Culture

That cockroach and I are both leaving that meeting immediately

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There are moments in life that reveal who we really are. Big moments. Defining moments. Character-building moments.

And then there are cockroach-on-your-shoulder-during-a-live-report moments.

I recently watched Rachel Menitoff ( a KTLA news reporter) do the unthinkable. A cockroach landed on her mid-report and she just kept going. No screaming. No flailing. No full-body existential crisis. Just calm, composed, professional journalism as if a prehistoric creature wasn’t casually auditioning for her personal space.

I would like to believe I am also that person. Grounded. Centered. Unshakable.

I am not.

Let’s be honest. If a cockroach landed on me, especially in a meeting, where I’m already trying to look semi-competent and not like I just Googled the agenda five minutes prior, I would absolutely lose it. There would be a chair involved. Possibly a scream that registers on the Richter scale. HR would need to get involved. It would become a whole thing.

But here’s the uncomfortable psychological question. How much of ourselves is performance, and how much is instinct?

Because in theory, I could stay calm. I know the social script. “Don’t react. Stay composed. Maintain professionalism.”

But the body? The body has other plans. The body says that this is unacceptable, we are under attack, abandon dignity immediately.

So what wins in that moment?

The role you’re playing?  Or the reality you’re feeling?

And maybe that’s the real fascination here. Not the cockroach (though, respectfully, no thank you), but the split second where authenticity and expectation collide.

Do we stay “on”?
Or do we become human?

I’d like to think I’d channel a little bit of Rachel Menitoff energy. Hold it together, finish the sentence, maybe die internally but keep the external brand intact.

But if I’m being truly honest?

That cockroach and I are both leaving that meeting immediately.

Ick.

Categories: Culture, current events, Leadership, mental health, Pop Culture, Psychology, women

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4 replies »

  2. Ah Yes Dear Miriam
    The Durable CockRoach
    Vector for Human Disease

    Yet far far so far far far

    Away From Us Champion
    of Survival With the Greater
    Cherished Dragonfly With Love
    For When they Perch Upon a Finger

    Tip of
    Humanity
    Free Yet
    With extreme
    tactile sensitivities
    i surely can’t Handle
    The Spiny Projections of
    A CockRoach Vector of Disease
    Like Lettuce at Taco Bell or Whatever
    Gets Missed By Additional Ignorance of

    Cutting
    Resources
    for Human Health

    Yes i had a Cockroach
    Meditation Last Night
    Photography at Night
    As the Now Dying Century
    Cactus Plant Slowly Leaning
    After the Flower Grew and Bloomed
    ever since April Fool’s Day 2026

    30 Feet or so
    High at Its
    Peak Towering
    Over our Roof
    Amazing Transformation
    As What Looks Like a Cactus
    Actually in the Asparagus Family
    of Plants sprouted to What Looks Like
    A Tree With Branches of Blooms for all the

    Insects Birds and Bees Yes Wasps and the Such
    Yes Even Bats to Feed Upon Some of the Sweetest

    Nectar
    Rare
    on Earth
    More often
    Found in the
    Deserts Of Mexico

    Indeed

    Photographing the
    Flowering Plant in Decline
    Last Night a Roach Perched
    Upon the 30 Foot Stalk Just Relaxing
    Under the Waxing Crescent Full Buck Moon

    In No Rush

    In No Rush

    Been Here already
    done it for over 300 Million
    Years Just Under the Hierarchy
    The Real Champions Sharks living
    450 Billion Years Longer Than Trees
    That Provide Oxygen for us to Breathe

    Of Course From All Our Origins of the Ocean

    And Far Far Far Far Away Star Systems Dying

    That Provide
    Our Breath too

    Even though the thought
    of Touching a Roach Abhors
    my Extreme Tactile Sensitivities

    i don’t Like the Idea of Squashing
    Anything that has Survived that Long

    So Indeed Yes i Married A Real Ultimate
    Terminator of Roaches a Germaphobe

    Yet She
    Saves
    Every
    Cute Bug’s Life

    Yep It’s a Hard Knock
    Life When We Aren’t a Cute Bug

    And Now the Punch Line oF ALL oF This
    Hearing Commentary Last Night from a so-called
    Leader of the Free World’s Speech that Just Made me

    Realize

    How advanced
    Humans Really are

    i Would’ve High five’d
    the Roach on His Perch
    of the Cactus Flower Stalk

    Yet the Roach Exists much
    too high for me to

    Humbly Reach
    as usual the
    Meek Do inherit
    the Earth Without a Word

    Oh Yikes What Six Spiny Legs
    And Antennae Will Do Far Beyond
    The Objections of my Tactile Sensitivities..:)

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