And what did you do this week?

September 16, 2017 1:04 PM

The Week My Husband Left And My House Was Burgled I Secured A Grant To Begin The Project That Became BRCA1
posted by jjray (50 comments total)

That is a goddamn fantastic story and I am not surprised that is was cross posted from The Moth. One of the all time best unexpected twists.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 1:11 PM on September 16, 2017 [18 favorites]

Holy frickin' cow. That is amazing.
posted by knitcrazybooknut at 1:17 PM on September 16, 2017 [2 favorites]

I actually cackled out loud and terrified my kitten. A+
posted by Sequence at 1:20 PM on September 16, 2017 [2 favorites]

This made my day, thanks for posting!
posted by The Gooch at 1:21 PM on September 16, 2017

Holy crap. What a week.
posted by potrzebie at 1:25 PM on September 16, 2017 [2 favorites]

There is really nothing to say after that.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 1:29 PM on September 16, 2017 [2 favorites]

...and with a Special Guest Appearance by Joe DiMaggio. I've had some crazy 'brushes with fame', but never has it been the LEAST notable event of the week...
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:34 PM on September 16, 2017 [24 favorites]

Dang, hell of a story! Love it.
posted by obfuscation at 1:38 PM on September 16, 2017

Love it.
But I am puzzled. Is Emily's dog named Aussie or Ernie?!
posted by chavenet at 1:43 PM on September 16, 2017 [4 favorites]

"Aussie" is short for Australian shepherd.
posted by obfuscation at 1:47 PM on September 16, 2017 [3 favorites]

That was excellent!
And I'm so glad I didn't have to live through it. And her mother was useless.
posted by Bee'sWing at 1:48 PM on September 16, 2017 [9 favorites]

Ahh that's great.
posted by notyou at 1:59 PM on September 16, 2017 [1 favorite]

That's one of those stories where you close the tab and find yourself chuckling about it the rest of the day. Wonderful, wonderful! And thank you!
posted by mochapickle at 2:01 PM on September 16, 2017 [1 favorite]

Excellent story, thanks for sharing!
posted by srt19170 at 2:03 PM on September 16, 2017

She's a real slacker, Prof King

"In 1984, in Argentina, she began working with Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo (Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo) in identifying children who had been stolen from their families and adopted illegally under the military dictatorship during the Dirty War (1976-1983)."

She's an amazing woman!
posted by lalochezia at 2:22 PM on September 16, 2017 [11 favorites]

For those such as myself who don't read The Huffington Post, here is a link from The Moth.
posted by koavf at 2:27 PM on September 16, 2017 [9 favorites]

That was great. Thanks.
posted by roolya_boolya at 2:31 PM on September 16, 2017

This is a fantastic post. I'm so glad to find an exception to the terrible men in science narrative - look what women (and people in general) can accomplish with a little help from the men already in the system. And Joe DiMaggio, of course.
posted by harujion at 2:32 PM on September 16, 2017 [26 favorites]

Yeah yeah BRCA1 yeah yeah Joe DiMaggio tell me more about this kindergarten that allows dogs.
posted by acidic at 2:48 PM on September 16, 2017 [69 favorites]

Yeah, the take home point is that getting a grant as a female tenured Berkeley professor in the 1980s required a clutch performance from Joe DiMaggio.

also, how random is life that thousands of women's lives have been saved in part by DiMaggio spontaneously deciding to do a kind favor to an anonymous woman in need? not to take away from this amazing woman's accomplishments
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 2:50 PM on September 16, 2017 [67 favorites]

I like knowing that it is not just cruelty that travels in time but kindness large and small, too.
posted by jadepearl at 2:58 PM on September 16, 2017 [39 favorites]

I read the essay, then listened to the Moth recording, which was even better.

Bless the professor who gave her that glass of Jack Daniels, bless her mentor and bless Joe DiMaggio. Bless the chain of human kindness.
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 2:58 PM on September 16, 2017 [29 favorites]

That husband, though. What an ass.
posted by tully_monster at 3:00 PM on September 16, 2017 [1 favorite]

Yeah, the mom does not come off well either though the author tries to provide some context for her mother's non-supportive behavior.
posted by jadepearl at 3:47 PM on September 16, 2017 [2 favorites]

I kind of want to google the husband, in a spirit of schadenfreude.
posted by feral_goldfish at 3:49 PM on September 16, 2017 [3 favorites]

A picture of Joe, from the week before.
posted by Bee'sWing at 4:02 PM on September 16, 2017 [7 favorites]

Unless I'm confused, the ex-husband knew Dr. King had her presentation within a few days and was supposed to be on childcare duty (mom was coming to help out). But he just absolutely couldn't wait a few days to start his new life. Was he trying to pick the absolute worst time to pull that crap, or did he just cluelessly stumble upon it?
posted by ghost phoneme at 4:26 PM on September 16, 2017 [37 favorites]

ghost phoneme: Was he trying to pick the absolute worst time to pull that crap, or did he just cluelessly stumble upon it?

Sounds like the perfect AskMe. "So I'm having this crazy week, and I'm just wondering if my ex-husband is actively trying to screw me over or if he's just clueless..."
posted by clawsoon at 4:58 PM on September 16, 2017 [9 favorites]

Amazing!
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 5:03 PM on September 16, 2017

I was, to be fair, a kid in the 80s, but my recall was that the reference to someone's grandmother "coming to help"--usually because someone's mom was pregnant--when I was a little kid? It always referred to the grandmother doing everything that the mother used to do, not the grandmother picking up a little bit of slack from the dad suddenly taking over childrearing and housework.
posted by Sequence at 5:09 PM on September 16, 2017 [3 favorites]

This article warmed my cold, little scientist heart. Thanks for posting!
posted by emd3737 at 5:12 PM on September 16, 2017

Mod note: One deleted; I think the author very deliberately didn't name her ex-husband so let's not go digging around to publicize it.
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 5:33 PM on September 16, 2017 [4 favorites]

Did one of you make an addition to Joe DiMaggio's wikipedia entry (bottom of Sports Legacy section)?
posted by ZeusHumms at 6:44 PM on September 16, 2017 [3 favorites]

What makes this story great is how a series of complete assholes commit evil acts againt this woman but are ultimately defeated by a series of mundane good acts. There needs to be more stories where mundane good ultimately triumphs.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 6:46 PM on September 16, 2017 [40 favorites]

What a fantastic story! I guess one of the takeaways here is be kind to strangers - you might inadvertently help cure cancer.

...and I'm an idiot. I of course know who Joe Dimaggio is, but when I read the comments before the article, I was thinking it was JOHN Dimaggio (aka voice of Bender from Futurama and other things), and so when I read the article I was confused how someone recognized his voice in the 80s. And then I saw the picture. *headdesk*
posted by littlesq at 6:49 PM on September 16, 2017 [6 favorites]

What if she hadn't been able to recognize Joe DiMaggio?? Geez. Anyway, great story. Bless her and everyone who helped her.
posted by salvia at 6:57 PM on September 16, 2017 [3 favorites]

This is the first story I've ever seen that made me want to use all six of the Facebook reaction icons (like, love, haha, wow, sad, angry). If it were a movie, there wouldn't be a non-rolled eye in the house.
posted by Etrigan at 7:52 PM on September 16, 2017 [5 favorites]

Moar amazing Prof King background
1, 2, 3,4
posted by lalochezia at 8:26 PM on September 16, 2017

I knew some distantly related DiMaggios. It's not a profile you forget.

This woman's amazing, and although I don't wish her husband ill, I do hope he squirms and looks down whenever he hears about her in the news.
posted by Countess Elena at 8:50 PM on September 16, 2017 [4 favorites]

Wow, I did not see that twist coming. That's a real-life deus ex machina if ever I heard of one.
posted by limeonaire at 9:48 PM on September 16, 2017 [3 favorites]

That made me laugh out loud *and* tear up!
posted by bendy at 10:04 PM on September 16, 2017

I like knowing that it is not just cruelty that travels in time but kindness large and small, too.
I am trying to live my life by this principle. (the kindness bit, obvs)
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 11:58 PM on September 16, 2017

“Mom, if you can’t trust Joe DiMaggio, who can you trust?”
posted by Laotic at 12:03 AM on September 17, 2017

Seems a movie-worthy story! (Turns out her work has been featured in a movie, in which she was played by Helen Hunt.)
posted by Coaticass at 12:24 AM on September 17, 2017 [1 favorite]

Well this is sure better than the story about the guy doing acid with Putin.

The part I like best is the embedded bits about supporting women in science. Hurrah for the mentor, being helpful at the right moment.
posted by Nelson at 12:43 AM on September 17, 2017 [4 favorites]

Gosh, what a legend! And wasn't it nice at that baseball player helped her out in a pinch, dya think he had, like, an instinct or something....?
posted by Wilder at 1:15 AM on September 17, 2017

King telling her story on YouTube, if you prefer a video: The Moth Presents Dr. Mary-Claire King at the World Science Festival.
posted by amf at 4:00 AM on September 17, 2017 [2 favorites]

What a story. Thanks for posting.
posted by Malingering Hector at 4:31 AM on September 17, 2017 [1 favorite]

Was he trying to pick the absolute worst time to pull that crap, or did he just cluelessly stumble upon it?
An affair with a student, followed by carefully-timed abandonment? I guess he'd been slowly resenting her for quite a long while. Planned for maximum damage but with plausible denial, to himself as much as much as to anyone else.
posted by glasseyes at 11:34 AM on September 17, 2017 [11 favorites]

Wow. Nevertheless she persisted.
posted by Gadgetenvy at 10:57 AM on September 18, 2017 [5 favorites]