For the first time in their lives, middle-aged Karens are in the spotlight, for all the wrong reasons.
They’ve gone about their own business for the past five decades, under the radar, with little or no interest in them … living their lives, pursuing their careers, raising their children.
Now, all of a sudden, Karens are the flavour of the month … so this Karen, who recently and only briefly considered changing her name by deed poll, has instead chosen to embrace her newfound fame in her name!
She’s not the Karen who wants to speak to the manager, she wears a mask in Bunnings and is definitely not an anti-vaxer. She hasn’t ‘done all of Brighton’ and she doesn’t recite the Human Rights Charter when stopped by police on the Calder!
She also had no role in the recent ‘Karen Fire’ in Riverside County, California.
As a headstrong teenager this Karen decided to change the spelling of her name from Karen to Karyn, which she used for a few rebellious months, much to her mother’s disgust.
As a young teacher in her first job at a Catholic Primary School, she was known as Miss Ford, but this would be short-lived as Karen desperately wanted to one day be a journalist.
Karen’s earliest foray into the media included moonlighting at a popular Melbourne talkback radio station on Wednesday nights and weekends. During these unpaid, work experience shifts, Karen’s (reversed) alias was born, and ‘Nerak Drof’ signed off on voice reports for the next morning’s breakfast news shift for several months. She thought it sounded rather Nordic at the time!
Staff and students at her school had no idea Karen Ford was in fact Nerak Drof, until she was offered a job at the radio station as a final year cadet …..she quit her teaching job soon after.
Karen spent most of her life being called many names, other than Karen, … Kaz, Kazza, Kazbah, Karry, and since becoming Karen O’Sullivan (her married name), Carol seems to roll conveniently off the tongue for many.
By far, Karen’s most enduring – but not necessarily defining – name was hatched during her early years as a television reporter at Channel Ten News in the early 90s.
Karen’s full name, Karen Anne O’Sullivan, was abbreviated to KAOS and it has stuck up until this day.
I doubt many, if any, soon-to-be parents have had Karen high on their list for their baby girls lately, but nor would they have chosen Donald for their baby boys!
If you know a Karen, you’ll know she’s worth toasting, so why not raise your glass for Karen …(preferably with bubbles and from the Heathcote region).
Karen (Karyn, Nerak and KAOS) O’Sullivan is director of KOMS Communications, a Central Highlands Rural Health board director, Kyneton and Hanging Rock Race Club committee member and former president of the Kyneton Football Netball Club.
