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Globe couldn't find any Latinos to explain what the World Series win meant?
By adamg on Mon, 11/04/2013 - 7:55am
Jose Masso wrote a letter to the Globe after reading the eight essays and a poem about the Sox, none by Latinos about a team basically led by a Latino:
This is our “effing city too” and maybe, just maybe, under the new ownership of the Globe it will be reflected every time we celebrate the positive.
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Comments
Guess what?
It won't.
Thank you
Many thanks for linking back to my piece and José Massó's excellent open letter to the Globe.
Good guess.
Good guess.
When the phone doesn't ring
You'll know it's John Henry--NOT saying Ola!
I don't get it. What's the
I don't get it. What's the beef?
Of course you don't.
Of course you don't.
Well then 'splain it to me...
Well then 'splain it to me.... Did the Globe censor those, or did they not exist?
Lucy!
You got a lotta splainin to do!
You don't seem to either,
You don't seem to either, otherwise you would have taken the opportunity to try to educate someone.
My time is too valuable to
My time is too valuable to spend explaining the incredibly obvious. I'll stick to the merely obvious.
Translation:
"I don't really have a clue, but I like indulging in vague anti-intellectualism as much as the next mook".
We don't know if the Glob editors were lazy, quietly bigotted, clueless, or just unlucky (I'd guess they asked a few more than eight people, and took the first ones that said 'yes' and delivered a publishable piece in time).
I agree with Misters Varela and Massó that it would have been appropriate and informative to have some latino persectives in that collection - personally I would be especially interested in reading Junot Díaz's take (although he himself is fond of pointing out that he is a slooow writer, so it may be a little while).
(also btw - yay ¡Con Salsa!)
Let me join you in being
Let me join you in being clueless.I don't see what the problem is , I mean , poems and essays? Not too pertinent to the average reader I would think. What perspective is being conveyed here , some rendition of '' Casey at the Bat '' that is supposed chic? If the lamentor is unhappy , he could initiate something on that level , culture wise and poem wise. Now you have to be fluent with Robert Frost and Walt Whitman to read about the Red Sox winning the World Series ? '' O CAPTAIN! my Captain! our fearful trip is done
The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won ! ''
Or how about Shakespeare's '' Much Ado about Nothing '' ,, sheesh , can't we all just be happy they won, Boston Happy !
Boston is 18% Hispanic
The issue isn't who was in the Globe, it is that none of the faces represented the 18%. I am too lazy to drag it out, but I am confident that there was a representative from the 25% of the population that are black.
This is a subtle thing. When section G started, they put all of the "black" comics together, disbursing them when people complained. The only comic with primarily Hispanic characters in a Boston paper appears in the anathema of this blog, the Herald. A few years ago, the Metro got into hot water for asking 4 or 5 couples what their Valentines Day plans were, and they were all straight (though racially diverse) couples.
So, is it an issue. It is if you think it is. It isn't if you don't think so. An issue in the media is bias, even subtle bias. Journalists are college grads now for the most part, so can they relate to someone who took up a trade after high school. The Globe gets mocked when they have some article where the reporter didn't know something the average Bostonian, or person even, has known for years.
Maybe the next time the Red Sox win, they will have blurbs from Hispanic Bostonians in the Globe. Let's hope we find out soon!
And just why is it soooo
flipping important that the results of an essay contest about those grossly overpaid and largely underworked millionaires called the Red Sox reflect the "diversity" of the City?
I appreciate that there are significant issues facing minorities of all races both in the City and in society in general. But pissing and moaning about the outcome of a silly essay contest only bespoils their image and detracts from efforts to seriously address such issues.
Oh, you're right
I was taking kvn at face value when heard he didn't get it.
I dont get how or what a poem
I dont get how or what a poem or essay has to do with the Red Sox winning the World Series, and how anyone would try to inject the hint of racism by somewhat innocent lamenting the lack of diversity in the samples published. Its no big secret the roster is diverse , but they all wear the same uniform, except no more number 42 in honor of Jackie Robinson , rightfully so , since Mariano retired. That is melting pot stuff, one team, all for one, ect. If you want to get all inteligentsia about it , there are more sophisticated publications to pursue this perspective.
I really don't , but somehow
I really don't , but somehow an earlier post got shredded here, but really poems and essays, give me Jimmy Breslin any day.
Just fyi:
Just fyi:
Massachusetts is 10 percent Hispanic, 7.9% black and 5.9% Asian.
Identity politics suck
There are a nearly infinite number of categories that could be brought out to claim that any given sample of people doesn't fairly represent the population of Boston. Unusually tall people. Unusually fast runners. People whose last name begins with J. People with red hair. People who work in construction. Uniformed military personnel. Etc., etc., etc.,
But don't you think...
... the Globe might have gotten some interesting (and different and nice) responses if it had (for example) sought some from Dominican-Americans or from Japanese students studying here?
Absolutely, I do.
But their failure to do so would simply be lazy journalism and not institutionalized bigotry.