Kristi Barlette, the Times Union’s Features Editor, weekly columnist, and blogger of important topics like such as pictures of anonymous butts on the subway and questionairre memes, tweeted [...]]]> Debate about minimum wage in New York State has been renewed and it’s likely to be a hot button issue in the next legislative session.

Kristi Barlette, the Times Union’s Features Editor, weekly columnist, and blogger of important topics like such as pictures of anonymous butts on the subway and questionairre memes, tweeted her thoughts on the matter this morning:

Included Mike Goodwin's response because it was hilarious.

Naturally, this purely anecdotal, out-of-context dismissal of the opposition to her views rubbed more than a few people the wrong way…

Too much Twama for your Momma

Others were a bit more direct and constructive in their dismissal of her statement:

Hey, poor people! Just get a career already!

Because it is that easy!

There were other replies and rebuttals between her and other users, but I’m not going to bother sharing them here. They’re repetitive and besides, you’ll thank me for sparing you the frustration of seeing people using thought-terminating cliches as an exit from a discussion they provoked. Twitter user @FoFacy went one step further and posted about it on her Tumblr, along with figures and facts and such, and is a much more compelling read anyway.

Barlette never said that it was poor peoples’ fault that they’re poor, but she might as well have as far as many were concerned. My take: I think her comment was a bit too dismissive of the very real concerns people have in regard to this state’s discrepancy between its minimum wage and the rate of inflation and increased cost of living (New York State is far from the worst when it comes to this). Nor do I  buy the argument that it kills jobs or hurts small businesses; as Sheldon Silver noted, the data from states like Washington (which has the highest minimum wage) doesn’t really support that notion.

It also helps to think outside of yourself on issues. It stinks of social darwinism, which I particularly loathe when it’s used in discussion of issues like minimum wage. But that’s a whole other rant.

Kateri Tekakwitha was born out of conflict. Her mother was an Algonquin and a Christian; her father  a chief [...]]]>

Kateri Tekakwitha, who emigrated from the Mohawk valley to Quebec after her conversion to Catholicism, was recently canonized by Pope Benedict. But her canonization raises some troubling questions of faith, race, and gender.

I just read a Times Union piece by Cathleen Crowley about the canonization of Kateri, a 17th Century convert to Catholicism who is being put on the fast-track to Sainthood after an alleged miracle out West.

Kateri Tekakwitha was born out of conflict. Her mother was an Algonquin and a Christian; her father  a chief in the Mohawk tribe who did not make the conversion. But when she was only four years old, the entire family was stricken with a wholly different and far less glamorous European import: the smallpox virus. It took the lives of both parents and left the young Kateri with permanently impaired vision (her surname was adopted from her Mohawk name which loosely translates to “she who walks into things”) and scars.

When she was twenty years old she converted to Catholicism and, after refusing to marry due to her newfound faith (or was it the other way around?), escaped across the border to Canada. She found refuge in a settlement near Montreal consisting of converted Natives from the region, assisting with aid for the sick, poor, and dying while also dabbling in missionary work. Yet while engaged in the social aspects of her faith, she was also a bit of a recluse. She lived in the woods and was considered a mystic, which would have been acceptable to converts but I’m sure did not endear her to white, European Catholics which while more pagan than their Protestant counterparts still frowned upon the retention of Native customs.

Kateri died when she was only twenty-four. Believers claim that when she died, her body became engulfed in a spiritual aura and the scars from her childhood illness disappeared from her face.

Here’s where things get a little murky.

The first troubling aspect comes when discussing the history of Kateri and her status as an outcast, which while true is easily misconstrued. From the article:

“There was a streak of feminism in her,” said Jack Casey, a Troy lawyer who wrote “Lily of the Mohawks,” a historical novel about Kateri.
- read more

My initial  reaction to this comment was negative. I thought it reeked of patronization and invoked feminism in a context that seemed to reflect at best a complete ignorance of what feminism actually means. After some thought, though, I get what he was actually trying to say by implying her streak of feminism. I don’t think (or rather I hope) he was not trying to paint her as a potential icon for gender equality in pursuit of an agenda.

That said, it’s still a strange thing to say in light of the Catholic Church’s troublesome history in regards to  women’s rights, from the writings of Thomas Aquinas that categorize women as “misbegotten males” to the present day with their continued campaign against reproductive rights, assertions by Pope John Paul II of the two primary roles of women being “virgins and mothers,” and the deplorable statement the Vatican released just a year and a half ago that compared the ordination of women into the preisthood to the rape of children. That last one, in fairness, threw even some Bishops into a tizzy. But not enough to change the minds or the attitudes of what remains a very patriarchal institution, which goes against the majority of its faithful who would like to see women able to lead congregations rather than be relegated to apologetic servitude.

Even without the political and social quandaries, I think it’s a bit of a miscategorization to even infer a feminist attitude in Kateri. The primary motivational factor for her refusal to marry seems to be religious, not political. She gravitated towards service to the Church. It certainly wasn’t the Church that empowered or liberated her from her tribe’s social mores.

Then there’s the alleged miracle that led to her canonization on Monday. From the article:

…in 2006, a 6-year-old boy cut his lip during a basketball game in Washington state. Overnight, Jake Finkbonner’s face swelled up and he developed a high fever, according to an NPR report. Doctors at Seattle Children’s Hospital said a flesh-eating bacterium called Strep A was attacking the boy’s face. Over the next few weeks, it destroyed his lips, cheeks and forehead. Doctors told the family the boy was going to die.

The family’s priest asked his congregation to pray to Kateri on Jake’s behalf. The priest chose Kateri because of her facial scars and Indian heritage – Jake is half Lummi Indian.

The prayers started coming in from around the world, and a representative from the Society of the Blessed Kateri went to the hospital to place a pendant of Kateri on the boy’s pillow. The next day, the infection stopped progressing and Jake recovered.

- read more

The implication here is a bit more complicated and, perhaps, more troublesome.

Certainly there were nothing but the best of intentions when the faithful asked the now canonized Kateri to assist in bringing the boy back to health. However, it was based on an antiquated European view of Native Americans as one large group of people with different subsects. Yet the Lummi have about the same claim of kinship to Algonquins or Mohawks as a Spaniard would to a Russian. While it is true that some tribes interacted in commerce and trade and at points intermingled (re: bred), it is not true that all Native Americans are the same peoples. While once again I do not fault those who were blinded by desperation and faith, the confirmation of the event as a miracle (rather than crediting it to medical science and the fact that while potentially causing permanent damage the disease is rarely fatal unless it isn’t treated) only serves to further reinforce a very narrow view of Native Americans as a single culture and ethnicity. This, however, was not true in history and is not true today save for their shared experience of subjugation and loss of identity through Western colonial expansion and outright genocide (a word rarely invoked because we think of Native Americans as one people rather than as different ethnicities, cultures, and/or societies, most of which were eradicated by European settlers).

I will give credit to the Vatican for its eagerness to downplay the supernatural element often associated with claims of “miracles.” In a very real way, the lifting of extraordinary requirements and acceptance of circumstance as evidence has helped modernize the church and eliminated some of the stigma of superstitious nonsense that has weighed it down for centuries. Still, it’s troubling that an organization that still refuses to give women position, prominence, or equal footing with men would canonize a woman they would not allow to become a nun because of her ethnicity and, furthermore, use a racist set of criteria for determining its validity.

SEE ALSO:

• Kateri gets miracle she needed (Cathleen Crowley for the Times Union)
• Saint Kateri: an awful idea by Rosemary Armao (Times Union blogs)

Before the Buffalo Bills’ big test against the New England Patriots last week – one which they passed – Times [...]]]> Earlier today on his Keyboard Krumbs blog, Rob Madeo tells the story of a frivolous sports opinion piece that has exploded in controversy due to internet reaction and the harassment and threats its author received.

Before the Buffalo Bills’ big test against the New England Patriots last week – one which they passed – Times Union Sports and Features writer Jennifer Gish wrote an article that was published in print and online titled “Bills fans need help keeping it real.” The article was intended to be tongue in cheek, but took a very sardonic, cruel, and mean tone that is unfortunately what passes for satire with those who have the unfortunate task of attracting eyeballs and traffic, particularly in that newsroom. She quoted Bills fans and painted them to look ridiculous and foolish. Which in hindsight was a bad idea, particularly with the inclusion of an elderly woman.

Then came the backlash. It being sports, the assholes and anti-social media gurus came out in full force on Twitter, through e-mail, and on blog comments to issue veiled threats, sexist remarks, and downright crude insults towards Gish. It’s ugly stuff and one of the many reasons why I steer clear of sports culture on the whole. (I’ll use this opportunity to note that you would be absolutely floored at how much more civil and respectful MMA blog comments and forums are compared to team sports, and I encourage you to check out my MMA blog Mixed Marshall Arts.)

Gish definitely did not deserve those comments. Even the stuff “suitable” for print was abhorrent.

There’s another issue here, though, which has gone largely ignored but has created quite a stir in certain circles in Albany, including many that I cross with.

Gish told Bryon McKim, one of the fans she quoted in the article, that she was doing a piece on the Bills 2-0 start to the season and their (then) forthcoming game against perennial contenders the New England Patriots. The following is the e-mail sent to him, which he posted on the Bills Backers website along with his response to the article:

“Hi Bryon,
I write a sports column for the TU, and am looking to talk to some Bills fans this week in light of the big test against the Patriots coming up. Can I interview you for it? If you can send me a number and best time to reach you I could call you tonight or tomorrow. I’ll also be reaching out to some of the other ABB. Thanks!
Jennifer”

According to Bryon, the tone of the interview was light and he was given the impression that an entirely different piece was being constructed than what was eventually published. Which, as Lydia Kulbida pointed out on her blog, sometimes happens. What isn’t acceptable is that she took his quotes out of context to make him look foolish, shoving him into a media pillory and embarrassing him on a grand scale. She never gave the impression that she would use anything resembling the tone and slant she ended up with, and when confronted about it, she replied to him and said that she told him that the article was going to be about the fans needing a reality check.  Which is flat out not true: the only reference to a “reality check” was when she asked him if the game against the Patriots was going to be one for Bills fans.

In short, Gish intentionally misrepresented her intentions. Which, regardless of the unnecessary vitriol she received after it was printed, was wrong. Sometimes, in the thick of working on a piece of investigative journalism, some fenagling has to be done in order to get the information you need. But this was a fluff feature piece intended as humor (though woefully lacking in the finer points that separate satire from straight-up ridicule).

Again, you can read Bryon’s full response at the Albany Bills Backers’ official site. As a follow-up, fellow Bills Backer Ed Lass (disclosure: we’re BFFs) touched on one of the many problems with local media and their relationship with readers:

Newspapers are in a tough place. A Pew Research Center study earlier this year tells us that only 31% of Americans consider a newspaper to be a main source of news in their life. This is down from 45% in 2001. The internet provides news to 41% of Americans while TV still dominates with a 66% share. (Before all you math whizzes point out that this is greater than 100%, I’ll just say that Pew allowed people to choose more than one main source of news. Less than a third still chose the newspaper.)

Agreed, and what occurred here is one of the many reasons why this shift has occurred. Newspapers are getting desperate. Desperation brings attention, but it rarely brings anything resembling trust or admiration.

Ed also (rightly) chastises those comments and urges any of those reading to retract them. But he also touches on a salient point that I myself have been grappling with since this whole thing exploded:

On Twitter, Ms. Gish’s colleague Kristi Gustafson Barlette reports that Jennifer has been the target of “classless name-calling and physical threats.” I haven’t independently verified this, but I don’t condone it, and I hope it’s not coming from Albany Bills Backers who read Bryon’s call to action. If you’ve ever read the comments sections of the Times Union blogs, you’ll learn that TU readers are some of the most crass and vile people you’ll never meet. Apparently some of them are also the same Bills fans that I explained have moved here. I regret that. If anyone reading this has had a hand particularly in threats but also in name-calling, I would ask you to please retract the comments. An eye for an eye makes the world blind.

The emphasis in bold is mine, not Ed’s. He’s not making the following point, but I will.

For far too long the Times Union, in its attempt to circumvent shrinking circulation and growing pains associated with the transition to 21st century media, has perpetuated and condoned the sort of ugliness that led to what happened with Gish. This is not to say she or other individuals are culpable for the inexcusable behavior of others, but it does make it more likely for people to jump over that line when a major newspaper blurs it by allowing comments to see the light of day that contain personal attacks and blogs from staff members that openly ridicule people a la “People of Wal-mart.”

I don’t mind telling you right now that I tried my damndest to deep-six all of that, and if I did let it through I made it a point to let them know that it wasn’t welcome or condoned on my space. But that’s because I want a better, not bigger, audience. The Times Union, unfortunately, doesn’t feel it has the luxury of that choice. Which is a shame for everyone. Especially the readers, who whether they are cognizant of it or not are the ones that suffer the most when local media takes the low road and compromises its value and integrity for the sake of SEO.

The bottom line, though, is that nothing before or after that article was written justified tricking regular people into making fools of themselves at the highest level of local media (and vice-versa lest anyone accuse me of condoning the attacks). What occurred with that article only encourages skepticism and distrust towards the press. Which is probably why Mike Huber’s well-intentioned offer to host a Bills Backers blog on the TU site will likely go ignored.

They’ve already been burned and seen others burned too. Last thing they want is to climb into the oven.

I’ve sung the praies of Cathleen Crowley before. Please read the above story, which is simply exceptional.

The Hospice employees and EMTs cannot and should not be a part of this discussion, at least not in terms of what they should [...]]]> From the Times Union: Life Interrupts an Attempt to Die at Home

I’ve sung the praies of Cathleen Crowley before. Please read the above story, which is simply exceptional.

The Hospice employees and EMTs cannot and should not be a part of this discussion, at least not in terms of what they should or should not have done. Every one of them did exactly and absolutely what they were duty-bound to do. Any other course of action would have been a dereliction of duty.

 Where the fault lies is, unfortunately, is with the unavoidable complications that always come with an imperfect world.

 One is our perception of life and death. In particular, the majority still holds the belief that one should be forced to live out his oer her life to its bitter end with nothing to expediate the process, no matter how far the situation degrades or how great the suffering becomes. I cannot for certain say that I respectfully disagree with someone on the premise of “right to die,” because I strongly believe that imposing your discomfort with the idea of choosing to die – or allowing someone who has made that choice to have someone assist them when they are unable to carry out the process on their own – is a special kind of cruelty; where one’s character flaws and a misinterpretation of mercy result in righteousness and ego superceding the comforts and rights of others.

 Of course, it’s not always simple. Certainly not in this case, since the woman was attempting to do it herself and is allowed under the law to make the choice to end her own life. There is no law or legislation or change in policy that could have prevented this from happening. In this case, all the laws – the ones that allowed her to end her own life and the ones that required the EMTs to revive her – are as they should be. The sad and unfortunate truth is that you cannot legislate absolutely. In other words, there will always be a time when the law works to the detriment of another, and there will always be a situation such as this one where questions arise and the best of intentions get in the way of a person’s choice to have a peaceful, dignified passing in the comfort of their own home.

 No easy answers on this one, but lots of fascinating questions.

(scan courtesy my friend Dennis B.)

Like I said, it was amicable and stuff like this shows it. So long and thanks for all the fish.

…wait a minute, NO MENTION OF KEVIN MARSHALL ONLINE DOT COM?! You’re dead [...]]]> The Times Union saw fit to feature my departure today in its print edition:

(scan courtesy my friend Dennis B.)

Like I said, it was amicable and stuff like this shows it. So long and thanks for all the fish.

…wait a minute, NO MENTION OF KEVIN MARSHALL ONLINE DOT COM?! You’re dead to me, you corporate shits.

Some of you have asked why I moved off the Times Union blogroll. There’s been some talk that it was due to a gross invasion of privacy from a Times Union staff member (although that did actually happen, it [...]]]>

a likeness

Welcome to the new home of Kevin Marshall’s America here on Kevin Marshall Online dot com.

Some of you have asked why I moved off the Times Union blogroll. There’s been some talk that it was due to a gross invasion of privacy from a Times Union staff member (although that did actually happen, it was done out of spite, and still nobody can tell me why) or a falling out of some sort.

The truth is a lot less sexy: it was just time.

When I joined the Times Union reader blogger army, it was with one goal in mind: to get some exposure, build a rapport with readers, gain some valuable experience, get connections, and above all do some good with all of it. With all that in mind, I can only say and will continue to say that I have no regrets about my time spent with the Albany Times Union and that it was a resounding success.

Well, except the part where I never got paid. But as much as I frequently joked about it, it was just that – joking – and it was a volunteer gig all along. That said, I had gotten everything I was going to get out of the arrangement, so it was time to move onto my own space and monetize it.

This space will continue along the same trajectory as the old blog, but with some tweaks here and there. What to look for over the course of the next several weeks:

• New features
• Plugs for (and the return of) Mixed Marshall Arts, my fighting/MMA blog.
• All of the old material from the old TU blog, plus all comments. Continue the same shitty conversations as before! Speaking of which…
• Occasional cussing
• Details on my foray into stand-up comedy(!)
• And, hopefully, much more.

Thank you to all of those who have followed me over and especially those few of you who have followed this blog in its various incarnations, from its pathetic beginnings in LiveJournal to its move to a WordPress.com blog to the Times Union to here on my very own space.

Onwards and upwards and all that…

It’s been an interesting and fun ride, mostly due to the readers I’ve encountered both in the digital realm and those that have done me the small courtesy of making [...]]]> After 18 months, nearly 750 posts, and over 9,000 comments, this will be the final post for Kevin Marshall’s America in the Times Union blogosphere.

It’s been an interesting and fun ride, mostly due to the readers I’ve encountered both in the digital realm and those that have done me the small courtesy of making themselves known to me in public and giving me the great compliment of saying they’ve spent a little time reading all the musings and missives in this space.

In addition the readers, thanks goes to the Times Union and its interactive audience manager/Blog Czar, Mike Huber.

It’s not the end of the blog. Kevin Marshall’s America will continue over atKevinMarshallOnline.com, along with some other things in the pipeline coming through that I’m very excited about and am eager to share with you.

So don’t think of it as you waving goodbye to me tearfully from a dock as I board a ship departing for the other side of the world, never to be seen again. Rather, think of it as you waving goodbye to the aforementioned ship while I scream “HEY DOOFUS, I’M RIGHT OVER HERE” from ten feet away.

As far as the Times Union and I go, though, this is a final goodbye. So long, and thanks for all the fish.