Category Archives: Bullying

12/18/2013
3 Comments
Bullying, Discrimination, Los Angeles Unified School District, Sexuality, Transgender

Hot Gender Air

Potty Training

Schools in Los Angeles soon will allow transgender kids to use the bathroom of the sex that they identify with. Sounds good to this bleeding heart.

Kids who ID as girls won’t be getting the crap kicked out of them in boys’ bathrooms anymore. Great.

If you agree with the above conclusion, step back and remember what holy land you live in.

Bathroom Question

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I heard about the Los Angeles Unified School District‘s new rule, set to go into effect next year, this morning on NPR. Cool, I thought. Then it occurred to me: Guaranteed, some some of a bitch is going to fight against it because next thing you know, all the boys in LA schools are going to claim they’re really girls just so they can get into the the female loo and goggle at panties.

And people wonder why our holy land is so sexually eff-u’d.

An NPR reporter interviewed a student at Azuza High School. “She’s student body president, a varsity cheerleader, homecoming princess, and a straight-A senior,” the reporter said. The student is also a transgendered girl. She says her school day is so busy she’s often on campus 12 hours a day. Despite that, she says, she rarely goes to the bathroom. If she goes to the boys’ bathroom, she might get pushed around. If she goes to the girls’, she’ll be breaking the rules. So, she holds it.

Bladder

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The new rule seems tailor-made for her.

Ah, but what about all those boys who want to peek under bathroom stall doors?

One woman went door-to-door to get people to sign a petition to overturn the rule. She says it “opens the door for predators.” She and her like-minded brethren throughout California have gathered some 600,000 signatures. The pastor of her church told the reporter his duty is to shield children from discomfort and danger. “I have to protect those that would be offended by this,” he said.

The pastor added that any given schoolboy — being a schoolboy, natch — would use the new rule to further his nefarious ends. “Maybe a couple of guys bet him, ‘Hey, pretend you’re a girl today. Go on in there, take a peek,’ ” the pastor said.

Pastor

Saving The Nation’s Youth From Discomfort

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So, once again in this great nation’s limitless wisdom, hundreds of thousands of us prefer to cater to the adolescent whims of giggly schoolboys than to protect people who face real dangers. Rather than clamp down on voyeurs and bullies, they’d have kids like that Azuza High School student refrain from micturating all day long.

Surprised? Silly.

You got raped? You shouldn’t ever have had sex before it happened.

You got your jaw broken? You shouldn’t have walked around like a mincing fairy.

You didn’t get that promotion? You shouldn’t have been born with a vagina.

It’s no wonder at all why we’re so sexually eff-u’d.

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11/01/2012
2 Comments
Abortion, Barack Obama, Book Corner, Bullying, Chris Christie, Ectopic Pregnancy, Facebook, Gangnam Style, Hurricane Sandy, Illinois Chamber of Congress, Iraq War, Joe Walsh, Joy Shayne Laughter, Marilyn Monroe, Rod Blagojevich, Tammy Duckworth, Tennessee Williams, US Congress, WFHB

The Pencil Today:

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THE QUOTE

“Hell is yourself and the only redemption is when a person puts himself aside to feel deeply for another person.” — Tennessee Williams

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CAN A POLITICIAN EVER BE GOOD?

Newshound Joy Shayne Laughter stopped by the Book Corner for a visit before going into the WFHB studios to interview a nationally-known digital doyenne yesterday afternoon.

We got around to talking about Facebook and we both agreed that sometimes we have to take a time out from it because, well, it has this weird capacity to turn even the sweetest soul into a jerk. And the two of us are nothing if not sweet souls.

I’ve been tempted a hundred times to write on someone’s wall, “Jesus Christ, what kind of stupid moron are you?!” Much to my surprise, the seemingly grounded and mature Joy admitted that she, too, finds herself on the brink of lashing out in like fashion at people on FB.

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Facebook turns everybody into a bully to some degree or another. And god forbid any elected official should sneeze the wrong way — he’ll be strung up before he can reach for his handkerchief.

Case in point: Yesterday Republican Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey praised the federal government and President Barack Obama for their quick response in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.

Before the president could say, Don’t mention it, this meme image appeared on Facebook:

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So, in essense, the Facebook zeitgeist now holds that no one on Earth can ever have a change of heart. There are no epiphanies. Redemption is for the birds. No matter what tragedy befalls you, you must hold fast to every embarrassing, opportunistic, politically expedient statement you’ve ever uttered, otherwise, you’ll be the object of ridicule for millions.

Who knows, maybe Chris Christie in a couple of weeks will proclaim that Barack Obama is Benedict Arnold, Sacco & Vanzetti, and Timothy McVeigh all rolled into one. It could happen.

But in this moment of horror, isn’t it possible that Chris Christie has just learned something?

Can it be that from now on, thanks to this horrifying storm, he’s become a better man?

Or in this Facebook age are we all obliged to be assholes forever?

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I’M SQUARE

Here’s a confession: I have no idea what the term “gangnam style” means.

In Lieu Of A Gangnam Style Pic: Marilyn Monroe And Her Pumpkins

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Here’s another: I’m not going to try to find out either. Overall, I feel quite good about this decision.

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G.I. DON’T LIKE JOE

Just heard a Joe Walsh ad on the radio last night. He’s running for US Congress against Tammy Duckworth in Illinois’ 8th District. He’s also the guy who declared during a candidates’ debate a week and a half ago that he’s against abortion even if the mother’s life is in danger.

That alone would lead a reasonable person to assume Walsh is a pretty sharp-edged character. As in this imaginary exchange:

Walsh: Sharp, But Not As A Tack

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Doctor: “Joe, I’m sorry but your wife’s situation has taken a bad turn. She’s having what we call an ectopic pregnancy. The situation is dire. There’s a strong possibility that if we go ahead with this delivery, she won’t make it.”

Joe: “Doctor, that’s terrible. What can we do about it?”

Doctor: “Well, Joe, we live in Illinois, which allows us to terminate the pregnancy. As it stands right now, the odds are stacked mightily against your wife. What do you say, Joe?”

On second thought, I won’t presume to guess what Joe might say in such a tragic situation. But I do know what he said at the debate. He claimed there is no such thing as a pregnancy that can endanger the life of the mother, an assertion that medical science holds to be about as wrong as wrong can be.

Yes, Joe, This Can Kill A Woman

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I’d like to think that just because Joe Walsh says bombastic things during political debates, it doesn’t mean he would act so bombastically in real life.

Joe Walsh likes to use words the way others use stilettos. He had to know his statement would cut many, many women to the bone.

The script for his radio ad was similarly filled with razor verbiage. That’s really nothing new. He has accused Duckworth, an Iraq war veteran who lost both legs in combat, of not being a real hero because she mentions her disability on the campaign trail. In Joe Walsh’s world a soldier who gets her legs blown off should just shut up about it.

Walsh To Duckworth: Quit Bitching

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Do you get the feeling Joe Walsh doesn’t care much for women?

Anyway, Walsh’s ad hammers home the point that Duckworth served for a time in disgraced former Gov. Rod Blagojevich‘s cabinet. Blagojevich, you’ll recall, is not only the latest governor emeritus of the Land of Lincoln to occupy a suite in the penitentiary, but is perhaps the most brazen and venal of that gang.

Toward the end of Blagojevich’s term as reprobate-in chief, he named Duckworth the state’s Director of the Department of Veteran’s Affairs. Duckworth jokingly remarked that Blagojevich gave her the job so she could do favors for her friends. Those friends, of course, were military veterans and, well, the director’s job by definition is to do favors for them.

Everybody had a good laugh over that one.

But now Joe Walsh uses that audio clip in his advertisements, hoping to make Duckworth sound like a cheap political hustler in the Blagojevich mold. Look what Rod Blagojevich and Tammy Duckworth did to the state of Illinois, the ad bleats. Now she wants to do the same thing to the country in Washington.

A Shady Connection?

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The idea being she’ll try to sell political appointments and squeeze campaign contributions out of big shots in exchange for favorable legislation, just the way her former boss did.

Problem is, Duckworth’s reputation is sterling. She wasn’t implicated in the Blagojevich todo — in fact, few outside of the former Governor’s immediate conspiracy circle were.

That doesn’t matter to Joe Walsh.

By the way, the Illinois Chamber of Commerce just endorsed Walsh. Oh, and Duckworth worked for a couple of years in Barack Obama’s federal Department of Veteran’s Affairs. So Joe works for obsessive profiteers and Tammy worked for a former community organizer.

Makes me think of a line I read recently: “I’ll take the character of a community organizer over that of a venture capitalist any day.”

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The only events listings you need in Bloomington.

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Thursday, November 1st, 2012

VOTE ◗ The Curry Building, 214 W. Seventh St.; 8am-6pm

LECTURE ◗ IU Maurer School of Law — “Narratives of Infanticide: Mothers, Murder, and the State in Nineteenth-Century America,” Presented by Felicity Turner; 4pm

CLASS ◗ Lake Monroe, Paynetown SRA Activity Center — New Rules for Deer Season: Are You Ready for Opening Day?; 6:30pm

FILM ◗ IU Cinema — “The Connection“; 7pm

MUSIC ◗ IU Ford-Crawford Hall — Early Music Institute Chamber Music Concert; 7pm

HISTORY ◗ Monroe County History Center — Letters from the Front, Written by James F. Lee to members of His family in Monroe County: Bringing the Civil War Up Close and Personal, Presented by Steve Rolfe of Monroe County Civil War Round Table; 7pm

SPORTS ◗ IU Assembly Hall — Hoosier men’s basketball vs. Indiana Wesleyan; 7pm

SPORTS ◗ IU Gymnasium — Hoosier wrestling vs. Manchester; 7pm

FEST ◗ IU Latino Cultural Center — Dia de los Muertos; 7pm

MUSIC ◗ The Player’s Pub — Monika Herzig Trio; 8pm

MUSIC ◗ IU Auditorium — Straight No Chaser; 8pm

MUSIC ◗ IU Auer Hall — Trombone Choir, Carl Lenthe, director; 8pm

MUSIC ◗ IU Ford-Crawford Hall — Clarinet Choir, Howard Klug, director; 8:30pm

MUSIC ◗ The Bluebird — G Love & Special Sauce; 9pm

MUSIC ◗ Max’s Place — New Old Cavalry; 9pm

MUSIC ◗ The Bishop — Paul Collins, Purple 7, The Sands; 9:30pm

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ONGOING:

ART ◗ IU Art Museum — Exhibits:

  • “New Acquisitions,” David Hockney; through October 21st
  • “Paragons of Filial Piety,” by Utagawa Kuniyoshi; through December 31st
  • “Intimate Models: Photographs of Husbands, Wives, and Lovers,” by Julia Margaret, Cameron, Edward Weston, & Harry Callahan; through December 31st
  • “French Printmaking in the Seventeenth Century;” through December 31st
  • Celebration of Cuban Art & Film: Pop-art by Joe Tilson; through December 31st
  • “Threads of Love: Baby Carriers from China’s Minority Nationalities“; through December 23rd
  • “Workers of the World, Unite!” through December 31st
  • “Embracing Nature,” by Barry Gealt; through December 23rd
  • “Pioneers & Exiles: German Expressionism,” through December 23rd

ART ◗ Ivy Tech Waldron Center — Exhibits:

  • “Ab-Fab — Extreme Quilting,” by Sandy Hill; October 5th through October 27th
  • “Street View — Bloomington Scenes,” by Tom Rhea; October 5th through October 27th
  • “From the Heartwoods,” by James Alexander Thom; October 5th through October 27th
  • “The Spaces in Between,” by Ellen Starr Lyon; October 5th through October 27th

ART ◗ IU SoFA Grunwald Gallery — Exhibit:

  • Buzz Spector: Off the Shelf; through November 16th
  • Small Is Big; Through November 16th

ART ◗ IU Kinsey Institute Gallery — Exhibits:

  • “A Place Aside: Artists and Their Partners;” through December 20th
  • “Gender Expressions;” through December 20th

PHOTOGRAPHY ◗ IU Mathers Museum of World Cultures — Exhibit:

  • “CUBAmistad” photos

ART ◗ IU Mathers Museum of World Cultures — Exhibits:

  • “¡Cuba Si! Posters from the Revolution: 1960s and 1970s”
  • “From the Big Bang to the World Wide Web: The Origins of Everything”
  • “Thoughts, Things, and Theories… What Is Culture?”
  • “Picturing Archaeology”
  • “Personal Accents: Accessories from Around the World”
  • “Blended Harmonies: Music and Religion in Nepal”
  • “The Day in Its Color: A Hoosier Photographer’s Journey through Mid-century America”
  • “TOYing with Ideas”
  • “Living Heritage: Performing Arts of Southeast Asia”
  • “On a Wing and a Prayer”

BOOKS ◗ IU Lilly Library — Exhibit:

  • “Outsiders and Others: Arkham House, Weird Fiction, and the Legacy of HP Lovecraft;” through November 1st
  • “A World of Puzzles,” selections from the Slocum Puzzle Collection

PHOTOGRAPHY ◗ Soup’s On — Exhibit:

  • Celebration of Cuban Art & Culture: “CUBAmistad photos; through October

PHOTOGRAPHY ◗ Monroe County History Center — Exhibit:

  • “Bloomington: Then and Now,” presented by Bloomington Fading; through October 27th

ARTIFACTS ◗ Monroe County History Center — Exhibits:

  • Doctors & Dentists: A Look into the Monroe County Medical Professions
  • What Is Your Quilting Story?
  • Garden Glamour: Floral Fashion Frenzy
  • Bloomington Then & Now
  • World War II Uniforms
  • Limestone Industry in Monroe County

The Ryder & The Electron Pencil. All Bloomington. All the time.

10/13/2012
Leave a comment
Andrea Chalupa, Big Think, Bullying, e.e. cummings, Fame

The Pencil Today:

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THE QUOTE

“To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.” — e.e. cummings

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DOWN WITH DEBATES

Here’s my outlandish suggestion for the day: Let’s do away with presidential debates.

After all, this isn’t the 1850’s where Lincoln and Douglas have to bring their respective messages personally to the people.

People on the farms of Indiana and Illinois and other points west of Trenton, New Jersey, weren’t sitting in their easy chairs reading Newsweek magazine, thereby gaining insights into the platforms of national candidates. They needed the pols of the day to talk to them more or less directly.

We don’t anymore. Ergo, the televised debates have become these silly little skits.

Now, everybody expects Barack Obama to come out Tuesday, six-guns blazing, after Mitt Romney mugged him on the 2nd. Is this any way to pick a leader?

Sneak Preview: The 2016 Presidential Debate

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I, for one, don’t need the debates. I’ve already voted. Even if I hadn’t, I’d know for whom I’d ink in the box. It’s not like we’re learning anything about the men or the world through these debates.

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WHERE’S THE HATE?

Want your kids to survive and even thrive as fully developed human beings?

Well, first, dissuade them from being Republicans, but, according to writer and journalist Andrea Chalupa in Big Think, you may also try to get them to be the reviled outsiders.

It’s the anti-bullying message in reverse.

Frankly, I’m glad I spent a few elementary school years being pushed into the bushes and having my books strewn all over the sidewalk. Honestly, who would want to be thought of as fitting in well with school children?

Not An All Bad Scenario

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Anyway, Chalupa writes that our weird, weird corporate media world is teaching youngsters that the most desirable aims are to be accepted, liked, and by extension, to become famous.

She cites a survey in England that showed children’s most popular career choices are to become sports stars and pop stars. Note they’re not saying they want to become good or excellent athletes or singers or guitarists. Just that they want to be stars.

In the mid-1980s the same demographic told pollsters they wanted to be teachers, bankers, and doctors. How quaint.

“As for fame, the great ambition of today,” Chalupa writes, “it’s fleeting, it’s cheap, costing about the price of a leaked sex tape. Real value is created when one is self-directed, independent, and passionate.”

She concludes the piece by asserting it’s important to “help children understand that it’s okay to be hated, or rather, misunderstood. Let the others catch up.”

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THE WORLD, EXPLAINED

From I Fucking Love Science

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The only events listings you need in Bloomington.

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Saturday, October 13th, 2012

Brought to you by The Electron Pencil: Bloomington Arts, Culture, Politics, and Hot Air. Daily.

FOOD ◗ City Hall, Showers Plaza — Farmers Market; 8am-1pm

BENEFIT BREAKFAST ◗ Bloomington American Legion Post 18 — For WildCare Inc.; 8-11am

WORKSHOP ◗ Tibetan Mongolian Buddhist Cultural Center — Seven Trainings in Contemplation, Presented by Rigzin Drolma & Anne Klein; 10am-5pm

PUBLIC ART ◗ Monroe County Courthouse lawn — Great Glass Pumpkin Patch, More than 250 blown glass pumpkins on display; 10am-3pm

CLASS ◗ Hinkle-Garton Farmstead Historic Site — Wire Wrapping: The Basics, Presented by Lara Hasler, Participants must bring their own wire cutters and round-nose jewelry pliers; 10am-5pm

ART ◗ Charlene Marsh Studio & Gallery Open House, Nashville; 10am-5pm

STUDIO TOUR ◗ Brown County, various locations — The Backroads of Brown County Studio Tour, free, self-guided tour of 16 local artists’ & craftspersons’ studios; 10am-5pm, through October

FAIR ◗ City Hall & surrounding locations, Columbus — 2012 Ethnic Expo, Parade, music, food, etc., Today’s performers: Southern Indiana Pieps and Drums, Indianapolis Minyos Dancers, Dem Reggae Bon, Mroth Star Capoeira, Griot, Richens/Timm Academy of Irish Dance, Dance Street, Hudsucker Posse, Craig & the Crawdads, Chicago Samba, see website for times and locations; 11am-10pm

BENEFIT ◗ Sherwood Oaks Christian Church — Rally for Regina Car Show, For Children’s Organ Transplant Association; 11am-5:30pm

ART BENEFIT ◗ Blue Studio Gallery — Chip-Art, Interactive installation, For Monroe County United Way; 6pm

HALLOWE’EN ◗ Haunted Hayride & Stables; Scary rides; 7-11pm

HALLOWE’EN ◗ Bakers Junction Railroad Museum — Haunted train; 7pm

FILM ◗ IU Woodburn Hall Theater — Ryder Film Series: “2 Days in New York“; 7:15pm

STAGE ◗ Bloomington Playwrights Project — Comedy, “Rx“; 7:30pm

STAGE ◗ Brown County Playhouse, Nashville — Drama, “Last Train to Nibroc“; 7:30pm

FILM ◗ IU Fine Arts Theater — Ryder Film Series: “Stars in Shorts“; 8pm

MUSIC ◗ Rhino’s All Ages Club — Clatter, Thorr-Axe, Thanasphere; 8pm

SPORTS ◗ IU Memorial Stadium — Hoosier football vs. Ohio State; 8pm

COMEDY ◗ The Comedy Attic — Glenn Wool; 8pm

STAGE ◗ The Lodge (formerly Space 101) — 17th Annual Director’s Symposium, Scenes for Two, Presented by Monroe County Civic Theater; 8pm

MUSIC ◗ Max’s Place — Ruthie Allen Lincoln CD release party; 8pm

MUSIC ◗ The Bluebird — Hairbangers Ball; 9pm

COMEDY ◗ The Comedy Attic — Glenn Wool; 10:30pm

MUSIC ◗ Bear’s Place — Jon Cheser, Jason Boren; 11pm

MUSIC ◗ The Bishop — Waxeater, Honors; Midnight

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ONGOING:

ART ◗ IU Art Museum — Exhibits:

  • “New Acquisitions,” David Hockney; through October 21st
  • Paintings by Contemporary Native American Artists; through October 14th
  • “Paragons of Filial Piety,” by Utagawa Kuniyoshi; through December 31st
  • “Intimate Models: Photographs of Husbands, Wives, and Lovers,” by Julia Margaret, Cameron, Edward Weston, & Harry Callahan; through December 31st
  • “French Printmaking in the Seventeenth Century;” through December 31st
  • Celebration of Cuban Art & Film: Pop-art by Joe Tilson; through December 31st
  • “Workers of the World, Unite!” through December 31st
  • “Embracing Nature,” by Barry Gealt; through December 23rd
  • “Pioneers & Exiles: German Expressionism,” through December 23rd

ART ◗ Ivy Tech Waldron Center — Exhibits:

  • “Ab-Fab — Extreme Quilting,” by Sandy Hill; October 5th through October 27th
  • “Street View — Bloomington Scenes,” by Tom Rhea; October 5th through October 27th
  • “From the Heartwoods,” by James Alexander Thom; October 5th through October 27th
  • “The Spaces in Between,” by Ellen Starr Lyon; October 5th through October 27th

ART ◗ IU SoFA Grunwald Gallery — Exhibit:

  • “Samenwerken,” Interdisciplinary collaborative multi-media works; through October 11th

ART ◗ IU Kinsey Institute Gallery — Exhibits:

  • “A Place Aside: Artists and Their Partners;” through December 20th
  • “Gender Expressions;” through December 20th

PHOTOGRAPHY ◗ IU Mathers Museum of World Cultures — Exhibit:

  • “CUBAmistad” photos

ART ◗ IU Mathers Museum of World Cultures — Exhibits:

  • “¡Cuba Si! Posters from the Revolution: 1960s and 1970s”
  • “From the Big Bang to the World Wide Web: The Origins of Everything”
  • “Thoughts, Things, and Theories… What Is Culture?”
  • “Picturing Archaeology”
  • “Personal Accents: Accessories from Around the World”
  • “Blended Harmonies: Music and Religion in Nepal”
  • “The Day in Its Color: A Hoosier Photographer’s Journey through Mid-century America”
  • “TOYing with Ideas”
  • “Living Heritage: Performing Arts of Southeast Asia”
  • “On a Wing and a Prayer”

BOOKS ◗ IU Lilly Library — Exhibit:

  • “Outsiders and Others:Arkham House, Weird Fiction, and the Legacy of HP Lovecraft;” through November 1st
  • “A World of Puzzles,” selections form the Slocum Puzzle Collection

PHOTOGRAPHY ◗ Soup’s On — Exhibit:

  • Celebration of Cuban Art & Culture: “CUBAmistad photos; through October

PHOTOGRAPHY ◗ Monroe County History Center — Exhibit:

  • “Bloomington: Then and Now,” presented by Bloomington Fading; through October 27th

ARTIFACTS ◗ Monroe County History Center — Exhibit:

09/25/2012
Leave a comment
Bullying, Dan Savage, Mike Cagle, Ogemaw Heights High School, Ross Gay, Whitney Kropp

The Pencil Today:

THE QUOTE

“It gets better.” — Dan Savage

▲

BULLY

Illustrator and comix genius Mike Cagle points out a fascinating story of revenge in the rural town of West Branch, Michigan.

Well, the folks pulling it off will soft-soap it as a teaching moment for the town’s teens. I know better.

Here’s the dope: the kids at Ogemaw Heights High School voted a sophomore girl named Whitney Kropp to the homecoming court for this weekend’s festivities. Kropp was shocked by the vote because 1) she hadn’t run for the honor, and 2) she’s the kind of outsider kid that ABC-TV used to make after-school specials about.

See, the kids had all gotten together to vote for Kropp as a prank. Ha ha ha, she’s the geeky chick with the multi-colored hair and she wears black much of the time and she’s pretty much a loner. In other words, she’s the girl I would have had a crush on in high school, but that’s me.

Whitney Kropp

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To the vast majority of this holy land’s fat and arrogant youth, she’s a joke.

Ergo, her schoolmates voted her in as the sophomore queen so they could point at her and laugh. Which they did.

Her sophomore boy counterpart even quit his post on the homecoming court because, reportedly, he was loathe to to be seen walking arm in arm with such a nerdgirl.

Kropp, according to her mother, cried in her bedroom the night after the vote was announced.

The town’s elders got wind of this whole deal and mobilized for action. They created a Facebook page to support Kropp. They’re going to flood the football stadium Friday night, wearing her fave color (orange), and cheering their lungs out when she is introduced on the field.

They’re also going to pay for her gown, hair, makeup, and all the other froufaraw that surrounds such a teen beauty pageant. They’re calling themselves “Team Whitney.”

The story has gone national, natch. Kropp has appeared on the Today Show and her Facebook support page had 36,146 likes as of 7:50 this morning.

So, now, young Whitney will be the star of homecoming weekend. The game Friday and the big dance Saturday night will be bookend acts for the Whitney Show.

That’ll show ’em, say the town’s elders. The idea being, those mean kids will learn a lesson.

I doubt it.

Remember, it’s adults doing the “teaching” here. And what do adults know about popular girls versus geek chicks?

No, it’s more likely the adults are trying to screw the little bastards at their own game — which I endorse wholeheartedly.

In fact, if the adults really, really want to get a message across to the kids of that school, they might employ some more, shall we say, persuasive means.

Lemme tell you a quick story. When I was very young, I was the kid who was bullied and ridiculed in school. Being a nascent genius, I came to the conclusion after years of having my books strewn all over the street and being pushed into piles of dogshit that my best defense against such treatment would be an offense.

I had to leave my first elementary school, thanks to the bullies. In my new school, I decided, I wouldn’t be the bullied. I’d start leading the pack in bullying somebody else. Better him or her than me, right?

This worked for about three years until I was a freshman in high school. One of my classmates was an overweight, effeminate guy named Bobby. I zoomed in on him, making his life a holy hell. I never missed a chance to snap him with a wet towel in the gym locker room. I mocked his whiny voice. I led groups of guys in tying his street clothes into knots while he was off in the shower room.

I was a rotten little bastard to Bobby.

But at least it was Bobby and not me, I’d think on those rare occasions when I felt bad about what I was doing.

One day, one of the biggest, toughest guys in school stopped me coming out of the shower room. He was a lineman on the varsity football team. He pulled his ham-sized fist back and unleashed a punch that, when it collided with my sternum, felt as though I’d been hit by a Tomahawk missile.

I collapsed on the tile floor. He stood over me and said, “Why don’t you leave the poor guy alone?”

It was an epiphany. That such a symbol of maleness and accomplishment could stand up for an overweight, effeminate underclassman impresses me to this day. I vowed at that moment — before even lifting myself up off the floor — that I’d never pick on a kid again.

Since then, I’ve dedicated myself to defending the defenseless. Since then, I’ve identified with everybody who’s ever gotten bullied.

Who knows? Maybe I would have come to the same conclusion had that big football lineman simply talked to me and not tried to put his fist through my chest cavity.

All I know is, for the next couple of weeks, every time I ran my fingers over the lump on my chest, I remembered his words. And today, I don’t even need to feel the swelling to hear those words.

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RHYME TIME

Get yourself over to The Venue Fine Art & Gifts to hear IU’s Ross Gay read his poetry tonight at 5:30.

I generally shy away from poetry but Ross is the real deal. This guy can throw around the ink and the meters with the best of them.

Ross Gay

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The only Bloomington-area events listings you need

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Tuesday, September 25th, 2012

Brought to you by The Electron Pencil: Bloomington Arts, Culture, Politics, and Hot Air. Daily.

FOOD ◗ Corner of Sixth & Madison streets — Tuesday Farmer’s Market; 4-7pm

MIXER ◗ Topos 403 — Young Professionals of Bloomington, monthly get-together; 5:30pm

POETRY ◗ The Venue Fine Art & Gifts — Ross Gay, An American Poet, the poet reads from his own work; 5:30pm

MUSIC ◗ Muddy Boots Cafe, Nashville — Richard Groner, 6-8:30pm

FILM ◗ IU Swain Hall East — “Miss Bala,” directed by Gerardo Naranjo, Mexico; pm

LECTURE ◗ IU Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center — “How Does A More Cooperative Ape Evolve?” presented by primatologist Brian Hare; 6pm

WORKSHOP ◗ Bloominglabs — Intro to Soldering, for electronics; 6-8pm

NATURE HIKE ◗ Leonard Springs Nature Park — Guided, one-mile hike, observe wildlife, binoculars & magnifying glasses provided; 6pm

MUSIC ◗ Cafe Django — JFB Jazz Jam with Tom Clark; 7pm

POLITICS ◗ Ivy Tech-Bloomington — League of Women Voters Candidate Forum, Richland-Bean Blossom Community School Corporation board candidates; 7pm

FILM ◗ IU Cinema — “A Bag of Hammers,” with appearance by director Brian Crano; 7pm

MUSIC ◗ Rachael’s Cafe — Chad Nordhoff; call Rachael’s for show time

STAGE ◗ IU Halls Theatre — Drama, “When the Rain Stops Falling;” 7:30pm

MUSIC ◗ IU Auer Hall — Stephen W. Pratt conducts the Wind Ensemble; 8pm

MUSIC ◗ The Player’s Pub — Blues Jam hosted by Fistful of Bacon; 8pm

GAMES ◗ The Root Cellar at Farm Bloomington — Team trivia; 8pm

ONGOING:

ART ◗ IU Art Museum — Exhibits:

  • “New Acquisitions,” David Hockney; through October 21st
  • “Paragons of Filial Piety,” by Utagawa Kuniyoshi; through December 31st
  • “Intimate Models: Photographs of Husbands, Wives, and Lovers,” by Julia Margaret, Cameron, Edward Weston, & Harry Callahan; through December 31st
  • “French Printmaking in the Seventeenth Century;” through December 31st
  • Celebration of Cuban Art & Film: Pop-art by Joe Tilson; through December 31st
  • “Workers of the World, Unite!” through December 31st

ART ◗ Ivy Tech Waldron Center — Exhibits:

  • “What It Means to Be Human,” by Michele Heather Pollock; through September 29th
  • “Land and Water,” by Ruth Kelly; through September 29th

ART ◗ IU SoFA Grunwald Gallery — Exhibit:

  • “Samenwerken,” Interdisciplinary collaborative multi-media works; through October 11th

ART ◗ IU Kinsey Institute Gallery — Exhibits opening September 28th:

  • “A Place Aside: Artists and Their Partners;” through December 20th
  • “Gender Expressions;” through December 20th

PHOTOGRAPHY ◗ IU Mathers Museum of World Cultures — Exhibit:

  • “CUBAmistad” photos

ART ◗ IU Mathers Museum of World Cultures — Exhibits:

  • “¡Cuba Si! Posters from the Revolution: 1960s and 1970s”
  • “From the Big Bang to the World Wide Web: The Origins of Everything”
  • “Thoughts, Things, and Theories… What Is Culture?”
  • “Picturing Archaeology”
  • “Personal Accents: Accessories from Around the World”
  • “Blended Harmonies: Music and Religion in Nepal”
  • “The Day in Its Color: A Hoosier Photographer’s Journey through Mid-century America”
  • “TOYing with Ideas”
  • “Living Heritage: Performing Arts of Southeast Asia”
  • “On a Wing and a Prayer”

BOOKS ◗ IU Lilly Library — Exhibit:

  • “Outsiders and Others:Arkham House, Weird Fiction, and the Legacy of HP Lovecraft;” through November 1st
  • “A World of Puzzles,” selections form the Slocum Puzzle Collection

PHOTOGRAPHY ◗ Soup’s On — Exhibit:

  • Celebration of Cuban Art & Culture: “CUBAmistad photos; through October

ART ◗ Boxcar Books — Exhibit:

  • Celebration of Cuban Art & Film: Papercuts by Ned Powell; through September

PHOTOGRAPHY ◗ Monroe County History Center — Exhibit:

  • “Bloomington: Then and Now,” presented by Bloomington Fading; through October 27th

ARTIFACTS ◗ Monroe County History Center — Exhibit:

  • “Doctors and Dentists: A Look into the Monroe County Medical professions“

▼

The Electron Pencil. Go there. Read. Like. Share.

05/11/2012
Leave a comment
Bain Capital, Bullying, Cranbrook School, Jamie Dimon, JP Morgan Chase, Kin Hubbard, Mitt Romney, Pity the Billionaire, Thomas Frank

The Pencil Today:

✍

THE QUOTE

“It is pretty hard to tell what does bring happiness; poverty and wealth have both failed.” — Kin Hubbard

♢

YOU’RE ON YOUR OWN, BABY

In the first chapter of Thomas Frank‘s latest book, he describes the ways people during the Great Depression rallied around each other.

Groups of farmers, for instance, would pitch in to help save another farmer whose land was in danger of being foreclosed on. And if they couldn’t scrape up enough cash, why, they’d all go down to the town en masse and shake their fists at the president of the bank.

Solidarity

✍

People were angry, Frank observes, and they knew precisely where to direct their rage.

The point of this and other anecdotes in the chapter was that 75 years ago just plain folks understood that they were all in this together. The misfortunes that befell seemingly every other person in America, they knew, had a hell of a lot to do with an economic system that was rigged to ensure money would remain in the hands of the moneyed.

Mr. Moneybags

✍

It was really a heartening account of what I can only describe as patriotism. Neighbors cared for neighbors. Americans felt a kinship with each other (as long as they were white, natch).

Frank concludes the chapter by flashing ahead to the 21st Century. He describes visiting a Tea Party rally. The participants are as angry as their predecessors from the Great Depression were. Only the Tea Party-ists’ rage isn’t directed against banksters and plutocrats. No, it’s aimed at those people an earlier generation would have embraced and comforted.

One Tea Party placard Frank describes says everything you need to know about this holy land today: “Your mortgage,” it reads, “is not my problem.”

Go Help Yourself

✍

Pick up “Pity the Billionaire: The Hard Times Swindle and the Unlikely Resurgence of the American Right” if you get a chance. If you need to economize, wait for it to come out in paperback on September 18th.

♢

BULLY PEOPLE

Speaking of plutocrats, how about that Jamie Dimon, the capo di tutti capi of JP Morgan Chase, announcing yesterday that his firm lost a couple of billion dollars last year on some extremely risky “positions”?

Dimon, of course, is speaking in code — he really means he and his fellow degenerate gamblers chased bad bets with more bad bets.

Dimon: “Believe Me, I Can Stop Any Time I Want.”

✍

Addicts and obsessives all seem to share the predilection to soft-soap their unhealthy habits, and Dimon is no different.

The Me Party-ists don’t see Dimon and his compares as the problem, though.

Perhaps he and his pals aren’t easy enough targets for the Me Party-ists. Should that be true, I might be tempted to come up with yet another snarky moniker for the folks who gave us Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann: The Bully Party.

♢

BULLY BOY

Yes, Mitt Romney bullied kids way back when he was a student at Richboy Tech.

I don’t like it. No one should like it.

“I’m Tougher Than A Fag!”

✍

But I hope we’re not going to write off all pols for the nitwit, often cruel, things they did as teenagers. There is, after all, redemption, no?

I prefer to write off Romney for the bullying he’s done to people as an adult.

♢

✍

Electron Pencil event listings: Music, art, movies, lectures, parties, receptions, benefits, plays, meetings, fairs, conspiracies, rituals, etc.

Friday, May  11, 2012

◗ IU Mathers Museum of World Cultures — Exhibits, “Blended Harmonies: Music and Religion in Nepal”; through July 1st — “Esse Quam Videri (To Be, Rather than To Be Seen): Muslim Self Portraits; through June 17th — “From the Big Bang to the World Wide Web: The Origins of Everything”; through July 1st

◗ IU Kinsey Institute Gallery — Exhibit, “Man as Object: Reversing the Gaze”; through June 29th

◗ Ivy Tech Waldron Arts Center — Exhibits at various galleries: Angela Hendrix-Petry, Benjamin Pines, Nate Johnson, and Yang Chen; all through May 29th

◗ Trinity Episcopal Church — Art exhibit, “Creation,” collaborative mosaic tile project; through May 31st

◗ Monroe County Public Library — Art exhibit, “Muse Whisperings,” water color paintings by residents of Sterling House; through May 31st

◗ Monroe County History Center — Photo exhibit, “Bloomington: Then and Now” by Bloomington Fading; through October 27th

◗ B-Line Trail at the Bloomington Banquet Sculpture — Bloomington Bikes Week, Women’s Ride: Noon

◗ Deer Park Manor — Edible Lotus Night Bazaar, tastings from 20 local restaurants; 6pm

◗ Buskirk-Chumley Theater — Cardinal Stage Company presents “Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”; 7pm

◗ Boxcar Books — James Capshew reads from his book, “Herman B. Wells: The Promise of the American University”; 7pm

✍

◗ IU Cinema — Film, “The Kid with a Bike”; 7pm

◗ IU SOFA, upstairs theater — Ryder Film Series, “The Raw and the Cooked”; 7pm — “444 Last Day on Earth”; 8:45pm

◗ Panache Dance — Jennifer Luna teaches salsa with dance party to follow; 7:30pm

◗ IU Woodburn Hall — Ryder Film Series, “Keyhole”; 7:45pm

◗ Cafe Django — Earplane, Latin-Brazilian jazz; 8-11pm

◗ IU SOFA, downstairs theater — Ryder Film Series, “The Fairy”; 8:15pm

◗ The Bluebird — Kip Moore; 9pm

◗ Bear’s Place — Qwintis Sential, Lonewolfe 10man; 9pm

◗ Uncle Elizabeth’s — Vicci Laine and the West End Girls; 10pm & midnight

✍

◗ The Comedy Attic — Dan Telfer; 8 & 10:30pm

◗ The Bishop — Dave Walter Karaoke; 11pm

♢

04/10/2012
3 Comments
Alfred Hitchcock, Alfred Kinsey, American Library Association, Banned Books, Barack Obama, Birthers, Bullying, Censorship, Conspiracy Theory, Doglas Wilson, Fidel Castro, Health Care Reform, Health Insurance Mandate, IDS, Indiana University, Joe Arpaio, Miami Marlins, Obamacare, Ozzie Guillen, Tyrone Davis

The Pencil Today:

✍

THE QUOTE

“I’m not against the police; I’m just afraid of them.” — Alfred Hitchcock

♢

THE READING MENACE

Books are dangerous things. That’s what quite a few jittery folks in this holy land think.

There are enough bibliophobes around to cause heaps of trouble for librarians who are brazen and perverted enough to stock their shelves with certain titles that any god-fearing soul knows will weaken the nation and destroy the family.

Herewith is the American Library Association’s list of 2011’s ten most challenged books in these Great United States, Inc.:

  • The Lauren Myracle series including “ttyl,” “ttfn,” and “l8r”
  • The Kim Dong Hwa series “The Color of Earth”
  • “The Hunger Games” trilogy by Suzanne Collins
  • “My Mom’s Having a Baby! A Kid’s Month-by-Month Guide to Pregnancy” by Dori Hillestad Butler
  • “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” by Sherman Alexie
  • The “Alice” series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
  • “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley
  • “What My Mother Doesn’t Know” by Sonya Sones
  • The “Gossip Girl” series by Cecily Von Ziegesar
  • “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee

Harper Lee, Contributor To Delinquency

✍

Any of these books may well turn your child into a young socialist or aspiring terrorist. If you are an older person and you even inadvertently read one of these tomes, you’ll suddenly find yourself wishing to acquit black men falsely accused of crimes, use indelicate language, and — worst of all — possibly think about sex.

♢

BULLIED BOY

Drop everything you’re doing right now and pick up a copy of the Indiana Daily Student or click over to the IDS website. Read the unsigned editorial about the personal struggle of a self-described chunky Hispanic latent homosexual who endured years of bullying at the hands of his schoolmates.

If it doesn’t make you cry, you’re probably dead.

✍

The author of the piece points out that a conservative Christian Cro-Magnon man named Douglas Wilson is slated to speak at IU Friday. Wilson thinks current anti-bullying efforts let gay and lesbian kids off the hook. They’re bad seeds, he concludes.

I checked out Wilson’s website. Man, this guy is a piece of work. He links the late IU sex researcher Alfred Kinsey with Nazism. He also espouses age-old Puritan chestnuts like a wife should be submissive to her husband (but not in the fun, light bondage way, either).

Nazi?

✍

Here’s an example of Wilson’s “thinking” on Barack Obama’s health care reform bill: “When they urge the passage of Obamacare because this person will now ‘have coverage,’ they overlook the fact that nothing good can come from men wanting to be God.”

Wait, what?

Wilson’s wife also has a blog. They’re both the kind of folk who need to cite a Bible passage for every thing they say. Only their Bible doesn’t seem to have a passage advising them not to terrorize kids who are struggling with their sexuality.

♢

SCARY COP

I’ve long suspected noted brute-with-a-badge Joe Arpaio is playing with a short deck. Now I know it’s true.

The longtime Maricopa County (Arizona) sheriff jumped on the Birther bandwagon months ago. He’s upping the ante now. Arpaio’s current take on that particular psychotic reaction makes earlier Birther charges seem almost sane.

“America’s Toughest Sheriff”

✍

Tough guy Joe now says the Republicans are in on the scheme!

Yep. GOP senators and even the motley crew running for the Republican nomination for president all have have thrown in their lots with the conspirators who took a Kenyan baby and groomed him to become the President of the United States.

Not even Stephen King could come up with this stuff.

♢

ONLY 90 MILES AWAY

Does the thought strike you that this great nation is riding a time machine backward?

Guess who’s in the headlines again, 54 years after the Cuban revolution, 50 years after the Cuban Missile Crisis, and fully four years after he quit as Cuba’s boss because he was getting too old and feeble to terrify anybody anymore.

Yep. Fidel Castro.

America, I’ll Be Living In Your Nightmares For The Next Fifty Years!

✍

I’m not part of Castro’s fan club. There’ve been good and bad things to say about his bully-boy reign. Sure, everybody can read and health care coverage is universal in Cuba. But just try being a dissident and see how far that’ll get you on the island.

Anyway, Miami Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen, who has no filter between his reptilian brain and his mouth, the other day was talking about the Marlins new stadium which is located in Miami’s Little Havana district.

Perhaps Guillen, not normally known as a sage political observer, figured Hmm, lots of Cubans around here. I’d better say something nice about Castro.

So he gushed about the Havana strongman. “I love Fidel Castro,” he brayed. “I respect Fidel Castro. You know why? A lot of people have wanted to kill Fidel Castro for the last 60 years but that son of a bitch is still here.”

Suddenly, Guillen found out that the nearly one million Cubans who live in Miami are the ones who’ve wanted to slice Fidel’s throat this last half century. Don’t ask me why, but there’s hardly a group on Earth with longer memories and holding a deeper grudge than the people who fled Cuba after Castro took over.

Miami has rarely seen a storm like the one that’s blowing over town right now.

Local pols are screaming that Guillen should be fired. A state legislator is calling for “punitive measures” against him, according to the Associated Press.

The owner of Miami’s Major League Baseball team has suspended Guillen for five games.

No one knows if this will be enough to satisfy the baying hounds who right now are ringing Marlins Stadium, calling for Guillen’s head.

Look, Guillen’s a big-mouthed dope. So are Rush Limbaugh and Don Imus and every other professional gabber who has delivered racist, sexist, insensitive, insulting, or deliriously uninformed diatribes. But we don’t punish people for stupid talk in my country. We don’t take their jobs away from them.

If we did, everybody would be in hot water and nobody would have a job.

Not The Most Respected Political Commentator Around

✍

Wait a minute…, everybody is in hot water and nobody does have a job. Oh well, you know what I mean.

Back to this going back in time bit, though. Wasn’t it just a few years before Fidel Castro blew into the national consciousness that we proud Americans were punishing folks and taking away their livelihoods just for talking or thinking the wrong way?

It looks like old Joe McCarthy has never really gone away.

♢

TURN BACK THE HANDS OF TIME

Tyrone Davis’s soul hit from the spring of 1970.

♢

04/06/2012
2 Comments
American Family Association, Ayn Rand, Bullying, Charlie Dick, Christian Fundamentalists, Citizens for Community Values, Crazy, Day of Dialogue, Day of Silence, Faith 2 Action, Grand Ole Opry, Henry Adams, Henry Miller, Illinois Family Institute, James Joyce, Liberty Counsel, Loretta Lynn, Mission America, Modern Library, Patsy Cline, Save California, Theocracy, Tootsie's Orchid Lounge, Uncategorized, Willie Nelson, Woody Allen

The Pencil Today:

✍

THE QUOTE

“There is no salvation in becoming adapted to a world which is crazy.” — Henry Miller

♢

GOD, THE BULLY

Now I ask you, are the hardcore Christian fundamentalists of this holy land just angling to become a satire of themselves?

I mean, honestly, if a funny person were to write a skit lampooning them, wouldn’t she, say, have them battling anti-bullying laws because, hell, it’s mostly homosexuals who are being bullied so who cares?

Wouldn’t that make a comedy audience roar with laughter? They’d say, How hilarious! How could that ever happen?

“Hah! That’d Never Happen In Real Life!”

✍

But that’s precisely what is happening in America today.

In two weeks, on Friday, April 20th, high school students across the country will participate in the Day of Silence, during which they’ll remain mum from morning until night to protest bullying. And, of course, the prime targets for bullies in elementary, middle, and high schools are gays or kids who exhibit even the slightest hint that they may be too effeminate (in the case of boys) or tomboyish (girls).

Day Of Silence

✍

Now, what kind of lunatic would find a problem with an anti-bullying campaign?

Answer: the lunatics who populate the USA’s god parties.

Groups such as Mission America, the Illinois Family Institute, the American Family Association, Citizens for Community Values, Faith 2 Action, the Liberty Counsel, Save California, and others have responded with their own anti-anti-bullying action to take place on the Day of Silence.

The god-ists are calling their action the Day of Dialogue.

And that’s weird because if there’s one thing the theocrats seem most allergic to, it’s dialogue.

“Go Ahead And Kick The Crap Out Of ‘Em — They’re Gay.”

✍

Yup, the fundamentalist Christians are falling back on their old woe-is-us canard, you know, the one where the whole world is trying steal away their rights to worship god as they please and discriminate against anybody they think god hates?

They’re saying the Day of Silence not only is fascist, natch, but it promotes the gay, lesbian, and transgender lifestyle.

Perhaps I’m giving people too much credit, but I would think nobody is so deranged that they’d believe there’s really a group of people trying to push teenaged kids into getting their genitals surgically altered.

“Please Don’t Let Them Make Us Cut Off Our Penises.”

✍

Oh, alright, I am giving people too much credit.

I suppose the only question I have for these pious folk is where in your Bible does god say, Be an asshole in my name?

♢

I SMELL A RAT

I just happened to be going through the Modern Library‘s lists of the 100 best fiction and nonfiction books. The ML puts out two lists for each category, one chosen by the organization’s board, the other open to the public.

The board has chosen James Joyce’s “Ullyses” as the greatest English language novel. That’s cool, even though I don’t have the spare 150 years to be able to read and decode Joyce’s inscrutable stylings. The board also tabs “The Education of Henry Adams” by Henry Adams as the finest nonfiction book. Again, cool, even though I haven’t read it nor do I plan to.

James Joyce

✍

After all, I have to get through cracked.com every day; I am a man of letters, you know.

Anyway, these are tomes that have been celebrated by the best and the brightest for decades and, while I don’t necessarily genuflect before “experts,” I’ll defer to them in this case.

Funny thing is, the public’s lists vary wildly from the board’s. In fact, the public’s greatest nonfiction book does not even appear on the board’s entire list of 100. And four of the public’s top ten fiction books were penned by an author the board saw fit not to name anywhere on its list.

These idiosyncratic choices all are the fruits of one author’s feverish mind. The public has called Ayn Rand’s “The Virtue of Selfishness” the greatest work of nonfiction in the English language. On top of that, two books about Rand and her post-traumatic stress disorder nightmare philosophy also made the public’s top ten.

“Welcome To My Nightmare.”

✍

Not bizarre enough for you? Four of Rand’s endless novels make the public’s top ten greatest fiction works. Four!

Rand famously riposted to an editor, who’d advised her to apply an eraser to huge swaths of her rambling prose, that no one edited the Bible.

The Bible, as in the word of god.

As Woody Allen once said, you have to pattern yourself after somebody.

Methinks Rand’s acolytes stuffed the ballot box, no?

♢

CRAZY

“Crazy” was penned by a then-struggling young songwriter named Willie Nelson in 1961. According to legend, he pitched it to Patsy Cline‘s husband, Charlie Dick, at Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge in Nashville one night over drinks.

When Dick brought the song to his wife, she hated it because it was uptempo and its lyrics were spoken. Her producer re-worked it into a languorous ballad and the rest is history.

By the way, Loretta Lynn swears she remembers hearing Cline perform the song for the first time at the Grand Ole Opry while on crutches; Cline at the time was recovering from an auto accident that had nearly killed her.

♢

12/05/2011
1 Comment
Bullying, Cats and Machines, Chris Madsen, Facebook, Frank Miller, George Takei, Grover & Sloan, It's A Wonderful Life, John Wasik, Michael Redman, Miguel de Unamuno, Mike Cagle, Nikola Tesla, Pat Murphy, R.E. Paris, Star Trek, The Dark Knight

The Pencil Today:

✍

TO HOLLER OR NOT TO HOLLER

A timeless observation from the Basque writer Miguel de Unamuno: “Sometimes to be silent is to lie.”

Miguel de Unamuno

♢

MUGSHOT

Poor Pat Murphy, my drinking buddy at Soma Coffee. Seems as though he only gets his picture in the Herald Times is when his Bloomington Utilities department is looking for more money.

Pat R.H. Murphy

✍

I may tease him and say his middle name should be Rate Hike. He may in turn freeze me with one of his patented dirty looks, though.

♢

JANUARY’S GONE

WFHB radio general manager Chad Carrothers released January Jones‘ resignation letter, addressed (tellingly?) not to him but to the “WFHB Community.”

January had been the News Director for almost a year. She took over for Chad after he, in turn, took over the general manager’s riding crop following the departure of Will Murphy to NPR’s Ft. Wayne station. She resigned last week.

Jones

✍

Chad has whipped the station into a shape it’s never been in before. WFHB beat its fundraising goals in both the spring and fall pledge drives. He’s one of the hardest working human beings I’ve ever met.

January was extraordinarily hard-working as well. Maybe too much so. The key line in her letter reads: “… I’ve realized that the staffing models in the organization make the News Director job a difficult position for me to maintain.”

Without talking to either Chad or January at this time (they’ve not responded to my email messages yet) I can interpret the line two ways:

1) There’s too much work for me to do here without more paid staffers; or

2) There are things I’d like to to have done but couldn’t because I didn’t have the autonomy I need.

I’ll do my best to get more dope on this one.

♢

WE DO FACEBOOK SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO

✍

Here’s a new feature. Since most sentient humans are being driven to psychotic reaction by the flood of spamily, brattle, and breathless revelations of what people had to eat last night on Facebook, we’ve decided to wade through the mess and bring you the most illuminating ideas, events, and developments found there.

Let’s go:

◗ Frank Miller long has been a titan in the comix and graphic novel rackets. His books “300,” “Sin City,” and “The Dark Knight Returns” all have been made into blockbuster movies (TDKR as “The Dark Knight.”) Bloomington’s Michael Redman and Mike Cagle point out that he’s now part of a virulent Hollywood crypto-fascism movement.

✍

Miller on his blog refers to Occupy people as “louts, thieves, and rapists” as well as “pond scum.”

◗ Bibliophile extraordinaire R.E. Paris links to a moving video featuring a kid who was a victim of schoolyard bullying. She tells her own story of catching hell from schoolmates (speaking of louts!) R.E. credits former Star Trek actor George Takei with originating the link.

✍

◗ Chicago-area green economy expert John Wasik points out that the Windy City is home to a Nikola Tesla fan club. Who knew?

✍

Are you sitting down? There are chapters all around the nation!

◗ Finally, San Jose’s Chris Madsen reminds us it’s officially holiday season now that the yearly TV torrent of “It’s A Wonderful Life” airings has begun.

✍

There. Aren’t you a better person for not having to read about someone’s pet bird?

Stay tuned for more.

♢

THE CAT THAT BECAME FAMOUS

Go see Grover & Sloan’s fourth installment in their continuing series of the cat and the air pump, today in “Cats and Machines.”

♢