Recently in Media Category

A small article appeared Monday that many likely only skimmed or completely ignored.

Two women, according to writers at The Gazette, were arrested as part of a Cedar Rapids police prostitution sting. I'm always curious as to what pushes a woman to sell her own body, which is a topic rarely included in news articles, but I'm always loathe to check. After noting that such information was not included, I kept going back to the story, which was originally posted without photographs of the women, to read the comments.

In America, and maybe in other places as well, women are too often judged on outer appearances instead of their spirit -- and profession isn't a limiting force. Don't believe me? Check out the video that Minnesota Senate Republicans felt was appropriate for their website. Women, regardless of merit or economic station, are continually judged by their appearance.

As evidence, the first comment on The Gazette's online site is by username icgma, requesting "Mugshots, please!" The comment received a push rating of two, and is followed by several similarly degrading comments that left me with visions of pigs in Chinos, salivating over a trough of rotten produce.

According to Hollywood and front-page political sex scandals, prostitution is glamorous, right? Only for a select few.

Most of the prostitutes that I've had the honor of speaking with (and it is *always* an honor when people provide you access to their lives and their thoughts) are a lot like I imagine these two women to be. That is, many of the women I've spoken with don't feel they have the skills or talents to move into a more traditional industry -- and, even if they wanted to, they believe traditional earnings would be much less than what can be garnered by turning tricks. Some have children at home to support, others have drug habits or alcohol addictions that need constant nurturing. They were not saints, nor were they demons.

But none of those commenting at The Gazette seem interested in learning more about what makes people tick, or what that says about or how it impacts larger society. They are content, as most are, to simply judge a book by its cover.

Tonight at the Cedar Rapids City Council meeting I met a young African-American woman.  She was there to tell her story about the flood.  She was timid and wasn't sure she would be able to read it.  I told her I would read it for her.  This is what she wrote:

"On June 11th 2008 I was a Linn County jail inmate on a probation violation.  As the water started rising we said to the guards are we gonna go to safety and they said it won't hit the jail and if we have to we will move you to the next floor.  We was watching the water go up and up.  We all was praying and freaking out that we wouldn't be stranded on Mays Island.  They didn't let us see if our family was alright.  I couldn't sleep cuz I was scared I was gonna die in jail and not be able to see my family before that happens.  I watched the water go over the wall by Smulekoff and up the 4th Ave block by block the lights went out. That was the most scariest thing I've ever seen in my life time.  I watched the Smulekoffs van float down the street .  The guards came in and told us about 5:30 AM the 12th and told us we would be leaving the Linn County jail.  The guards moved their cars and mattresses before us.  They left us in the building all night with a gas smell that was making me dizzy and sick.  We had wristbands with our number on it to identify our bodys.  And handcuffed 2 people together and shackled our legs.  We went to the first floor and the water was to my knees.  The guys and girls were all together on the 1st floor.  The guys were put in moving vans pilled up.  We had around 40 women on one city bus.  The bus I was on was full of water almost to my knees> The buses barely made it over the bridge.  The guards wouldn't even tell our familys the truth about us.  They told my mom and family that they moved us 2 days before they really did.  We didnt even know if our family was dead or alive.  Then after the flood all I got was $65.00 for my things.  I had a $100.00 shoes and a jacket.  We wasn't even allowed to bring our stuff such as pictures when we was moved to Oakdale we ate peanut butter sandwiches for lunch and dinner every day.  Nothing to even almost fill us up.  I didn't get to take a shower or brush my teeth for 3-4 days."

Who treats people like this?  Shackled together in a flood?  That's stupid and cruel.  In movies you always see those horrible prisons that are in Louisiana or Texas, just somewhere down South.  All I have to say is, that's a movie.  This is real life in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Oh, I did ask her why she was in probation to start with.  Forgery.  Not a crime worth a chance of an accidental death by drowning.

I had a short facebook discussion this week with Brent Oleson, author of The Marion Contrarian blog and member of the Linn County Supervisors. I initiated the discussion after I read a post by Brent and took exception to his use of the phrase "prima donna" in a post that was critical of a certain female state lawmaker.

I began the discussion as an educational exercise because I believe that many of us are guilty of using words that infer something we never intentioned. For instance, do we want to "man the desk" or are we "staffing the desk"? Is the gem man-made or is it synthetic? Is the person who leads a team of workers a foreman or a supervisor?

In each of my examples, the words and phrases used essentially hold the same meaning. Their differences lie in the eyes of the beholders.

Brent stated that he viewed the term "prima donna" as gender neutral -- a position he said was backed up by a quick check of the dictionary. I haven't taken time to double-check his assertion, because it ultimately isn't germane to the discussion at hand. As writers, especially blog writers who often produce inasmuch to sway as to inform, we need to be able to see our word choices through the eyes of readers and set aside those that tend to muddy our key point.

When I clicked over to Brent's post, I was greeted by a picture of the female legislator followed immediately by a photograph of the villain character from the Wizard of Oz. I cringed, but was at least thankful that Brent hadn't pulled the lawmaker's face into the Oz graphic -- or had otherwise gone in search of a silly photo her family had posted on facebook. Then I read Brent's direct comparison of the female legislator to "the wicked witch of the west" -- I guess because the two graphics weren't explicit enough.

When I finally began to hit the main point of his post (sixth paragraph) I was sidetracked by the prima donna phrase. At that point, I was no longer paying much attention to the information Brent was presenting. I was still reading, mind you, but my brain was going through a mental flow chart to determine whether or not the writer -- someone I believed to be a basically good person -- was intentionally using sexist imagery to bolster his position.

I didn't and don't want to think that is the case, but for better or worse the seed has been unnecessarily planted. Brent has a legitimate beef against the lawmaker based on policy, but he chose to preface his argument with the subject of gender. There is no doubt he scored a few "good ole boy" points and likely a few laughs for his "cleverness," but only at the detriment to the thoughts he really wanted to convey.

In that respect, he not only perpetrated an injustice against the lawmaker, but an injustice to the cause that he hoped to represent.

I was able to listen to the Podcast of the Bob Bruce Radio Show on WMTradio.com early Sunday morning.  You can find it here.  Bob talks about the latest hot topic in Cedar Rapids, the Yardy and the safety device that has been pitched to the City Council and has been added to the City Budget for $540,000.  He spoke with Inventor Kim Brokaw.  Kim Brokaw admitted that he was NOT following directions when he was injured, he did NOT have the lid closed. 

You've got to listen to this podcast if for no other reason to listen to Bob singing "yardy" to the tune of "Feelings", it's a once in a lifetime experience :-)  or at least we can hope!  Just kidding Bob!

I also spent some time watching the video from Budget meeting #10 on www.neighborhoodnetworknews.com.  Councilman Chuck Wieneke had the best idea of all.  If indeed, the Yardy is a danger to us, let's collect them all and just start using paper sacks to put yard trash in.  I agree.  That's a lot better than spending a half a million bucks!!!

If you have not taken the time to read the comment section on KCRG you've got to go there.  Be ready to laugh.  Some of the comments are hilarious.  Several people have commented that this is the first time they have seen everyone on the same page in a comment section.  There seem to be more than a few of us that think this is a stupid decision by our Council.

Another comment about watching the video.  I was amazed to watch how giddy Kris Gulick was as he talked about being able to help Kim Brokaw get his product marketed.

Wednesday's City Council meeting should be an interesting one.  I wonder just how long the public comment line will be.

Kathy Potts

It's difficult to know exactly where Shane Goodman, editor of CityView, stands based on a quick read of his latest editorial. On one hand, he seems to think there are too many women staffing news desks around the land, and that their very presence is leading to him being force-fed soft news stories on throw pillows. On the other, he wants readers to enjoy the publication's latest soft news piece on how women can get and keep a man -- which is, ironically, written by what must be one of the last few male reporters on the CityView roster.

His primary dig seems to be directed to The Des Moines Register, but there is little need for me to start defending that publication's honor. Rekha Basu, a seasoned journalist on the DMR staff that I greatly admire, already took care of business in that respect.

What's important to note is that CityView promotes itself as central Iowa's "alternative" weekly. Basically, CityView wants you to think that it is an alternative to what is customary and conventional. Viewing Goodman's column in that light, several things come into focus.

1) The column is an apology to (like-minded male) readers. He is simply saying, "Damn it, I don't want to run this useless fluff, but these silly women have taken up reading and writing and forced my hand."

2) Goodman has a very low opinion of his own female employees and readers. He wrote, "Only a third of our staff at the office is men..." and "...occasional static from some females about not having enough news for women." Logically, if his news crew was predominantly women and, at least in his mind's eye, women are only interested in reporting on "hot colors for throw pillows," then it would follow that CityView would offer a more than adequate supply of soft news that would appeal to soft-news-seeking female readers, right?

3) Goodman stereotypes his male readership, possibly in an attempt to remake them in his own image. He wrote, "There's something for all of us guys to learn in the book, too, if we can put down our TV remotes, wrenches and the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition long enough to soak it in."

I've worked with enough older male journalists and editors to understand the whole hankering for days gone by -- newsrooms filled with male smoke, male obscenities and male flatulence. It was so much easier when the sexes didn't publicly mingle, male reporters covered male policymakers and community leaders, and "skirts" were only good for the occasional scandal. Back then, at least I'm told, reporters felt free to call each other "boobs" or "panty-waists" or even "pussies" for not getting out there and banging some heads together -- well, at least when they weren't sharing a cigar and beer at the country club with those who were overdue for public flogging. 

I also get that it is much more convenient to point to 'chickification' instead of unraveling the news industry's woes of technological advancements, decreased readership, low ad revenues and ever-increasing expenditure costs.

What I get most of all -- and this is mostly due to the wonderful and educational time I've spent with older journalists both male and female -- is that leaders don't scapegoat. Leaders consider all options and, upon having made a thoughtful decision, don't screw it up with public blood- or testosterone-letting.

Probably not appropriate for work due to questionable language, but nonetheless one of the best spoofs/responses I've seen in ages:

And for those who haven't had the misfortune of seeing the original ad, which supposedly promotes the Dodge Charger, here it is: