Secrets of the City

someone around here posts a pic of a tempest in a teacup for this kind of sitch.

that would be fitting here.

MEGA-META-IDGAF

CJ’s spelling is heinous.

Bonkers, that’s because she doesn’t know how to use the email spell check.

roflcopter

She must be stopped.

pooper scooper

I assume the J in CJ stands for journalist. I can only imagine what the C stands for.

Larry Fitzgerald?

The Strib fired how many people yet keeps a gossip columnist on staff?

“Write” on, Strib!

Larry Fitzgerald?

The Strib fired how many people yet keeps a gossip columnist on staff?

“Write” on, Strib!

This seems like the appropriate time to mention “Withering Glance”.

LOVE the Fitzgerald baby daddy fixation.

I assume the J in CJ stands for journalist. I can only imagine what the C stands for.

With her spelling, it probably stands for ‘bacon.’

Aaaand, there is the segue into bacon.

I assume the J in CJ stands for journalist. I can only imagine what the C stands for.

I think that Dick Cheney nailed what the C stands for. God, she comes off as angry and self-important. How does a hack like that survive the layoffs when real talent gets thrown out on their asses?

citypages joins in on the fun: http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2008/04/the_scoop_how_b.php

For some reason, I’m really excited to see CJ write about this.

Congrats Schmelzer – she’ll begrudge you for life!

Some interesting nuggets from CJ’s exchange. Apparently, bloggers have really leveled the playing field for breaking news, at least in the eyes of reporters: “With all the blogs and monitors out there, I’ll take a minor scoop…”

And technology continues to elude and baffle many hacks: “Excuse my typos. I don’t know how work the e-mail spell checker. ~ C.J.”

Uh oh.

Also from CJ’s emails: “Now, the interview with the grandmother about Larry Fitzgerald Jr’s fatherhood, that’s a minor scoop, too, right?”

Yup.

And, as Tinnie requested…

Stribs very public affirmative action posterchild haz Job for life.

Wow, that wasn’t offensive at all.

Oh man, teucer I love that photo. Did you create it? I’m totally saving it to send to co-workers when the going gets mistaken as tough.

Oh thanks.

I was startled to discover on a cursory Google Images search that I couldn’t find such an image a while ago, so I made my own.

Well, that looks a bit like Katrina, so the going might really be tough.

honestly, what a self-important, silly person. whining about a scoop when the Strib has lost so much talent and has gotten to be so very bad
what a huge waste of newsprint CJ is. thanks, other mnspeakers for your thoughts. (especially you, sornie)
and teucer, thanks for the tempest in a teacup. . . although I have also heard the saying tempest in a teapot
another saying may be apropo here:
maybe CJ will break her nose in a low doorway. . . as we used to say about stuck-up youngsters when I was a kid

There it is!

Yay!

I know Bud’s an idiot, but come on, Max. He’s not THAT out of line. CJ HAS been known to play the race card (not that there’s anything wrong with that). The paper IS sort of terrified of her. Probably for good reason. She’s a high profile black woman who played the discrimination card when she was suspended for throwing water on that dude at that U of M function a few years back.

I mean, girlfriend still writes about Fancy Ray for Obama’s sake.

Chillax with the r-word.

Unless she was actually hired as a result of affirmative action, the comment is out of line and racist. Sorry if you don’t get that, Steve.

Yes, Bud is a racist. But nobody else is talking about it, and race is definitely a part of the CJ package. I mean, CJ is the highest profile black writer in the Twin Cities. I’ve talked to her about how she feels about that and she does feel discriminated against by a portion of her white readership (and her white non-readership). But then she goes and perpetuates racial stereotypes herself by hammering “the tabloid lifestyles” of star black athletes like Larry Fitzgerald. Wow, big scoop on the paternity suit, Ceej. Jesus. I mean, maybe she’s the only one who’s comfortable enough to moralize about the black athletes in our lily white community. And in that way, maybe she does use her race as a perverse competitive edge. The Strib’s columnists are all white dudes. And neither sports section, nor KFAN, really has any personality approaching a Jim Rome-type really. So maybe she’s not exactly the Strib’s poster-person for affirmative action, but she does seem to have found a curious little niche market in a self-consciously PC organization, no?

What does that have to do with affirmative action?

You make good points, but I was responding to Bud’s unsupported claim that CJ was either hired or maintains her job because she’s black.

CJ’s spelling is heinous.

Good thing Douglas changed his name. Can you imagine her trying to tackle Kruhoeffer?

No, it wasn’t an affirmative action thing. They can afford her ‘cuz she works for peanuts. Anyone seen her car? My ‘79 Pinto was a better ride than that…in 1996.

Full disclosure: I still think JR Rider-smokes-so-much-weed one liners are funny.

what about Sprewell yacht jokes?

Max! Grote is implying that Latrell Sprewell is a spendthrift of color! Where’s that Easy Button?

I have black friends.

Seriously, grote–Spree still has a family to feed. Don’t posterboyize me as mnspeak’s racially insensitive White Bear Lake suburban transplant just because I giggle every time I think of JR huffing ganj from a coke can behind the wheel of his Lexus.

Gawd, this woman takes herself so seriously it sickens me. Get this: She lives in my building downtown and whenever she goes out she wears disguises (large hat or hood, sunglasses, etc.) and refuses to speak to *anyone* in the building. I literally passed her in the tiny hall outside my condo door and she doesn’t say a word. Hold the door open for her, and not a word.

Yup, CJ, we’re all after your fame and fortunes because of your brilliant “journalism” for the StarTribune.

Give me a break.

I’m grote’s black facebook friend.

Cool. I’m not sure I have any black Facebook Friends. Oh wait — yes I do, but they’re mostly Africans (fellow alumni from the high school I attended in Liberia) and not African Americans, so I don’t know if gives me street cred.

can’t check it right now, brandi, but there have to be at least 3 others on there. now that I think about it, it’s looking an awful lot like the ethnic / racial make-up of my high school graduating class. about 200 people…4 black, a smattering of asians & arabs, 30% wasp and the rest jews. weird.

I din’t have that many black Facebook friends, but black people often compliment the way I dress when I’m walking down the street.

brandi…I’m also relatively sure that you’re the only crossover between my black friends and my Blake friends.

Sparber, you’re a buffoon.

If you really choose to see racists (me?) behind every hedgrow, that’s strictly your trip, baby.

85% of a sole black writer’s “column” containing “news” about black people?
In a 90% white marketplace?

‘Splain it to me. Marsh actually makes sense in trying to enlighten you.

She and Syl are grinding the same axe.

If there’s a racist in your hedgerow, don’t be alarmed now
It’s just a spring clean for the bud queen.

And sparber, please tell me how you have managed to cater to and include the black “community” here on Mnspeak?

I mean, in your candy colored altruistic world, shouldn’t that be happening?

I do so by yelling at racists. Duh.

Although I don’t take lightly to Marsh running his accusatory mouth.

Gross.

“Yelling at racists”.

How very, um, PC of you.

How’s that working out?

somebody get bud some cheese…’cause that cracker’s already got some whine.

Fabulous.

How’s being a douche working out for you bud?

You don’t know me.

What gives you the right?

Oh bud… you crazy whack job, you. What are we ever going to do with you?

You don’t know me.

What gives you the right?

Hypocritical… check.

Anyone keeping a list?

Wait, you have other Blake friends? I’m sorry. Considering the number of black alumni, I’m sure there’s little crossover.

You don’t know me.

What gives you the right?

For the most part, few of us actually know each other. Hence, we can only know one another by virtue of what we choose to post on this site. And bud, for you to think that we’d collectively think of you as anything but racist either shows a tremendous disconnect between who you are and what you write or delusion.

You’ve said some pretty nasty stuff on here. That doesn’t mean everything you’ve written is racist. But you’ve dropped enough vitriolic waste around here to out yourself as a bigot. If you don’t like that, either don’t participate or choose your words more carefully.

(And I’ve written enough of these preachy posts to out myself as a moralistic sermonizer. And I’ll stick to it.)

I knoooow yoooou, Nathan Eklund

ooooOOOooooooo
(ghost noises)

Me too. I have all his albums.

I swear to Zeus, wayne. If I see you on your bike, I’m going to hit you with my Hummer! I’ll do it.

Happy birthday. May some of your wishes come true this festive weekend.

THAT Nathan Eklund is a trumpeter out of NYC. He’s successful, well-known, and respected in the music community. Hence, all we share is a name.

85% of a sole black writer’s “column” containing “news” about black people?
In a 90% white marketplace?

Splain it to me.

Well in the Twin Cities we have a few types of celebs:
1. Athletes
2. Media folk
3. Business folk
4. Garrison Keillor
5. Fancy Ray
6. Prince

1. Okay, football and basketball players in general tend to get more media attention for their shenanigans off the court/field. Additionally, T-wolves players and Vikings players have more “big(ger) names” (read: recognizable ff the court/field.) people than the Wild and the Twins have. The overwhelming majority of the Vikings and the T-wolves are black. Therefore, athletes are gossiped about are probably going to be black.

2. CJ does, in fact, cover a lot of the media folk who are not black. Actually, the majority of the one’s she covers are not black because there aren’t that many black media folk.

3. There are only a few business folk that people care about and those are definitely white people. However, the rest of the paper tends to cover the shenanigans of these people (either in business or local/national crime). So, really, who cares what CJ has to say.

4. White guy

5. Black guy (ed. what the hell happened to him anyway?)

6. Black guy

In conclusion, white people are boring.

Oh My god, you are totally forgetting an entire category of local celebrity:

Minnesota indie stars from the 80s.

That being said, none of them have written books anywhere near as cool as One Bad Dude.

Oh My god, you are totally forgetting an entire category of local celebrity:

Minnesota indie stars from the 80s.

Good call.

In conclusion, white people are still boring but slightly less boring that I previously though.

I insist on maintaining the delusion that you are the same guy, Nate. Kind of the way I do with Noam Chomsky the linguist and Noam Chomsky the leftist.

“Minnesota indie stars from the 80s.”

Are any of them left? I thought Paul Westerberg and Bob Mould moved away.

what’s this I hear about nate giving wayne a hummer?

When they come back, we gossip about them.

Are any of them left? I thought Paul Westerberg and Bob Mould moved away.

Oh there’s a couple left.