Beyond redemption?

It's been a week of nothing but complaints.  Terminals without air conditioners, substandard facilities, heavy traffic going to the airport, and super long flight delays - the list just kept getting longer and longer.  Rather than read about my friends' abundance of annoyance, I chose to focus on something more interesting: Monica Lewinsky.

It was so bizarre, right after writing about her and Clinton two weeks ago, to discover she was back after twenty years of silence - and how!  The mysterious Monica had finally chosen to speak up, and for the generation that couldn't quite get the references to my columns, the spectacular story of how an intern brought the most powerful person in the planet to his knees - or maybe it was the other way around if we're thinking literally - is now being rehashed for their benefit as a compelling history lesson.

Or, more accurately, a herstory lesson, as this time, Monica wants to take control of "the narrative" and air her side of the story.

Monica Lewinsky was a 22 year old who flirted with the President - and succeeded.  The thing was, she played into the hands of a woman who didn't quite respect the confidence with which Monica had invested into their friendship, and the whole sordid story came out, leading to Clinton facing impeachment proceedings.

Of course the press went crazy.  Who was this girl?  Why did she do it?  What was her agenda?  How could she do it?  Did she just do it for kicks?  Lust?  The potential blackmail opportunity?  The conquest?  Drool ran from everyone's gossipy mouths.  Then the salvo came: Hillary Clinton called Monica a loony toon, and Maureen Dowd, a columnist at the New York Times, called her some even worse names.

It's been a not so happy two decades for Miss Lewinsky.  Her global infamy led to potential employers declining her applications.  She got herself a good education at the prestigious London School of Economics, but apparently, this wasn't enough.  So now here she is, a woman of 40, famous but for the wrong reasons, successful only in getting herself a fashion spread at Vanity Fair.  But in terms of all the other parameters of how we judge success, like career, family, power, or wealth, she may not really top the list.

If I were Monica, facing what she faced, enduring the scorn and scrutiny after all these years, would I even open my mouth now? (Note to self: resist temptation to plug in another ribald joke here).  What would I do at that turning point in my life, where I've left my 30's and am now considered officially old?

Well, it seems Monica wants redemption.  A make over.  Repackaging.  Look at her accompanying photos in Vanity Fair.  Virginal white.  Vulnerable, open face.  No trace of tartiness or hard edged glamour. She probably looks like the same fresh faced intern she was when she first landed her job at the White House.

And that's pretty much the same sense we get when we read her reasons for doing this.  She speaks about Tyler Clementi, the gay 18-year-old Rutgers student who was secretly streamed on the web making out with another man. I remember writing about Tyler in this column, the poor kid who committed suicide due to humiliation and embarrassment.

Vanity Fair.com: "Lewinsky writes that following Clementi's tragedy "my own suffering took on a different meaning. Perhaps by sharing my story, I reasoned, I might be able to help others in their darkest moments of humiliation. The question became: How do I find and give a purpose to my past?" ...Her current goal, she says, "is to get involved with efforts on behalf of victims of online humiliation and harassment and to start speaking on this topic in public forums."

Will the world accept the new, rebranded Monica?  Will she succeed in convincing the world that she is now something other than the woman who made the worst decision of her life when she chose not to respect the marriage of Bill and Hillary?

As she says, she's going to find out.  We are, too.