[OPENING SHOT: Studio. Evening lighting. News Anchor for WGGB Channel 5 sits poised, composed with professional gravity.]
ALICIA RAY (on camera): “Good evening. I’m Alicia Ray.”
There it is. That moment.
The red light blinks on and the world narrows to a single point - the lens, the glass, the invisible millions just beyond it.
And me.
Three seconds in and they’re already locked.
On me.
I can feel it now. Not just, like, metaphorically. Not some abstract garbage like “audience engagement.”
No. It’s physical. A pressure. A warmth. A pull.
Attention.
I love it.
ALICIA RAY: “Tonight’s top story: a striking shift in national health data is beginning to reshape expectations for the next generation of American women - not just in the workplace, but across society as a whole.”
Shoulders back. Chin level. Don’t rush it. Let them look.
I learned that early. Not in journalism school, not in the newsroom. On a stage, under brighter lights, in heels that hurt more than fuck or that I ever admitted.
Miss Connecticut. I was fucking Miss Connecticut...
Smile. Hold. Turn.
Like I said, let them look.
Back then it was judges, an audience. Now it’s everyone.
[CUT TO GRAPHIC: “SHIFTING POWER: A NEW GENERATION” - growth charts, silhouettes]
ALICIA RAY (V.O.): “New findings show that girls are growing significantly taller than previous generations, with measurable increases also in lean muscle mass, posture mechanics, and overall physical development.”
Numbers make it feel real for them. Safe.
My voice is smooth, measured - years of training out every edge, every regional inflection, every trace of the girl I used to be.
Remember Traffic Cam Alicia?
“Slowdowns on I-91, expect delays.”
God - (Why don’t I like the taste of that name in my mouth anymore? Weird) - I almost laugh. Traffic Cam Alicia is long gone.
ALICIA RAY (V.O.): “Researchers say these changes are occurring rapidly and consistently not only across the country, but around the world.”
And now look at me. Not traffic, not filler. Not just the pretty girl they cut to between segments anymore.
The desk. The lead. The one they all tune in for.
Why? Why me? Why’d the Movement pick me for this? Start me on the Product instead of any one of the other countless pretty TV journalists out there?
I don’t ask questions. I just win.
That’s how it works. It always has.
[CUT TO B-ROLL: young women in classrooms, sports, moving through city streets with quiet confidence, strikingly taller than the boys around them]
ALICIA RAY (V.O.): “Experts believe these physical shifts may carry far-reaching social consequences, as this new generation enters adulthood with a more commanding physical presence.”
The images roll - tall girls, confident strides, shoulders back. I glance at the monitor just off-camera, watch them.
Pretty. Attractive girls. But not like me.
I don’t need to look to the other monitor to know how the camera guy is framing me. Tits: front and center.
This top was a choice, my choice. Deep red. Structured. Precise. Professional? Sure. But not hiding anything.
We all know they’re not tuning in to the WGGB evening news for the data…
ALICIA RAY (V.O.): “Greater height and strength have long been associated with perceptions of authority and confidence - traits that influence leadership, social dynamics, and even everyday interactions.”
…they’re here to watch me read it. And I’m going to give it to them. Keep my breathing steady. Keep my tone neutral. They’ll see me as trustworthy, smart, professional. But underneath it - they’re staring.
Good.
If they’re looking down there, they’re listening. They’re paying attention to me. They should all be told how the world is changing, and have something to look at that makes them feel better as I do it.
It wasn’t always this easy. My climb had edges, sharp ones. I remember the meetings, like the one where they told me a seat at the newsdesk “wasn’t opening anytime soon.”
The polite smiles. The old guy in the anchor chair, Blake Rubens, the fixture who’d been here - damn - maybe longer than I’d been alive. Unmovable, until he wasn’t. Until the mysterious cough. Poor guy lol.
[SUBTLE GRAPHIC TRANSITION: “BEYOND THE WORKPLACE”]
ALICIA (V.O.): “While officials emphasize that long-term implications are still being studied, early indicators suggest these changes may already be shaping outcomes.”
The illness came on fast for you, didn’t it, Mr. Rubens? Convenient. For me, at least.
I remember standing in the wings the first night I filled in. They’d tried Julie, Aly, even Mark from the morning show, a few others. But the numbers went way up once they put me in the chair, huh?
Hands steady. Heart calm.
Some experimental product. They didn’t even have a name for it at first. “You’ve been identified.”
It was just an opportunity, some shots, a risk but one I might be willing to take.
I’d jumped at the chance.
ALICIA RAY (V.O.): Analysts point to increased female participation - even dominance - in athletics, higher education, and emerging leadership spaces.
Leveled up.
That’s what it feels like. Not ‘changed’ or ‘altered’.
Refined. Everything sharper. Faster. Clearer.
My face, prettier. My body, bigger. My voice, deeper and richer.
My instincts. My timing. My sense of exactly when to lean in - on camera, in meetings, in rooms where decisions are made.
Leveled up. Yeah, that’s it.
[CUT BACK TO ANCHOR ON CAMERA]
ALICIA RAY: “For now, researchers stress that this is not an isolated trend.”
The camera finds me again. Perfectly, always perfectly.
This is mine. The desk. The cameras. The room. The whole fucking station. Even the people in it. Mine. My little worker bees.
I don’t have to raise my voice anymore, I don't have to push. They orbit, they orbit me. Producers defer, reporters adjust, cameras swivel to follow. Interns and crew watch me like - well…
Like the audience does. The women with admiration. The guys just waiting for the moment that they can put their hands down their pants.
ALICIA RAY: “It is a broad cultural shift - one that may influence how power, presence, and identity are expressed in the years ahead.”
I mean, there are bigger players, I know that. Women behind the Product, behind the decisions, behind me. Some that don’t show themselves.
They don’t need to. They picked me, that’s enough, that’s everything.
ALICIA RAY: “As this generation comes of age, the question may not simply be how they adapt to the world…”
I lean forward, just a fraction. But that’s all they need. Perfectly timed, perfectly measured, I make it land. All the eyeballs out there in TV land dive down my top.
But then - for just a second - something slips, something changes. A memory? A moment?
She had been sitting across from me, before that piece I was going to do with her. She wasn’t trying, she wasn’t performing. She was just… being.
Melissa Monroe.
I knew I wouldn't be able to do the interview, be composed, on camera with her. Julie Winters did it.
It was supposed to be a simple interview, routine, just another segment, another rising name. But something about it, about her.
I feel my fingers tighten, just slightly, against the desk, even as I’m still talking to the camera.
ALICIA RAY: “...but how the world adapts to them.”
I lean in just a little more, give the camera more boob. I can feel the eyes settle, out there, in living rooms, on phones, in minds.
Huh. Why did that feel-?
Not nerves. Not adrenaline. Something fuller. Richer, but electric. Like the attention isn’t just on me, it’s flowing through me, energizing me and then moving on to someone else.
[CLOSING MUSIC BEGINS]
ALICIA RAY: “We’ll continue to follow this story. Stay with us.”
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