Media

From newspapers to neighborhood blogs, all the media we are consuming and considering.

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RECENT POSTS

January 3, 2011 | 12:45 PM | By

Oh, we’re unique all right…

DCentric

If you were loitering outside the studio and around @FrontDeskAmy, you'd see this picture of Kojo!

I’m listening to snippets of The Kojo Nnamdi show right now. The theme? “The D.C. Area’s Unique (?) Cultural Identity“. Panelists include WaPo’s Tim Carman and Blake Gopnik, TBD Editor Sommer Mathis and Lynn C. French (who was once a Senior Adviser to Mayor Anthony A. Williams). Despite the inevitable comparisons to New York that such a show must engage in (comparing D.C. to NYC is a pet peeve of mine– the two are different. Period.), it’s an extra-interesting show, on many levels. I’m sad I was in a meeting for the beginning of it. I’m definitely going to listen to the whole thing later, because either I heard a comparison between bricks and kente cloth or I hallucinated it. Other snippets:

“I think the transients (Ed note: transients = people who live here for two years and leave) may be coming to an end…”

“I have had a hard time embracing the sports teams here…”

“A lot of our ethnic neighborhoods are more vibrant in the suburbs”

See? Even better Kojo-show than usual!

FILED UNDER: Media, Kojo, WAMU
December 29, 2010 | 3:37 PM | By

“Pay it forward and advance our city”

DCentric

MacBook Air in hyper-privileged Ward 2, where there is almost 100% broadband adoption.

Like Congress Heights on the Rise, Blogger Nicole in DC also has concerns about the digital divide and #DCtweeps, the WaPo social media contest which I posted about earlier today:

…we’re the leaders in this online community whether we choose to be or not. We make a living, feed ourselves and/or our families, and have an offline social network because we’re the best. People listen to what we have to say and are invested in our opinions and our lives. We’re not living up to our responsibilities as leaders through innovation, change, or betterment of our community and our neighbors; instead, we’re participating in meaningless competitions to garner an award from a print publication that does a poor job at covering/reporting the news on social media. Furthermore, we’re squandering the power we do have when we succumb to competitions like this…

Community isn’t about putting ourselves above our friends and neighbors who are left behind.

Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Media, Digital Divide, Race and Class, Social Media
December 29, 2010 | 12:53 PM | By

There are other issues with this cake, too.

On the fifth day of Christmas, Postbourgie gave to me– a hive-inducing video starring Sandra Lee “making” Kwanzaa cake! If the name sounds familiar, Lee is the Food Network star who adds a dash of this, a dash of crap to finished items from the grocery store (in the video below, she mixes cocoa powder and cinnamon with generic, store-bought frosting). If you care for such trivia, Lee is also dating the big apple’s Governor-elect, Andrew Cuomo. This cake is white on the inside, brown on the outside, filled with apple pie goo and decorated with pumpkin seeds and corn nuts (to represent acorns!). In short, it is awful. Enjoy!

FILED UNDER: Media, Food, Kwanzaa, Privilege
December 28, 2010 | 11:42 PM | By

Tweet of the Day, 12.28

I like Ohio. The general populace makes me look skinny and athletic.
December 28, 2010 8:09 pm via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite
@hgil
Helder Gil

What? After the District, the state of Michigan is far but dear to my heart. Even my puppy knows how to double high five when she hears “Touchdown Michigan!” or “Touchdown Lions!”. She may not get a ton of opportunities to practice, but it’s still cute.

FILED UNDER: Media, Social Media
December 28, 2010 | 1:45 PM | By

Teena Marie: Beyond Race

Flickr: Live at J&R

Teena Marie in 2006.

I’m old enough to remember Teena Marie during her heyday; the singular singer-songwriter passed away on Sunday. Last night, while running errands, I overheard a conversation about the R+B musician that has been recurring since 1979:

CVS shopper #1: “Yo, did you know Teena Marie was white?”

CVS shopper #1: “What? I just thought she light-skinned! She sings like she’s Black!”

Race is a complicated minefield of a topic, and exploring it takes a gentle touch plus a Costco-sized vat of sensitivity. That’s why I enjoyed reading Ta-Nehisi Coates’ “The Indomitable Blackness of Teena Marie”:

Teena Marie died on Sunday, and on every Martin Luther there was a collective wail. That line—”I’m a black artist with white skin”—is the kind of comment that usually causes black people to suck their teeth and groan. But Teena Marie died with an eternal hood-pass. The term “blue-eyed soul” is presently being affixed to her, but it borders on disrespect. It”s like Negroes “liked” the Eurythmics, we “liked” Madonna and some of that Hall and Oates, but Teena Marie was beloved. She was not simply in that George Michael “Father Figure” category, she was of that Chaka Khan/Freddie Jackson/Jeffrey Osborne/Denise Williams stamp. You did not hear Teena Marie and say, “I thought she was black,” you said, “No, seriously, I’m sure she’s black.”

Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Media, In Memoriam, Music, Race and Ethnicity
December 27, 2010 | 3:18 PM | By

The Tragedy of Tokenism

Flickr: Pixeloflight

Tokens.

Mike Riggs, one of my favorite reporters in D.C., wrote this amazing piece for the Daily Caller about Tokenism after reading a New York magazine profile of Marty Peretz, “editor of the New Republic and eater of his own foot”:

I have a soft spot for tokenism, which is what Peretz is invoking when he says he knows Muslims and black people. Not because I approve of it (I don’t), but because it took me a long time to figure out how tragic it is.

I was the first person in my family, which traces its southern lineage to the Civil War, to date someone who is not white. M had long, straight, jet-black hair, brown skin, curves, and she sometimes rolled her Rs. After she met my dad and stepmom, and nothing seemed amiss, I figured that my family cared more about culture than color.

In other words, It didn’t matter in the least that M was Peruvian because she acted like a South Florida WASP.

Then one day, while lying on my bed, M told me that she was Jewish.

I strongly encourage you to read the rest of the story; Mike describes what happened when M encountered his family and he met hers. Then, he signs off with this walloping paragraph:
Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Media, Interfaith, Race and Ethnicity, Racial Divide, Tokenism
December 27, 2010 | 1:15 PM | By

What’s so great about D.C.? Everything!

Flickr: jGregor

Photographer j Gregory Barton saw this young woman on the Metro, and asked if he could capture the love.

I love twitter. It’s the one element of social media I use most; from story ideas to learning about breaking news, I tweet, retweet and read tweets, constantly. For those whose grasp of it is hazy, Twitter is a site where you can post updates, thoughts, links or absolute drivel– all in 140 characters or less. When someone starts following your drivel tweets, you get an alert telling you about this happy development. While it isn’t always possible to do so, I love examining these emails and learning more about the people who were kind enough to start reading me, by checking out whom we have in common, perusing their brief bios and clicking on their links.

One such Twitter user, Jacob Patterson-Stein, gave me three Christmas presents on December 25; he started following DCentric’s twitter account (@DCntrc), he started following my personal account (@suitablegirl) and when I looked at his bio and found his blog, “Tumbling Through the City“, he made me smile with a recent post of his, “50 Great Things About D.C.“. Here are his picks for numbers 14 through 26:

http://tumblingthroughthecity.tumblr.com

Part of Jacob Patterson-Stein's list of 50 things he loves about D.C.

Jacob has inspired me to start curating my own list, but I’d love your help, too. What do you love about D.C.? Leave your answers in the comments, tweet them at me or (if you must!) email them. I’ll compile them and even though we are off after Wednesday, I will log in and post the best of your submissions here, in one glorious list. Ready? Go!

FILED UNDER: Media, DCentric, Delightful City, Social Media
December 22, 2010 | 11:35 PM | By

Tweet of the Day, 12.22

Hi. Consider joining me as a tutor at the Washington Literacy Council for 2K11. It will make you a better speller! http://on.fb.me/ev2wea
December 22, 2010 6:11 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite
@kristoncapps
Kriston Capps

He had me at “Hello” when I read this testimonial, on The Washington Literacy Council’s Facebook page:

“I have worked at a local hospital for the last twenty one years as a house keeper. I didn’t pick that job for my self; someone picked it for me. My options were limited because of my reading problem. I am now working as a recreation specialist coaching sports. I am telling you this because I know firsthand how it feels not being able to do something you want to do because of your reading problem.” Excerpt from 2010 WLC Graduation speech written by Sandra, a former student.

FILED UNDER: Media, Non-profits, Philanthropy, Social Media, TOTD
December 22, 2010 | 12:55 PM | By

Target is a “soul stealer” which lacks “flavor”

M.V. Jantzen

Target, Columbia Heights.

Now reading: NPR’s “Big-Box Retailers Move To Smaller Stores In Cities“, which touches on both Walmart’s controversial decision to come to D.C. and the impact such retailers have had on neighborhoods like mine:

Outside the Columbia Heights Target, in a neighborhood of century-old rowhouses, there are mixed opinions about this contemporary attempt at an urban big-box.

Some people love the energy that the new businesses have created.

“It makes you want to come out and spend a little money if you don’t have any anyway,” says Washington native Niecy Stevens, whose car was parked at the curb in front of the store. “So, it brings people together, I guess.”

But neighborhood resident Anne Bouie, who lives nearby, says she is “conflicted.”

“I love Target; I’m not going to lie,” she says.” I’m in there every week. But they’re soul stealers from communities like these. … I mean, look at this. Does this have any spin, any flavor, any style by any criteria?”

FILED UNDER: Media, Columbia Heights, DCUSA, Gentrification, Walmart