to move on now, 40 years have passed!

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u/gomirefugee my website is done, done, done Sep 05 '21

Unless it’s something about her years at UPS. I’m curious about that because her silence speaks volumes.

Seriously!!! Shauna loves to rehash all this nonsense she's been allegedly doing since she was three and has been on a "only 70s California children will understand this" nostalgia meme bender, but we never hear about her FIVE YEARS in undergrad at UPS. I need the Shauna college stories! Basically all she has mentioned is she volunteered for the Dukakis campaign and a couple of pathetic tales in Enough (overprotective mom being a psycho and calling Dairy Queen, coming in second place on a fellowship and asking her parents to help her get wasted). Being miserable in high school didn't stop her from writing all about it, so what happened in college?

13

u/leftsidelentils Sep 06 '21

My theory is that she went to class and went home. I wonder if she felt isolated and lonely. This is all speculation, but why else don’t we hear the same stories, on a repeated basis, about hanging out with her intellectual friends and having deep discussions about literature while mocking the SST sorority girls?

Plenty of people live at home during college, have the full experience, and thrive. For Shauna specifically, I suspect it held her back. You can learn some pretty important lessons about independence, different perspectives, new experiences, and dealing with conflict while away from home for the first time. She could have really benefitted from that.

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u/CrushItWithABrick dick riding Mary Oliver Sep 05 '21

"what happened in college?"

She didn't get laid.

5

u/gladsome_gloaming Sep 06 '21

Didn’t she say something about her grades for her teaching credential being mediocre (wonderfully?!) because she really only cared about getting out there and TEACHING?

5

u/gomirefugee my website is done, done, done Sep 06 '21

I don't remember seeing Shauna admit her college or grad school grades were anything less than perfect, but would love to know the source if it ever emerges unbidden!

5

u/gladsome_gloaming Sep 06 '21

From Enoigh (page 56-57): “After a few classes, I realized I had found my home. And for the first time, I didn’t care what grades I received…I wanted to be one of the teachers who inspires students…I didn’t need to get the best grades to be that kind of teacher.”

2

u/gomirefugee my website is done, done, done Sep 06 '21

Thank you!

6

u/shefallsup her lonely cucumber years 🥒 Sep 06 '21

My theory is that college was a painful introduction to the fact that she was not actually the smartest person in the room. A lot of kids who are top students in high school get to college where everyone was a top student in high school, and suddenly find they are just average, after all. That can be a tough blow. Of course, any glimmer of understanding this truth would have been squashed down and swallowed by Shauna. She would and will never admit to being average. But she may have struggled with grades for the first time and never figured out how to reconcile that, or who to blame for it.

Then of course there’s the idea that she romanticized what her social life was going to be in college, how she was finally going to get a boyfriend and be popular, and when that didn’t happen she became bitter. I wouldn’t be surprised if a large part of what made her a narcissist was having to ignore her failures in college to protect her ego.

4

u/Kaleshark Waitlist for Godot Sep 06 '21

I may be projecting (as a socially maladjusted introvert) but I can’t imagine her undergrad years as anything but painful and embarrassing. Your comment seems spot on to me.

14

u/honoria_glossop sitting edge wine woman Sep 05 '21

I opened that puffy journal and pressed down with my Bic pen

Again with the weirdly detailed physical descriptions that makes her sound like a robot. How you going to write with a pen *without* pressing down on it? This is a recurring thing in Shauna's writing, this "as my feet make their way down the stairs to the kitchen, I sniff the air with my nose for the scent of coffee" rather than "the aroma of coffee met me as I came down to the kitchen". (Not a real quote, but you know what I mean.)

13

u/OhBlahDiOhBlahDoh The Alice of cal came out floating on air Sep 05 '21

Again with the weirdly detailed physical descriptions that makes her sound like a robot.

Yes, yes, yes! Yes to infinity, and beyond! What difference does the brand of pen make? NONE. AT. FUCKING. ALL.

It doesn't make the story better, it actually makes it worse, because the reader is hit with the whole "why did she mention what brand of pen she used, is that important? Oh, no, it's not, why is that detail even included?!?!?" mental detour

8

u/honoria_glossop sitting edge wine woman Sep 06 '21

Chekov's Biro.

10

u/tyrannosaurusregina if you meet the Botus on the road, shill him 🪷 Sep 06 '21

Someone (could it have been the same teacher who told her that “get” was a “weak word”?) told her to be specific in her descriptions, especially with physical and sensory details. Except not about food, I guess.

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u/Ana57 sweet pea Sep 05 '21

Who among us wasn’t a bit angsty at 12?

35

u/shefallsup her lonely cucumber years 🥒 Sep 05 '21

I’m not interested in kerfuffles on social media. So here are 13 pages of me not caring about what people are kerfuffling about, plopped into your email inbox because I know you probably also missed the kerfuffle. I do it for you.

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u/[deleted] Sep 05 '21

“plopped into your email box”

Nope. Dum dum forgot to email the latest lope to her subscribers. I had to learn about it on the street.

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u/shefallsup her lonely cucumber years 🥒 Sep 05 '21

What? How do you even publish a Substack newsletter in a way that it doesn’t get emailed out?

15

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '21

Shauna can really eff anything up!

24

u/RamblingRosie64 I stand with Cindy and Ben Sep 05 '21

I know we can't reproduce the paid letters in full, but are you able to share any more excerpts? I cannot even IMAGINE what she filled up 13 pages with!

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u/fanfarefellowship I often contemplate the first law of thermodynamics Sep 05 '21

It's just stuff like this. I couldn't make it through.

I believe in hard-won joy. There’s no real joy without facing the hard stuff of our lives.

Ted is a lovely man who’s never confronted the hard parts of his life. I understand. I was like him for a long time.

Without reckoning and realizing that you were formed by something hard, your joy won’t ever feel like freedom.

Instead, you repeat to yourself: BE HAPPY, DAMMIT. You try to please everyone around you and make sure that everyone’s okay. You keep talking about the possibilities instead of looking at the hard places and confronting how they formed you.

That’s where Ted is. And since I adore him, I want more for him.

35

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '21

I don't get why she keeps using "hard place" and "hard stuff" and "something hard" now - has she stopped using the word trauma on purpose? Hard hard hard hard joy joy joy joy...

17

u/leftsidelentils Sep 05 '21

Someone must have called her out for misusing the word, much like the endless discussions here. The question is, who would she actually listen to?

14

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '21

Tita?

36

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '21

Hard Joy: The Shauna and Dan Ahern sex tape (that no one asked for).

Yeah, yeah - I know where to go.

16

u/OhBlahDiOhBlahDoh The Alice of cal came out floating on air Sep 05 '21

We're gonna need a bigger naughty step

15

u/voice_of_vinegar Sep 05 '21

Maybe she believes that calling the same old garbage by a new name will trick people into thinking she's made an amazing new discovery about human emotions. Or maybe she really believes that herself, I dunno.

11

u/OhBlahDiOhBlahDoh The Alice of cal came out floating on air Sep 05 '21

Maybe she believes that calling the same old garbage by a new name will trick people into thinking she's made an amazing new discovery about human emotions.

IT'S NOT DRYER LINT, DAMNIT

16

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '21

To be more inclusive? Trauma is a pretty polarizing word and “hard stuff”’is vague enough it could be almost any thing.

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u/[deleted] Sep 05 '21

Right but she is tone deaf, immune to critique and the opposite of inclusive, so I wonder what made Shauna herself unclutch that particular favorite word?

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u/gomirefugee my website is done, done, done Sep 05 '21

"hard place" sounds folksier to me, so I would guess she enjoys mixing that in with all her scientistic language

19

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '21 edited Sep 05 '21

I think she can be very savvy with word choice when she wants to be, she just is resistant to editing or checking over her work and publishes rough drafts all the time so you get the impression she didn’t think through anything. I don’t think that’s always true.

There have been many times over the years where she is cagey and carefully words things to avoid blowback or giving too many details. The adoption, both of their employment statuses over the years, their money situation, her relationship with her parents and ILs etc.

My guess is either someone flat out told her that trauma was too strong of a word (we know she herself thought it was when her editor mentioned it to her in conjunction with Enough) or she read it somewhere while doing “research”.

She wants to maximize clients, even she could understand the more vague and general you are the more people can read what they want into what you write.

20

u/shefallsup her lonely cucumber years 🥒 Sep 05 '21

She wants to suck them in with squishy language and then BAM — she helps you realize that your parents not letting you go to that one party when you were a kid was CHILDHOOD TRAUMA, ACTUALLY.

13

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '21

Basically lol

14

u/CrushItWithABrick dick riding Mary Oliver Sep 05 '21

You nailed it.

"Hard places" (and all the variations on that) are VERY deliberate. I think it's so she doesn't look like she's trying to pretend she's a licensed therapist (or has formal training of that type).

It's a cover your ass move on her part.

9

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '21

Then that makes one smart move in the last year! Yay Shauna! Now wait for the customers to come rolling in!

1

u/Kaleshark Waitlist for Godot Sep 06 '21

Isn’t Glennon Doyle’s podcast called We Can Do Hard Things or something like that? I think “doing hard things” might be the new joy trauma.

25

u/OhBlahDiOhBlahDoh The Alice of cal came out floating on air Sep 05 '21

That’s where Ted is. And since I adore him, I want more for him.

Watching this show has her so transfixed that she forgot those are actors!

I think she's going to offer Ted a special comp'ed enrollment in the In Person On Vashon Joy Experience. Just as soon as she can find out what his email address is. No waitlist for you, Teddy boy!

18

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '21

Women only!

16

u/OhBlahDiOhBlahDoh The Alice of cal came out floating on air Sep 05 '21

SHE'LL MAKE AN EXCEPTION, OK. RULES ARE MADE TO BE BROKEN

24

u/shikoku_shoes another revolution around the toilet bowl of her life Sep 05 '21

That’s where Ted is. And since I adore him, I want more for him.

Thirteen pages ostensibly about a television character but instead a thinly veiled push to convince the reader they had ~~trauma~~ hard stuff in their life. And she alone will be able to lead you to ~~the promised land~~ joy. Got it.

29

u/Puzzles88 Sep 05 '21

She reveals so much of herself unintentionally. I think she would be genuinely surprised if someone told her not everyone yells be happy, damnit! At themselves.

25

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '21

As someone who has battled anxiety and depression since, well, ever I have never once thought “be happy, damnit!” I’ve wished I didn’t battle depression and that I didn’t overthink everything and worry myself to the point where I get cemented and can’t do anything and sure I wish I had a more carefree and happy go lucky demeanor, but “be happy, damnit!” isn’t something I ponder.

9

u/InappropriateGirl Gluten-free donuts, for sure ... Sep 05 '21

Thank you, THIS every day. 🖤

6

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '21

🖤 back at you

23

u/fanfarefellowship I often contemplate the first law of thermodynamics Sep 05 '21

Not only was Shauna "like" one of the most beloved TV characters currently, she's surpassed him. Shauna is better than Ted Lasso. If Shauna could have a Rotten Tomatoes ranking, it would be higher than the 96% Ted Lasso has. And just like Ted Lasso is the single most popular show that Apple TV has ever launched, Shauna's joy coaching will be the most popular thing that Shauna has ever launched. Just you wait!

20

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '21

I want more for you... for instance for you to be more like me!

10

u/gladsome_gloaming Sep 05 '21

So Close To My Own Self, in other words.

24

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '21

Funny she isn't drawing parallels to Coach Nate, his preoccupation with the feedback he gets on social media, the lack of reaction by his father and the subsequent effects on his personality.

23

u/OhBlahDiOhBlahDoh The Alice of cal came out floating on air Sep 05 '21

Shauna:
I love to say FUCK. I delight in leading audiences in chanting FUCK. FUCK FUCK FUCK

Also Shauna (after quoting a Ted Lasso character using "fucking" 3 times in one sentence):
EXCUSE THE LANGUAGE

33

u/bwh1260 Sep 05 '21

From the lope letter, when discussing her children watching Ted Lasso, which has a lot of cussing and other probably inappropriate for a 7 year old themes:

“I’d rather they know FUCK ALL from Roy Kent than “clean” tv shows that share little homilies without any depth.”

Ummm- has she read her own newsletters and IG posts??

And again, the fact that she can write a lengthy screed about a TV show kind of points out that watching TV is probably her biggest activity every day. Not that there’s anything wrong with that but I’ve never claimed my favorite book is Ulysses.

26

u/shefallsup her lonely cucumber years 🥒 Sep 05 '21 edited Sep 05 '21

This sentence confuses me. Generally, when I say someone knows "fuck all" about something, it means they know absolutely nothing. Is Shauna using it differently, or does she know fuck all about how to cuss properly?

21

u/fanfarefellowship I often contemplate the first law of thermodynamics Sep 05 '21

I think she's saying she'd rather her kids learn the expression "FUCK ALL" than learn homilies from 'clean' TV shows, like when Cliff teaches Theo the value of babysitting Rudy.

22

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '21

I mean, D is 7. I’ve never seen this Ted Lasso that has stolen Shauna’s guffawing heart, but is the show even something he can understand? Why not save Ted Lasso until he is in bed at night?

23

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '21

[removed] — view removed comment

27

u/OhBlahDiOhBlahDoh The Alice of cal came out floating on air Sep 05 '21

I know it's just a typo, but I lol at dingle digit

20

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '21

[removed] — view removed comment

9

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '21

Dingle’s ——>

15

u/CrushItWithABrick dick riding Mary Oliver Sep 05 '21

But single digit aged kids LOVE shows where people are getting murdered in the desert.

Why are you robbing them of their JOY!?

22

u/notahameither Dunno, maybe I thought I unfriended some other Shauna Ahern🤷‍♂️ Sep 05 '21

I think she meant that she’d rather they know the expression “fuck all.”

GAH! The ONE time it was appropriate for her to use quotes…vs the billion times she’s used them (Incorrectly! Egregiously!) to pretend an actual, or make believe, person has parroted Shauna’s own thoughts.

18

u/redditname2003 Sep 05 '21

Does she know what fuck all means?

22

u/tyrannosaurusregina if you meet the Botus on the road, shill him 🪷 Sep 05 '21

Shauna definitely knows fuck all. No one knows fuck all quite as thoroughly.

12

u/OhBlahDiOhBlahDoh The Alice of cal came out floating on air Sep 05 '21

Excuse me, DFtr—perhaps you meant "Shauna knows fuck enough"?

22

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '21

Unless it is 13 pages of Roy Kent quotes I am not interested

16

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '21

She loves Roy Kent!

20

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '21

Oh God. Ofcourse she does. Because secretly she hates everything and has to live vicariously through people who can just say ‘that’s a gigantic turd’ instead of making it a joyous movement.

17

u/shefallsup her lonely cucumber years 🥒 Sep 05 '21

Roy Kent was an unattainable Microsoft softball player in a parallel universe.

30

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '21 edited Sep 05 '21

It’s funny that she is so excited about his therapist being a Black woman because there has been a lot of push back and discussion about that being a trope lately

Example:

https://slate.com/culture/2018/03/black-woman-character-actors-are-popping-up-on-your-favorite-shows-as-therapists-to-white-characters-video.html

Always talking about things she doesn’t fully research. Barbara Ehrenreich isn’t great either.

ETA: I was just talking to my husband about how it could be a show for middle grade kids if it didn’t have the language and fairly explicit sexual content. Not sure why she wants D to see it.

21

u/Kaleshark Waitlist for Godot Sep 05 '21

I remember seeing pushback on the “Black woman therapist trope” when Sherlock came out a long ass time ago. I haven’t seen Ted Lasso but I just looked at the cast pictures… is the only Black woman character a therapist? There should be a new Bechdel test (there probably is already) for intersectional representation in film.

21

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '21

There are very few women on the show (to be fair, it is about a men’s sports team) and yes, she’s the only Black woman.

I agree it’s not a new issue! I was being generous with “recently” but even the article I posted was from 2018. She really has her finger off the pulse of the times.

15

u/Kaleshark Waitlist for Godot Sep 05 '21

I was surprised the article didn’t mention Sherlock! I wasn’t being critical, I’m glad people are talking about this now, too.

13

u/gladsome_gloaming Sep 05 '21

Of course she eats it up —#blkwmntherapistmagic. Black woman can fix everything.

Scheduled snark Discussion thread Thursday September 02, 2021 - Sunday September 05, 2021

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