As a rule, I recommend that every carbon-based life form online avoid the comments section of news sites, from newspapers to television stations to local blogs covering the farmer’s market, because the comments are usually overflowing with fresh awful crazysauce.
In this case, I recommend everyone read the comments because they restore some sanity and hope for what is a truly disgraceful and frankly stupid news segment.
WNEP, a television station from the northeast and central part my home state of Pennsylvania (OH MY GOSH I AM SO PROUD. NOT.) ran this lovely piece of crap story revealing the pen name of a local high school English teacher who writes for Ellora’s Cave as Judy Mays. But wait, there’s more: the news segment then assists these parents in holding her up for public ridicule—and, in the case of one class act of a parent, accusations of pedophilia.
It is no secret that there’s crazysauce in epic levels which amplifies to a full boil when placed in front of a news camera. My question is why this was a story in the first place. What is the big deal if, in her private time, a high school English teacher writes erotic romance under a pen name and keeps that part of her life separate?
The comments to the news article are marvelous and incredibly supportive of Mays, including this one, from Jessica, a former student:
I attended MWSD and had the pleasure of having Mrs. as my English teacher. I LOVED her class! It was my one morning class I looked forward to everyday. She inspired us as student just not to read and write, but to enjoy our high school years before they were over. She gave me the idea to switch my graduation paper from becoming a photographer to a nurse. I am now in my third year of nursing school, and thank Mrs. B everyday for the lessons in English she gave me that allow me to write lengthy papers on nursing topics. She also encouraged me to take honors and AP english in high school. I knew about what she did when I was in her class, but I never gave a though to it. I said great for her to find the time in her day while juggling so many other things to be able to do that. I applaud and support her as a teacher, writer, and mother. techniqually if we look deeper she has many jobs, but these two are the only two we are analyzing.
Hear, hear.
So how to respond? Often, I find websites for news organizations don’t really curate or even respond to comments to articles. They mostly fester alone and neglected.
But beyond the comments to the article itself, which are mostly made of Grade-A awesomesauce in support of Ms. Mays, I’ve found that the WNEP news room has a Facebook page.
Kena Vernon, the reporter who did the story, can be reached at Kena.Vernon@wnep.com.
WNEP is on Twitter, too but all they do is broadcast (quelle surprise).
What makes me absolutely livid is that all WNEP did was expose someone’s private life because it made for salacious content. It’s not as if Ms. Mays had brought any of her writing life into her classroom or had behaved inappropriately – the two parts of her life were apparently separate – until now. And, as Colleen Thompson pointed out on Twitter, if a male teacher were writing serial killer fiction and doing well at it, he’d be lauded—probably with a soft focus profile as a “local author.”
But because a female teacher writes about sex and romance, parents feel the need to call her ethics and her professionalism into question, and expose her to public humiliation.
If you’d like to write an email to the author, the address published on her website is writermays@yahoo.com .
And oh, my gosh, look how many books Ms. Mays has written. You go on with your awesome self, ma’am.
ETA: The Associated Press has a very brief story on the WNEP site that highlights the accusations and the response. Ms. Mays has declined to be interviewed by the AP, but as per Dakota Cassidy’s comment below, Ms. Mays is aware we’re all irate on her behalf. (Hi Judy! Kick ass and take names at work today, ma’am!)
And a wise former broadcast journalist sent me a heads up that the News Director for WNEP and the General Manager for the station may be better places to direct your ire than the reporter, who may have been handed the story with little say about it (conjecture on my part, obviously). The News Director would be more likely to have approved it for airtime. Should you feel inclined, the News Director email is news@wnep.com, and the General Manager is generalmanager@wnep.com.
The Facebook page furthers the social and media fail that is WNEP: if you want to see the comments left by angry viewers and readers, you have to click on “Most Recent.” I’m hoping they come up with a better response instead of hiding them, but I’m not holding my breath.
If I weren’t already home sick in bed, that would have made me sick and put me in bed.
Disgusting. That’s the only word I have for it. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: death, murder, torture, kidnapping, extreme nearly pornographic violence = Good. People having sex = bad. Um…???
I have become a fan of Ms. Mays. Rock out, Judy.
XOXO
Sommer
My, darling? Yes. THIS!
Well said, Jeanette.
I am a former high school English teacher and am feeling empa-outrage for the whole wtfery.
Like others have said, at least their asshattery will result in an increase in sales for her.
Verword: using 45…um no, I think these people were using way less than 45% of their brain.
Sarah
Thanks so much for running with this story. As an active duty army officer, I’m used to the expectation that my private and professional lives are not separate. I represent my nation whether I like it or not and I accept that. But private citizens are just that, private and Ms Mays committed no crime nor violated any standards of professional conduct by doing something she loved jn her private life. The school board is sure to overreact because one or two prudish parents – who probably have a closet full of their own skeletons- are uncomfortable and DARE to imply that she is a pedophile?
And for a newspaper to publicly smear Judy Mays for writing a few books is unconscionable and appalling. It’s not as though Ms Mays was using her writing in class nor was she bringing her two lives together. For the newspaper to imply that she is in some way immoral after dedicating her life to 25 years of teaching their small town’s students is unethical at best and they should be ashamed of themselves.
I hope that this plays out in Ms Mays favor and that I’m wrong, that the newspaper will print a retraction and the school board will look at this as overblown hysterics. But if it doesn’t, what does that say about our society as a whole? Are we really lynching this woman for writing books?
As a high school English teacher who also writes on the side, and has been lucky enough to have super-supportive colleagues and administrators, I am sickened by this. Ms. Mays, come and use your talents in some school system where the parents will appreciate you!
BUT…I just feel I have to add this: THIS IS WHAT TEACHERS’ UNIONS ARE FOR. BE AWARE OF STORIES LIKE THIS BEFORE YOU ATTACK DUE PROCESS RIGHTS.
And yes, I am paranoid enough to see this as part of a larger political attack on teachers as a convenient scapegoat. As in, “See those greedy teachers sucking the public dry. They’re using their long vacations to write smut. SMUT, I tell you. Won’t somebody think of the children?” /sarcasm.
Oh no! An English teacher who is a writer too? Imagine that, someone who teaches something SHE ACTUALLY KNOWS SOMETHING ABOUT! This makes me all kinds of angry, but I’m not suprised….a friend of mine back in my teacher days married in a hurry when she and her fiance found out they were in the family way for this exact same reason. Sadly some people have nothing better to do than judge others.
25 yrs teaching in the community & this is how she’s treated?? I’m appalled. What a teacher does in their own time is none of my business if it’s not hurting my child.
never seen such obvious & blatant invasion of privacy in all my life. Judy Mays is an excellent author. Her love stories have made me cry, smile & cheer for all that is romantic.
Peeved off as a JM reader/fan & that she is being treated in such a way.
I have raised three sons, who are now successful and caring young men. And let me tell you, I would be much more worried about these hysterical, narrow-minded parents being around my children, than the teacher.
I am throwing my support 100% behind Judy Mays. She did nothing inappropriate.
It sadden and frustrates me that we are still breeding this kind of stupidity.
I know at least one person who has never read erotica before who just bought at least one Judy Mays book from her website in solidarity. I think I shall have to, as well, next payday.
This is just disgusting.
I recognize that our professional careers place limitations on our public behavior even when we are not engaged in that career. I remember the first week of medical school and regularly after that they hammered into us that our public behavior reflects on you because you never know who will see you and remember as a patient later. So, I don’t ever do certain things in the public arena.
However, Ms. Mays did not use her real name, she did not put up posters through the school or town with the covers of her books telling people to read them. She didn’t force any of her students to read one of her books while they were hers. Therefore, I do not understand what the parental whining and general idiocy is coming from. In addition, I don’t know who this reporter is, but she is in dire need of a slapdown. This was not the national enquirer and this article was written to be salacious and scandal monger without really considering the effect on the life and career of a woman who has sacrificed to teach the children in the community. I hope she is ashamed.
While I have read Ms. May’s work in the past and wasn’t a huge fan, I might have to buy a few for solidarity. I am not a teacher but I have been engaged by some truly excellent English teachers during elementary through high school. They encouraged and tried to move beyond the standard reading list and questions. I am deeply appreciative of the work and effort they made and have never forgotten it.
I’m curious to know why that parent was googling so hard. I bet her kid is failing and she wants an excuse. She’s a disgusting person and I feel sorry for her husband. Smut’s educational and if her sex life is so bland, then it must be depressing, frankly.
That “reporter” is ridiculous. Who cares if she’s writing smut? I mean, I could understand parents having an issue with a teacher-stripper (that’s something could be seen by students), but a teacher-author?! They should be pleased! She has real advice about publishing and is a model to why English education is so important.
I can only hope the community supports this author and that the news station gives an apology. She is a private citizen and did not give them leave to do a story on her.
All people involved in this are ridiculous and need to learn to mind their damn business!
Sad and disgusting, but not surprising and not confined to PA. When a “friend” discovered I write romance, she no longer allowed her toddlers to play with mine. And God forbid they come to my house for a play date! Folks, I write Harlequin Americans, a line devoted to family and community, not erotica. Needless to say, I support Ms. Mays.
Going straight to Amazon and hoping Ms Mays has lots of books available for kindle. I want to support this wonderful woman with my readership and wallet!
This is why teachers need lawyers but more importantly why teachers NEED UNIONS. The UNION will HIRE a lawyer for a teacher like this. (And one is specialized in school lawsuits)
@SB Sarah hopefully she is a union member.
I do think being a teacher requires certain decorum; even if I had two teachers who let it slip in class they were living with their boyfriends (not something my parents would approve of.)
(those teachers are still working at those schools. they also got married by the time my sister had them.)
I do think you need to reflect about your public image is perceived,
What makes me FURIOUS about this is that Judy Mays kept this a secret. I think she was professional.
It maybe hard for her to keep her job though.
This reminds me a bit of a former English teacher I had in high school. He retired the year I graduated, after something like 30 years, and was enjoying his retirement. Fast forward a couple years, and they need him out because an increase of population has forced more teachers at his old school. So he kindly gets out of retirement and works part-time.
Now, he was teaching the AP classes because that’s what was needed (fewer of those and left the majority of teachers for the rest). So he’s plopping along and they watch Elizabeth, that movie with Cate Blanchett, and it’s apparently a sign-by-form type movie. He doesn’t bother since most of the kids were 18. (Which, wrong, but dude, you begged this guy to come out retirement for this crap.) So he was fired.
But! Here’s the kicker: not a single student complained! They were mostly of age and it’s not like they hadn’t seen worse on daytime. Of course, true power lies in the irate parents who buy kegs for their kids on Friday nights (no lie, saw it every home game I went to about 4 years prior…for 4 years). It’s all about posturing. It’s easier to be seen as a caring parent when you don’t have to care too deeply. This is what reminds me of this: it’s easier to be outraged at something you can control (someone’s livelihood, for example) than the world around you. And that makes those parents chicken shit liver patties (imagine that, I’ll give you a minute). Because instead of looking at the crappy conditions of the schools, the education system, the lacking within the world scope – they’re focused on two separate identities. I can see how that’d be more important. Really. Aaaaaany day now.
Told 35: I told way more than 35 words there.
In middle school and high school, before I figured out that I much preferred being a reader to being a writer, I wrote short stories for myself and for various contents. I would have LOVED to find out that one of my English teachers was a published author. Of course, had a similar article come out about one of my English teachers, my parents probably would have taken issue with my instant desire to read one of the teacher’s books, just because some adults were so upset about them – what the writer of the article and the outraged parent probably don’t realize is that, if this causes any problems for their delicate children, they’re the ones that are responsible, because they’re the ones that linked the teacher’s name and her pseudonym. Mays never said to her students, “read my books!”
Per the FB page you linked, the story has made it to the ABC News site as well.
@Megan Kelley
That’s awful! I just looked at your website and your book cover looks so innocent (and great btw) how could anyone object? That’s so sad 🙁 That shocks me even more than what happened to Ms. Mays.
So absolutely disgusted with the one sided news report on Judy Mays. I wouldn’t give a crap ass if one my kid’s teachers wrote romance. WNEP is bunch of idjits. I am so angry. I sent Judy a supportive email.
Keep strong Judy Mays!
How awful of those journalists to do something as vile as this, exposing a teacher’s pen name just for lame ratings and the sake of causing drama. I’m with her students and Colleen’s point “if a male teacher were writing serial killer fiction and doing well at it, he’d be lauded—probably with a soft focus profile as a “local author.” Too many people fear women’s sexuality and seem to take any chance they can to humiliate and attack someone confident. This is definitely a clear case of that bias.
Calling this piece of trash “journalism” is a joke and the author of said piece of drivel should be thrown out on her ass so fast her head spins. This is a witch hunt pure and simple and it’s disgusting.
The craziest thing is that is sounds like many people (students, etc.) have known about this for quite awhile but were never disturbed by it and Judy has kept it separate from her life. It’s just one or two self-important people decided they wanted their 5 seconds of fame. Even at the cost of this lovely woman’s privacy and career.
Shame on them.
They are airing the original BS on ABC News now as well. Just fantastic.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/video/parents-say-english-teacher-wrote-adult-novels-13467409
I hope the “reporter” and the “concerned” parents and such are supremely embarrassed by now. We are all laughing AT them.
This feature seems to be…how to put his politely? Rremarkably free of actual news. Several ignorant, smallminded people made potentially defamatory statements to a so-called journalist about a teacher who moonlights as a fiction writer, but who seems to have kept professional boundaries in place between the two careers for years.
What’s the story? What crime has been committed? Why the smear job? Because that’s what it is.
Someone at WNEP really should have run this defamatory piece of crap though their Legal department before allowing it to air. I hope Ms. Mays lawyers up.
This reeks of stupidity. What is the matter with people?? The woman writes the books, she doesn’t hand them out at school for her students to read. Get a clue!!!
I own, have read and enjoyed Ms. Mays’ books and I hope she continues to write them.
My heart goes out to Judy Mays. What that station did was wrong. I do hope she gets an apology, but more so this mess doesn’t cause her to lose her job. I also left a comment on the station’s FB page. There is no just cause for such reckless reporting.
The worst part of this is how smug and triumphant those bitches were in the news report. You know, I, for one, am glad that they’re so totally against sex. They won’t be having any more children who go on television with greasy, unwashed hair.
I suppose that’s petty… but it’s no where near as bad as insinuating that someone is a pedophile to a television audience.
*pages Stephen Colbert*
You know, I just had a thought. This smacks of the Harry Potter Is Evil woman, Laura Mallory. By that I mean that because she objects, she should be judge and jury. Um. Not so much, no. A few does not equal the majority. It must be difficult to be so unhappy with life to focus on such small, insignificant facts that have no bearing on your immediate or social life. How small a person must be.
Mind79 – Yes I mind 79 times.
Did WNEP delete FB comments? I went to their FB page and didn’t see any.
Well, Ms. May’s has another fan now. Come payday I will be getting at least a couple of her books.
To mis-quote Shakespeare: “Ahh what fools these reporters be”
yep… they are all gone!
You have to hit the “most recent” part of the feed, I think. I did about 5 minutes ago. It’s a stealthy attempt, but a poor one.
What springs to mind is the boneheaded student in In&Out; who muses:
“I have had a GAY english teacher all year. I have to find a way to deal with that and get on with my life…”
I’m a teacher. Yes, we fear the witch hunt. I won a trip to NYC when I was engaged. I was AFRAID to take my fiance because there was going to be an article in the paper and if I went on vacation with a man who wasn’t my husband (or, assumably, my father) then I could easily be subject to censure on moral grounds up to and including finding my job in peril.
My heart goes out to this teacher and I hope the news organization is financially penalized for revealing her identity and stirring the pot of crazysauce.
Captcha:
actually97: there were actually 97 real news stories they could have reported that day instead of their salacious sensationalism.
This makes me think that in this modern era, nobody’s going to be able to keep a secret any more. Any kind. Pen names, what kind of tampons you buy, anything. So far I don’t have a life where anybody cares what I do and I’m not covering up anything, but hell, we’ve all done something that somebody can nitpick and call us a whore over, or something.
Judy has my sympathy, but I am also wondering if publicizing this so MORE people know about her double career (I hadn’t heard of either persona before this) is helping anything. The more people hear about this, the more Outraged Parents will call for her head, and I don’t know if public Internet support can outshout that in real life.
Of course, I stupidly just blogged about it, so am I helping either? Uh, no.
Captcha: self 35 = by 35 everybody’s going to know everything about myself, like it or not.
I once belonged to a small professional women’s organization. During a pretty mild disagreement with one of my fellow members, I was outed for writing erotica a few years prior to joining the group. (I wrote under a pen name; it helped pay for college.) The entire group turned on me and did a pretty good job of shaming me into leaving the org. They were horrified – horrified, I tell you! – that one of their own could do such a thing. I almost lost my business. I lost some “friends’.
I carried that experience with me for a long, long time.
I wish I had SBTB back then and this awesome community to stand behind me as we’re all rallying to do for Judy. I am damned proud to be a part of this and to stand with you in standing up for a fellow writer.
Judy, it’s going to be ok.
Liked the FB page, Retweeted, etc. One good thing about this asshattery is that it shines a light on the solid support of the romance community.
I’m dismayed to see this happen. This is why I don’t watch the local or even national news on TV. It also brings back memories of when I was called on to testify against a junior high school teacher whom everyone loved, but was a little too “different” to survive in the school system. She didn’t write erotica but she brought a lot of her personal troubles into the classroom (such as her husband’s struggle with MS) and was a little too friendly with students in the manner of sitting around and telling dirty jokes after school. If I’d had more sense (which I clearly didn’t at age 14) I would have refused to testify against her.
Emailed the news station. To quote the inestimable Madeline Kahn in Clue, this story made me feel flames on the side of my face.
Disgusting, but not surprising. Apparently, there’s nothing as subversive to family values as reading and writing about sex in the context of a loving relationship. Makes me proud to be an Amurr’can.
I’ll be starting on Judy’s backlist tonight.
I just gotta tell you all how much I love you all right now! EXCELLENT blog post! I think Judy has an inkling of just how much she is loved and supported! Rock on everyone!