Lest you forget: After Skip's son and other football players were banned from performing a pep rally skit that "enforced negative gender stereotypes," Skip penned an epic missive entitled "The Tipping Point," wherein he rallied the Kinkaid School's "silent majority" of overgrown dude bros and sorority sisters to fight the lesbian leftist power. Read it here.

According to multiple sources, the first person to forward Skip's letter to wide audiences was former NFL lineman Ray Childress, who, true to stereotype, came down on Skip's and the football team's side:

From: Ray Childress
Sent: Wednesday, November 11, 2009 21:50
To: [redacted]
Subject: Letter to Kinkaid Board of Directors

All,

Skip McGee has written a wonderful and courageous letter to Kinkaid's BOD after Friday's pep rally disaster. By allowing the personal opinion of faculty members to dictate student conduct creates a disturbing precedent and, at the very least, the extent of the power should be made very clear to students and parents alike. It's a dangerous situation that needs to be addressed...and fixed. I ask each of us to echo such letter and let our view be heard in volume! [emphasis mine]

The Best!
Ray

A surprising number of parents used their work emails for forwarding Kinkaid gossip, including an oilman who wrote, "No wonder we lost, they ruined the pep rally." An associate at Bracewell & Giuliani (law firm of famed infirm Rudy) gave Childress an Amen: "Thy praises high I love to sing..."

A Kinkaid insider described the school's grim new climate to friends:

diversity at kinkaid is at a standstill. the activities that we had planned with the laramie project have been canceled including the show's preview, the talk back after, and the documentary that we had been working on. it also means that the school wide reading of the lorax by dr. seuss has been canceled because its too lefty. ... angry students are just as much of a problem as angry parents.

Among the emails to go viral in the aftermath was from the saga's young hero, Andrew Edison, the student body president whom Skip suspected of sabotaging his son. Noting that "Mr. McGee was kind enough to dedicate an entire section of his manifesto to me personally," Edison wrote:

In our junior year of English at Kinkaid, we learn about Aristotle's appeals or means of persuasion as applied to the art of argumentative writing. They are Logos (logic), Pathos (emotion), and Ethos (credibility). ... In regards to the pep rally, I understand his logic and his feelings of frustration with how the situation was handled. However, after reading through the substance of his final section entitled "Conclusion," he left me seriously questioning his ethos.... His indefensible remarks about the sexual orientation of faculty are undeniably bigoted and homophobic. The solutions that he offers... [constitute a] heinous call for a witch hunt...

Skip McGee, you got served—by an eighteen-year-old. Finally, Kinkaid's Board of Directors solved the problem the way stick-up-their-butt rich people always do: Creating a bureaucratic organization that will ultimately cede its dirty work to a paid professional.

[T]he Board of Trustees will empower a task force, comprised of parents, current students, faculty and staff, alumni, and trustees, to look more deeply into the issues and criticisms that have emerged in the past ten days. The school will hire a consultant, a known professional with a reputation for objectivity and successful experience, to assist with this work.

Once we have identified and hired a consultant for this work, we will ask the consultant to read all the letters, emails, and other communication we have gathered...

Hey, I know someone qualified for this position! Kinkaid Board of Directors, you know where to reach me. Updates from Kinkaidians on the Skip McGee's Culture War of Fun and Fury Peace Process will also be welcomed with open arms.

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Did you see the NYT magazine this weekend? It's slightly smaller! Also the paper has chosen a new font to help it squeeze more words on the page, in response. Every penny saved on newsprint these days helps, you know. Unfortunately the magazine also changed the layout of Deborah Solomon's weekly interviews, which was the best thing about them.

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.What is happening at the upheaval-wracked Boston Globe today? Upheaval! Of a minor sort. The union is meeting with the NYT Co. to discuss that 23% pay cut. The union says it's still in "negotiations," but management says negotiations are over so I guess the meeting is just kind of a friendly consolation thing? David Carr goes out and gets estimates of what the Globe might sell for—the estimates range from $250 million to less than nothing. Maybe go ahead and sell to the guy who said $250 million?

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.The Congressional Black Caucus thinks that the Sunday news shows should have more black guests and commentators. Which is possibly self serving and also true! "White people talking about Obama all the time" is not the same as "diversity," television people. Clarence Page can only be one place at a time!

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Among the every-magazine-in-the-world doing poorly these days: Forbes. If only we had a flat tax, things would be different!

Picture on left: the original. Picture on right: the actual cover of Toronto's "Summer Fun Guide." The juxtaposition is just...yea. The city's spokesman responded to skeptical questioning like so:

"That's an interesting conversation," Mr. Sack said. "This does not look like a nondescript white family, it looks maybe Latino."

Well then.
[National Post via Adrants]

That's from last Sunday! Sean Delonas: furnishing you with exquisitely timed tributes to diversity, since 2009.

For LGBT Co-Workers:

I don't consider you gay.
This is insensitive.

Never call a coworker a "fag" or "homo."
This is derogatory, rude, and totally
insensitive.

For African-American Coworkers:

Should we order fried chicken or
watermelon for you?
This is stereotyping and shows ignorance.

For Asian Coworkers:

You must be the new IT person.
All Asians are not IT professionals.

Can you recommend a good Chinese
restaurant?
All Asians are not Chinese. Take some time
to study a world map. The world is made up
of continents with many countries, regions,
cultures, and sub-cultures.

For Older Coworkers:

You know Wal Mart is hiring.
This is not funny. An older employee has
experience you could benefit from.

For White Coworkers:

That's how a typical white person acts.
You are suggesting that all white people are
the same by putting them in the same
category. The behavior may have nothing to
do with the person's race. [Ed.: Many white people are assholes for other reasons than race!]

For Coworkers With Disabilities:

You don't need to date; your life will be
better without a woman/man causing you
trouble.
Being disabled does not mean the person is
socially challenged.

For Hispanic/Latino Coworkers:

Can you help me out with my landscaping?
Why would you assume that all
Hispanics/Latinos are landscaping experts?

And there's so much more! Although no guidelines on Slut or Hick Coworkers.

The advertising industry: it's run by whites! And it probably always will be, unless the high powered civil rights attorney who's planning to sue their ass is successful. Is the NAACP more powerful in the age of Obama, or less, because the whole overt "Post-racial" bullshit gives corporate America a neat way out of the standard black vs. white dynamic? (The answer is "less powerful, every year.")

[The letter] speaks momentarily of previous diversity efforts attempted in the agency world before declaring them ineffective. "To address the issues raised in the report, it is important Procter & Gamble [the biggest advertiser anywhere] understands that such responses are inadequate and, in some cases, counterproductive. That is why we wish to assist you in designing your approach to this issue. ... We would like for you to instruct your advertising agencies to use diverse teams in creative and account-management positions."

Your cause is strong but your bargaining position is weak, NAACP. Ad agencies can claim recession reasons for not hiring anyone, and P&G can shrug and direct you to their customer service hotline, and everybody else is too busy worrying about their own jobs to care much about protests right now. Come back when you can get their balls in a tighter vise. [Ad Age]

Ha, joking, Air America! We're just saying it's maybe not the biggest thing Montel has ever done...

For 17 years, Williams was host and executive producer of The Montel Williams Show, one of the longest running daytime Talk shows in TV. He is currently launching a multimedia business based on his "Living Well with Montel" brand. He's also published eight best-selling books.

Bonus benefit: there is once again at least one black person working in the media. That was quick! USA! [Mediaweek]

• Do not use the same meager handful of non-white employees over and over for photo ops: People notice this after a while. Specifically, your non-white employees.
• Do not act like the boss on The Office: Simply watch each season of that show in full, and see how he treats the subject of diversity, and then do not do that. Surprising how realistic that show is.
• Do not claim that your staff made up entirely of upper class Ivy Leaguers is 'diverse': It is not, we don't care what it looks like on the outside.
• Do not claim that your company is 'diverse' because you hired minority-owned vendors: Hiring a 'diversity consultant' or an 'urban marketing firm' is not in and of itself a mark of diversity. Sucks right!!!
• Hire a staff made up of many different types of people: Problem solved. (Though you may personally still be a jerk).

It's quite simple, really. Most evil multinational corporations are forced, by custom and the demands of PR, to buy ads every MLK Day featuring some sort of montage of differently-colored people, with their logo and a message like "ExxonMobil: We employ black people." But more eloquently stated.

Full page ads aren't cheap! So Obama has performed a great service this year. See, he is black; his inauguration is the day after MLK day; so companies can hold their diversity ads, run them tomorrow, and celebrate both their wondrous commitment to racial harmony and our wondrous new racially diverse president!

The proof is in the pitiful lack of full-page diversity ads in the Times A section today. Seriously, is this all the love corporate America has? Ha, no silly, tomorrow there will be an outpouring of love for our new black president—and love for him is de facto love for Martin Luther King and many other diverse human beings! Just watch. In the meantime, at least Colin Powell made an appearance in one of today's ads. Wouldn't want to forget him, on this day.

Update: This one ran on the back page of the Arts section, but seemed worth including.

Job descriptions and order of "desirability," from the PR firm's original list (NOT BY US):


1) Bonnie Morrison (PR Guru)

2) Genevieve Jones (Socialite)

3) Maggie Betts (Socialite)

4) Malcolm Harris (Designer/Activist)

5) Moises De La Renta (son of Oscar)

6) Kehinde Wiley (Artist)

7) Nicola Vassell (Deitch Gallery Director)

8) Rachel Roy (Designer/ Socialite)

9) Jason Campbell (Journalist)

10) Marc Baptiste (photographer)

Sanford Moore, whom Ad Age describes as an "industry gadfly," took the opportunity to slam every white-person excuse that ad agencies tend to offer for having a lack of black employees:

There are simply not enough black people interested in the industry. "We can find black people when we want to take money from black people," he said, pointing out that when general market agencies need help with minority work — and need to prove they have minorities on the account — they can produce black talent seemingly out of thin air.

Black people get frustrated and leave because of lack of support; there's no one in middle management. "There are men sitting in this room who'd jump at such jobs," answered Mr. Moore. "And where are all those interns from the 1970s and 1980s? Where did they go?"

We need better training for minority students; we need to establish a pipeline. "White people don't have a pipeline. They don't need a pipeline. Advertising is the last business where undereducated white people can make money. ... Advertising is made up of the bottom 12% of any MBA class. ... They get paid while we get screwed."

Contrast that with the media industry: full of overeducated white people who can't make money.

[Ad Age]

[via Multicult Classics]

The success of "Betty" earned ABC an A-minus for the 2006-07 season, the highest grade for any network rated by the Multi-Ethnic Media Coalition.

The group's seventh annual diversity report card grades the broadcast networks for hiring minority talent in front and behind the camera and in the executive ranks, as well as "overall commitment to diversity initiatives."

NBC and CBS maintained their grades of B and B-plus, respectively, while Fox was the only network to go down, from a B to a B-minus, prompted mostly by Fox's policy not to disclose complete statistical information.

Of course, no discussion of McPherson's dedication to primetime diversity can exclude perhaps his greatest triumph in this area, Cavemen. Ignoring the misguided complaints of a star who felt victimized by the executive's controversial pro-Neanderthal programming policies and the slings and arrows of skeptical critics, McPherson ultimately succeeded in dedicating 30 minutes per week to televising the struggles of a minority group heretofore completely ignored by the networks. While his triumph will probably be tragically short-lived, it's a victory that will be forever reflected in that much deserved A-minus.

• ABC wins top grade for diversity [Reuters/THR]

"Interested in what this is all about? A masthead editor called one of their subjects a faggot at the going away party. An investigation is going on now. Somebody may lose their masthead position and possibly their job."

We've done a little digging and have heard nothing more. Any idea what the story is? (And do the Times staff throw the word "faggot" around their office the same way we do? Heh. Because, well....) Anyway, please do let us know.

The place feels like something out of "On the Waterfront," as the crowd lustily cheers the glistening boxers fighting inside a central ring under a low-vaulted brick ceiling..."You got thugs from the ghetto, and blue-collar working class types, and you got rich dudes and hipsters," said DJ Mano, who provides the music between fights and between rounds.

"Manhattan is so tame now," said one fan, Mitzi Robles, a 26-year-old hair stylist at a SoHo salon. "It's cool to go to something down and dirty and underground. Such a diverse crowd: doctors, lawyers, brain surgeons, pimps."

Nearby stood a man dressed in a yellow suit, yellow tie, yellow fedora and yellow Algonquin-toe shoes. The man, Andre Spriggs, 37, a private investigator from Staten Island, said he had come for the partying and the pugilism. "This is Hell's Kitchen living up to its name," he said.

• Report: White males still dominate writing ranks [THR]