How My Friend and American Ex-Pat Author, Wendy Dale, Survived A Bolivian Coup

By: Alexandra Tara Reade, J.D.

“ The Revolution will not be televised, the revolution will be live. “ Gil Scott Heron

We all have that friend. You know the one, the friend who helps you out of that difficult jam. This is the friend who helps you move “the body,” no questions asked. This is the kind of friend you might not talk to for ten years then wind up picking up the conversation right where you left off. If you are lucky you have three select people in your life that will be there unconditionally. Wendy is that kind of friend to me.

I am a former Senate staffer for Joe Biden. In my twenties, I had reported Biden’s sexual harassment of me to supervisors and Senate Personnel. I was threatened into silence and fired. Last April, there was a story in the press about his misconduct to me. I was promptly bullied and threatened online. I was even called a Russian agent by a reporter from the Atlantic. I was devastated and lost freelance clients. I skyped Wendy in Bolivia, in tears. She listened and came up with a plan. She was a rock and kept me sane even as more articles came out calling me a Russian agent. (Gee, I wonder why women do not speak out against powerful men when they are sexually harassed or assaulted). https://medium.com/@AlexandraTaraReade/a-girl-walks-into-the-senate-dd9ebdfce31b?source=friends_link&sk=410360b6b82214a197a307a57830c5d6