Hanson's Folly, updated: There's still no diversity among regular News and Tribune opinion columnists.

I took a gander in February, checked again in June, and updated again circa late August (and posted at Twitter).

Hanson's Folly: There remains a complete absence of diversity among regular News and Tribune columnists. 

Here's a fresh update. Obviously elections bring out the letters to the editor, and so the sample size is slightly smaller than usual for periods of the same length. 

• Letters 20
• White Male Columnists 18
• White Female Columnists 3
• Black Male Columnist 1
• Editorial Board 1

Allow me to calculate (because readers would notice, anyway) that of the 22 opinion columns, whether authored by whites, blacks, males or females, all writers probably are over the age of 50 (with the exception of staffer Daniel Suddeath), and all but one of them are white (95% of column slots).

Back in June, publisher Bill Hanson lamented racial injustice in America and bemoaned his own white "privilege," asking in essence what's to be done? Since then, 80-odd percent or more of his newspapers have continued to be old white people. I'd sugar-coat it if possible, but it isn't possible.

Publisher, heal thyself.  

Here are the screen shots at the News and Tribune's website ("Opinion"), beginning October 8, ending October 30. 

Hanson's Folly: There remains a complete absence of diversity among regular News and Tribune columnists.

Different mix from May 23 - June 16
but no substantive change.

Bill Hanson is the publisher of the Jeffersonville News and Tribune. Recently he lamented injustice and his own "privilege," asking in essence what's to be done?

Let's look at his newspaper's opinion column scorecard since May 23: Of opinion pieces identified as columns, 25 were authored by white males, 4 by women.

Of the 25 columns authored by white males, 22 came from "older" writers (my guess, above the age of 50), the exception being three written by the newspaper's reporter Daniel Suddeath. Four columns were authored by women, one of them a black woman (another came from Susan Duncan, the newspaper's editor).

The black woman is from Georgia and edits a sister CNHI paper there. Probably it was a one-off.

Actually Suddeath's most recent column takes an oblong glance at the problem, focusing on local elected leaders, but also with this precise comment:

Let’s not pass the buck. We also need more people of color in our newsrooms. In 15 years of full-time journalism, I’ve worked with very few black people. This has an effect on what news is published, regardless of our intentions.

Let's review. Using opinion columns as a gauge, the News and Tribune scores 86% from white male writers, most of them "older" in age; 14% female writers; and 3% black. There's the whole range of societal perspectives gifted to us by Bill Hanson.

It's noteworthy that these percentages haven't varied an iota since the last time I counted five months ago -- except for the black woman from Georgia. There had been no columns by black writers the last time I looked.

ON THE AVENUES: There is a complete absence of diversity among regular News and Tribune columnists.

To answer Hanson's agonized question -- what's to be done? -- perhaps first the publisher needs to spend some time in front of a mirror.

Maybe HIS newspaper would like to provide topical newspaper opinion column debate beyond that of his old white male buddies: a non-Christian religious perspective, a gay (not) straight point of view, and yes, a regularly recurring outlook from a person of color.

The likelihood is that Hanson is terrified of the backlash from his ... that's right, predominantly older, conservative readership.

The answer is staring you in the face, Bill. If you don't have any intention of embracing it, then at least spare us the crocodile tears, okay?

Diversity isn't the newspaper's only problem ...

ON THE AVENUES: There is a complete absence of diversity among regular News and Tribune columnists.

It is recorded that the American president Lyndon Baines Johnson, presumably the most powerful single person in the world at the time, was asked why he didn’t terminate the loathsome FBI director and public policy liability J. Edgar Hoover.

Johnson replied with a back country Texas aphorism.

“I'd rather have him inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in.”

LBJ omitted a little-known but perfectly plausible third possibility: outside the tent pissing, but pissing in the opposite direction from the tent, which describes my own coordinates during the Great Sabbatical of 2020.

If you’re a slobbering, monetizing Gahanite, a view of my back is about the best variety of neutrality you can expect of me, although I’ve never come anywhere close to harboring the malice (or ugly raw power) of J. Edgar.

Now 59 years into this great experiment called “my life,” I placidly accept the unlikelihood of ever feeling truly comfortable inside any of society’s tents. This isn’t to imply a general refusal to cooperate or to be constructive on a case by case basis. If it makes sense, I’ll pitch in and help.

I merely care not to belong to any club that would have me as a member, and given the tendency of tent dwellers to insist on a certain level of Kool Aid consumption to promote sheep-like conformity, it’s just best that I wheel my beer cooler into the fresh evening air and find other flowers to water.

We're all happier that way.

---

As for my sabbatical, it’s moving along quite smoothly, thank you. I reckon a success rate of 85% in removing myself from local political commentary; with the exception of this column, if something takes more than a half hour to research and compose, it’s not allowed.

Consequently I’m breaking down complicated ideas into smaller, easier digested chunks and trying to be more efficient in organizing my time and taking notes, which also comes in handy with my daily Food & Dining Magazine web site posts and a steadily escalating commitment to blogging about beer at the Pints&union homepage.

One challenge I made to myself this year was to renew ON THE AVENUES. By reducing the volume of my overall publishing regimen, hopefully there’d be more time to write original weekly columns rather than give in to the temptation of plagiarizing myself or relying on reruns. So far in 2020, I’ve managed nine consecutive “fresh” columns. It's a victory.

Today’s column will be a bit shorter than usual. So much for the wind-up; here’s the pitch.

---

Late in the evening of Tuesday, February 25, I squeezed into a full body condom and pointed my browser at the News and Tribune web site.

Somewhere during the course of reading elsewhere, I’d seen a reference to diversity on newspaper opinion pages, and it prompted the recollection that favored News and Tribune columnist Tom May has two different photographs to delineate between his “always about one variety among dozens of religions” column and his other, “general interest with marginally less religion although it’s often still there” column.

(Why does one writer get two placements? They're never answered this question.)

I clicked on the local chain newspaper’s “opinion” tab and scrolled to the bottom, until I could scroll no more. The “diversity” on display at this portal was precisely as I’d imagined it would be, which is to say none at all, and so I took another step and recorded what was revealed.

The sample range was February 7th through the 26th, which represents the “opinion” tab’s available range of dates. News and Tribune guest columns identified as such were omitted, like George Shultz’s recent contribution about the NAFC referendum. News and Tribune staff contributions from editors Duncan and Morris were included.

Here are the results, running chronologically (backward) as the columns appeared; the number following their names is the total number of columns by the writer during the time period referenced.

Mike Matthews 2

Morton Marcus 3

Scott Underwood (1)

Susan Duncan (editor) 1

Leo Morris (2)

Ronnie Ellis 1

Terry Cummins 3

Chris Morris (editor) 1

Lindon Dodd 3

Tom May (religion column) 2

Mark Bennett 1

Lee Hamilton 1

Tom May (general interest column) 1

Terry Stawar 2

Mike Lunsford 1

Barb Anderson 1

John Krull 2

Deb Kelly 1

That's 26 columns by 15 white male columnists, and three by three white female columnists.

Furthermore, of the 15 white males shown here, it’s likely that only one (Underwood) or perhaps even none are younger than 40 years of age; my guess would be an average age in the late 50s. Basically, there are no young faces at all, and apparently millennials need not apply.

Obviously there are no black faces, male or female, nor Latino/Latina faces. It’s possible that LGBTQ faces are represented, though not to my knowledge (and not from a perusal of column content).

Tom May’s dual presence alone guarantees a consistent Christian bias in terms of religion, although he’s not the only columnist from the sampling to reference religion. Needless to say, there are no Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Wiccan, or Druid faces.

The News and Tribune recently touted its success at winning journalism awards generated by its own parent organization. These invariably strike me as self-serving and honestly laughable, but admittedly I’m in no position to judge their relative merits. All power to the regular news and production staff members who win these awards.

At the same time, any one of us can take a glance around the community and see the human diversity on display here -- perhaps not to the extent of some locales on the planet, but vastly more evident than it ever was when an old white guy like me was growing up here.

You wouldn’t know it by looking at these “opinionated” faces.

Is this really the best the award-winning News and Tribune can do?

---

Recent columns:

February 20: ON THE AVENUES: For downtown New Albany, escaping reality might soon be a bridge too far.

February 13: ON THE AVENUES: War. What is it good for? Absolutely nothing.

February 6: ON THE AVENUES Alas, New Albany is less of a place without a bookstore.

January 30: ON THE AVENUES: Dear Holocaust deniers: If you don't like this post, unfriend me now.

The electorate isn't biased. Rather, party elites and donors stack the deck against women and people of color running for office.

And appointments? Lonely Dr. Joshua ...

I'm shocked ... just shocked.

The “Biased Electorate” Myth Has Been Debunked Again, by Carl Beijer (Jacobin)

The deck is stacked against women and people of color seeking political office. But it's not because of a reactionary electorate — it's because of party elites and donors.

Conventional wisdom on the liberal left holds that bias among voters is so prevalent that it creates a disadvantage at the polls for women and people of color running for office. The numbers, however, beg to differ. In “The Electability Myth,” a new study of the 2018 US election, the Reflective Democracy Campaign (RDC) has found that other groups have a slight advantage over white men among the voters — and systematic disadvantages that have historically kept them off the ballot ...

I was plenty stupid when I was young, but Ralph Northam was a special kind of stupid.

The record states that I graduated from Floyd Central High School in 1978. Of the 1,300 or so students in the top four grades at the time, perhaps a half-dozen were African-American and Latino -- and I might well be exaggerating.

It is a dead certainty that far more of my contemporaries were aware of Stonewall Jackson than the Stonewall riots, because LGBTQ was neither an acronym of record back then nor a component of the curriculum.

It simply cannot be overstated: Diversity was not a default condition in the locale of my upbringing. 

At the same time, I count myself fortunate to have been raised by parents who displayed few outward manifestations of prejudice or intolerance. My mother began her studies at the University of Kentucky during the period of its integration. My father's philosophy of life revolved around working hard, doing your duty and being honest. He seemed generally colorblind according to limited criteria, although I suspect he made exceptions. Some of his friends sure did.

Ever since the Ralph Northam scandal broke, I've been trying to recollect whether anyone ever "did" blackface during my time at FCHS. It seems likely in the context of the time, and yet I can't remember any instances of it. I cannot recall feeling the urge to do so myself. Extending the perimeter of shaky memory to four years at IU Southeast, did blackface occur? I don't think so, at least in my immediate vicinity. My group at the time was capable of incredible feats of obnoxiousness, and we desperately wanted to BE the Deltas in Animal House, but minstrelsy (see below) wasn't a part of it.

Be aware that these ruminations aren't to be regarded as backslapping, and I'm making no claims to perfection. We all have a long, long way to go, and as an individual, all I can do with any degree of certainty is improve myself, and to be a positive influencer when the opportunity presents itself.

It's more like an immense sigh of relief that amid my many transgressions and personal issues over the years -- these are numerous and distress me greatly -- at least I was never as terminally stupid as some guy who was otherwise smart enough to be a damn doctor.

There Is No Argument for Ralph Northam to Keep His Job, by Elie Mystal (The Nation)

I’m pissed off that I have to write about soon-to-be-former Virginia governor, Ralph Northam. It’s 2019 and I have actual work to do. There’s no way I should have to stop what I’m doing to join the “national conversation” about why dressing up in blackface disqualifies you from a leadership position in society. They don’t make astrophysicists pause their search for a unified theory of gravity to convince an idiot cat to come down from a tree. The emotional labor this society puts on black people is exhausting. Nobody should have to waste time explaining why Doctor Blackface can’t have his career anymore, and black people shouldn’t be charged with administering the final dose of morphine to put Northam out of his misery.

This is a killer paragraph at The Economist.

Mr Northam has so far resisted calls for his resignation, which have come from every major Democratic presidential candidate, both of Virginia’s senators, its Democratic congressional delegation, the Virginia Democratic Party, the state’s Legislative Black Caucus and its chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP). Nancy Pelosi, Douglas Wilder (Virginia’s only African-American governor, who served from 1990 to 1994), his own attorney-general and Terry McAuliffe, his predecessor, have also called for Mr Northam to step down. Waiting in the wings, meanwhile, is Justin Fairfax, the state’s 39-year-old African-American lieutenant-governor. Mr Fairfax has sensibly remained quiet, neither calling for Mr Northam’s resignation nor offering any public statements of support.

A working knowledge of minstrelsy is helpful to understanding the idiocy of blackface. Like other aspects of history's usefulness in navigating the present, it helps to actually pay attention to the homework assignment.

---

History of Minstrelsy (University of South Florida) 

This exhibit explores the history of minstrelsy, its significance in American history and theater, and its enduring legacy. Utilizing materials from the USF Tampa Library's Special Collections African American Sheet Music Collection, it is possible to trace the history of blackface minstrelsy from its obscure origins in the 1830s to Hollywood jazz superstardom in the 1920s.

Minstrelsy in America, for all of its frivolous humor and popularity, was an exploitative form of musical theater that exaggerated real-life black circumstances and reinforced dangerous stereotypes during the 19th and 20th centuries. The fact that blackface minstrelsy began in the antebellum period and endured throughout Reconstruction, Jim Crow and the Great Migration, with performers collecting and adding cultural aspects from each era to their performances, hints at the impact, popularity, and complexity of the minstrel show.

White supremacy and the belief in black inferiority remained at minstrelsy’s base even though the structure of the performances and subjects discussed in the music varied over time. The genre shaped the nation’s views on race for over a century and reinforced white superiority well after the abolition of slavery. While some today assume that minstrelsy’s blackface has roots in the American South because of the genre’s focus on black degradation and slavery, minstrelsy was born and evolved initially in the North.

For the majority of whites living in the pre-Civil War North, slavery and black people were a distant reality, one that evoked mixed emotions. If slavery was the commodification of black labor, minstrelsy, with its focus on presenting authentically black songs and dances, was the commodification of black culture. However, the depictions of blacks in minstrel performances were exaggerated, dehumanizing and inaccurate. Instead of representing black culture on stage, blackface minstrel performers reflected and reinforced white supremacy.

After emancipation in 1865, African American performers, seeing minstrelsy as an opportunity for advancement, contributed a humanizing element to their portrayal of blacks even though they also performed in blackface. Black performers during the Jim Crow era combined blackface with the newly popular genre of vaudeville and brought a black political agenda to their stage performances. During the 1930s, minstrelsy lost its widespread popularity to jazz but could still be seen in aspects of American society such as film. The popular film The Jazz Singer (1927) was about a white man wanting to become a blackface performer and featured Al Jolson, the most well-known performer of the decade. At the time, the film was the biggest earner in Warner Bros., and its success indicated that the age of minstrelsy in American history was far from over. Even in the twenty-first century, the racial stereotypes derived from minstrel shows can still be seen in popular culture.

New Albany, we can do this. Let's elect nine women to city council in 2019.

Above, you'll see a provocative exchange at Twitter.

As for the 2019 council races, I'd settle for just about any combination of nine women in terms of political orientation, given this means little at the grassroots level apart from sectarian patronage obligations.

However, I hope (a) not all of them attended New Albany High School, (b) they grasp that our street grid is a huge social justice issue, and (c) they're a diverse group.

A boy can dream. In the following passage, I've emphasized a key point.

The Women Candidates Shocking the Competition, by Sarah Holder (CityLab)

Access to money is often the greatest hurdle for non-establishment candidates. But local female politicians say the excitement of a non-traditional candidate is not only motivating voters, but in some cases, opening pockets.

This week, Boston city councilor Ayanna Pressley set herself en route to making history—again.

After winning the Democratic primary for Massachusetts’ District 7, she’s virtually assured to become the first African-American woman to represent the state in Congress. But Pressley had already become a first a decade ago when, in 2009, she became the first woman of color elected to the Boston City Council. Two years later she worked successfully to fight off a comeback campaign from a veteran Boston politician, and finished atop a crowded field.

Pressley’s rise began with local ambition and king-slaying, and races from Phoenix to Rochester, New York, seem to be following her trajectory: In recent and upcoming 2018 elections, first-time candidates, women, people of color, and LGBTQ candidates are running and winning more than ever, especially at the local and state-house level. In the past, the high price tag of a campaign, even on the local level, has made the cost of running a rising hurdle, one that compounded the other challenges for non-establishment candidates.

Pressley herself faced a competitor who had raised $1.7 million to Pressley’s $900,000 by August. But after Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shocked people by winning the primary for U.S. representative in New York’s District 14 over a 10-term Congressional incumbent who raised over $2 million to her $860,000, people noticed a tide shift.

As Walter Shapiro wrote after her win: “Money is not destiny.”

Not often in New Albany, but imagining "what the world might look like if the people who designed it – politicians, planners, developers and architects – were more diverse."

OMG.

Mayor Jeff Gahan's pathological need for complete civic thought control has manifested itself in the form of institutional inbreeding in building and design.

A shockingly narrow (and yes, noticeably white-male-dominated) number of engineering, consulting and contracting companies increasingly are responsible for the city's design template, which appears to have been derived from frequent Bud Light Lime-soaked vacations at Disney World.

How we pay for it is another topic, for another time.

The same old inner circle suspects are contracted, and the same tithes magically appear in Gahan's exploding slush fund. The worst part of this isn't the shameless corruption, or the Dickeyesque complicity of the DemoDisneyDixiecratic Party.

It's the numbing uniformity of design results, and to make this point, consider that to this very day in a place like Italy, the eight-decade-old fascist architectural legacy is so glaringly obvious that visitors barely need to look twice before thinking, yep, that's a Mussolini building, all right.

New Albany is being designed to be New Gahania, and these principles of design emanate from the C-minus mind of a Babbitt-grade veneer salesman.

City Hall should be encouraging diversity in design, but alas, design monoculture better serves the interest of campaign finance, and so we're becoming a theme park --and this theme is dismally bland, indeed. Read this wonderful essay about diversity in design, and remember:

#FireGahan2019, and #FlushTheClique

What would cities look like if they were designed by mothers?, by Christine Murray (The Guardian)

Architecture’s lack of diversity shows in environments created by people who never need step-free access or to take a bus

 ... Lately I’ve found myself imagining what the world might look like if the people who designed it – politicians, planners, developers and architects – were more diverse. I don’t believe that men and women design differently, or that poverty and ethnicity inform architecture, but lived experience is a great teacher. The regeneration projects of the past decade are more about planters and cappuccinos than access to free drinking water, public toilets, cheap groceries and a post office. They appear to solve only the first-world problems of the monocultural illuminati who created them.

What would our cities be like if mothers had more of a role in designing them? There would be ramps everywhere, for a start. Schlepping a pushchair around makes you think differently about stairs. I cried when my nearest station was revamped without the inclusion of a lift. To stand at the bottom of that flight of steps with two kids and a newborn in a pram is to experience the kind of despair usually reserved for rat-infested dungeons. Any station or public building undergoing refurbishment should by law be made step-free.

But I’m unlikely to find many sympathisers among architects. According to a recent survey by the Architectural Review, 75% of women in architecture don’t have children. Most architecture graduates think they’re designing access ramps for the odd wheelchair, not every child under three ...

Saturday, April 8 in Jeffersonville: "Community Action of Southern Indiana to Host Southern Indiana Culture Fest."

(Sorry, this press release is a tad late)

Community Action of Southern Indiana to Host Southern Indiana Culture Fest

Jeffersonville, IN - Community Action of Southern Indiana (CASI), along with Greater Clark Community Schools, Macaroni Kid, Southern Indiana’s online resource for families, and Explorer Southern Indiana Magazine, will present Southern Indiana Culture Fest 2017, a celebration of Southern Indiana’s diversity and many cultures.

The celebration will take place at Community Action of Southern Indiana, 1613 East 8th Street in Jeffersonville on Saturday, April 8, 2016 from 1:00 pm until 4:00 pm.

Southern Indiana Culture Fest will feature booths and vendors, live performances, international food samples, family and children’s activities, an Easter Egg Hunt, diversity workshops, a soccer clinic, and information and demonstrations from Southern Indiana’s wide cultural landscape.

“There are dozens of countries and cultures represented in Southern Indiana,” says Phil Ellis, Executive Director of Community Action of Southern Indiana. “Southern Indiana Culture Fest gives us an opportunity to celebrate the diversity that makes this area such a great place.”

Admission is free. Reservations for booths are currently being accepted.

For more information contact:

Phil Ellis, CASI Executive Director
812.288.6451
pellis@casi1.org

Kelli Selzer, Editor/Publisher, Macaroni Kid
502.593.0184
kellis@macaronikid.com

Jim Grahn, Publisher, Explorer magazine
812.406.9998
jim@pinetreecom.com

THE BEER BEAT: Bryan Roth on sexism, anonymity and speaking openly about diversity.

As I observed on Friday ...

THE BEER BEAT: "'Pinup versus pin her down': Indiana beers stoke controversy."

 ... Route 2 will have to do better than taking credit for the idea while cowering behind a curtain. It's the same degraded mentality behind on-line anonymity. Come to think of it ... hiding's the whole point, isn't it?

Bryan Roth's blog is called This Is Why I'm Drunk ("Beer culture, history and an academic pursuit of one of our oldest extra-curricular activities"), and Roth has followed up with this.

Silence and Secrets Have No Place Here, by Bryan Roth

 ... Among the many reasons why someone’s name needs to stay secret, the threshold was apparently crossed recently when an employee at Indiana’s Route 2 Brews didn’t feel comfortable talking on the record about overtly sexist branding created by the business.

As silly as that sounds – a marketing and sales director refusing to talk publicly about their employer’s marketing and sales – it was compounded by the willingness of the Indianapolis Star to provide anonymity to a source that created the names and labels for brands like “Leg Spreader ESB.”

My former colleagues at the Guild still find themselves in search of sure footing.

The Brewers of Indiana Guild, which has previously refused to acknowledge questionable behavior by its dues-paying members, barely spoke up when offered an opportunity for the story.

I'm no longer a board member, but my stance hasn't changed since early 2015, when Leg Spreader first reared its ugly word (and world) view.

If the guild is supported by the majority Indiana breweries, and it is, and if these breweries agree that it's a good thing for the guild to lobby on their behalf, then the corollary is for them to accept an obligation to be socially responsible -- precisely because the Indiana legal regime stipulates that irresponsibility (serving minors, etc) is grounds for the revocation of the brewing privilege.

Perhaps it is true that the precise nature of social responsibility in the context of Leg Spreader (or Naughty Girl) has yet to be determined, in which case it is the responsibility of the guild to lead an effort toward definition and consensus.

It may be impossible to eradicate irresponsibility, but this doesn't mean that a guild or similar trade grouping is precluded from being pro-active to protect the collective reputation of its segment in the marketplace. Roth is right, and it's time to speak openly.

THE BEER BEAT: "'Pinup versus pin her down': Indiana beers stoke controversy."

We will not be quiet about this important issue. We want to do our part so that the next generation of beer drinkers can focus on the fun, the flavorful and the future. Beers that demean women or promote rape culture will not be reviewed or promoted in this magazine or on AllAboutBeer.com.
 -- John Holl, editor of All About Beer Magazine

Last December, I was revisited by ghosts. It's a recurring phenomenon with me.

THE BEER BEAT: Addressing diversity in "craft" beer, with Naughty Girl once again on the wrong side of the debate.

 ... Leg Spreader gave me pause, as did the reactions of some colleagues on the guild board. In turn, I started seeing Naughty Girl in a different light. My professional life was evolving during the same period of time. These chain reactions in consciousness continue, and I'm constantly taking mental notes.

Have I become some sort of expert on these issues, whether they pertain to sexism, equality, diversity or a hundred other thoughts of cultural worth, worth having?

Of course not. All I can do is try to be better informed, and as a result maybe improve myself as a person. All I can do is try my best to listen, think and act responsibly. To me, the beer revolution always meant something better, far beyond the beer in the glass. I'm disappointed in myself that when presented with an opportunity to reflect this ethos with regard to a Belgo-Indian Blonde Ale being brewed in 2011, I chose a lower common denominator.

But what's done is done. Now, I'll do what I can do.

Bits of my phone conversation with at the time writer Bryan Roth appeared in "Sexist Beer Ads Miss the Mark," his article in All About Beer (March 2017; V. 38, No. 1), which is available at issuu. It's worth your time to read.

Last month I spoke with the Amy Hainline of the Indy Star, and her story appeared yesterday.

‘Pinup versus pin her down’: Indiana beers stoke controversy

Indiana beers straddle sexy and sexist

“Sex sells” is a phrase often used in advertising. But are craft breweries taking the tactic too far?

John Holl, editor of All About Beer Magazine, thinks so. His recent column asking breweries to stop what he calls offensive, sexist branding has been shared widely on social media by brewers and brewery owners. He cites Panty Peeler Belgian-style Trippel from Midnight Sun Brewing Co. in Anchorage, Alaska, and Once You Go ... Black IPA from Lynnwood Brewing in Raleigh, N.C.

As discussion erupted, Indiana examples surfaced, as well.

Lowell’s Route 2 Brewery makes Leg Spreader ESB and Stacked Double IPA. Gary’s 18th Street Brewery brews Sex and Candy IPA. New Albany’s New Albanian Brewing Co. sells Naughty Girl Belgian Blonde Ale.

Critics argue that the highly sexualized branding objectifies women and promotes a culture of rape and sexual harassment. But others in the brewing industry say the edgy, artistic marketing makes beers stand out and people are too sensitive.

My own tipping point came in 2015 with the advent of Route 2 Brewery's Leg Spreader.

Route 2 Brewery has a menu of beers with suggestive names and labels.

The small brewpub's Stacked double IPA label features an illustration of a well-endowed woman wearing only a pair of underwear. The label of its Leg Spreader ESB shows a large-chested woman sitting with the brewery's logo between her spread legs.

The marketing and sales director for Route 2 Brewery, who asked to not be identified for this story, comes up with the names and approves the artwork.

One way to look at Route 2 Brewery's accomplishments is to grudgingly concede that in terms of primal disinformation, they're completely synchronized with our Trumpian times, and ideally placed to begin blaming coastal beer snob elites for looking down on honest red-state-blooded Indiana males who just want 'em stacked, with legs spread -- and above all else, to make sure neither their local pastor nor Planned Parenthood doesn't get involved.

However, Route 2 will have to do better than taking credit for the idea while cowering behind a curtain. It's the same degraded mentality behind on-line anonymity.

Come to think of it ... hiding's the whole point, isn't it?

Meanwhile, here I am, doomed to think and rethink the past. I spoke at length with Hainline about the war between conscience and "be a good business person, already" and she included the most important part in the story.

“What was I thinking? Well, I know what I was thinking,” (Baylor) said, recalling how his business was struggling. “I was thinking whatever it takes to sell something because we’re not doing well. And that’s scary because lapsing into that is one reason I’m not doing it (business) anymore.”

The rejoinder comes from NABC's current management, still hemorrhaging money as I await my truncated share.

“I guess I would say sex sells,” Amy Baylor said. “I never really thought of it as sexist. Probably just growing up in the world we live in.”

Maybe it's time for all of us to delete our accounts until we get this thing right, finally. My ghost visitations are getting tedious, and I'd prefer they cease.

Lee Cotner is appointed to a third stint on the NAFC school board.

Full disclosure: Lawyer and former school board member Lee Cotner, who represented New Albanian Bank Street Brewhouse back in 2013 when the Floyd County Health Department's Dr. Tom Harris was a bit too haughty for his own damned good, and eventually was smacked down vigorously by various state agencies as well as compelling the enactment of legislation to keep him in his place -- wait, where was I?

Oh, that's right: Lee Cotner has been appointed to fill the District Two school board seat weirdly vacated by D.J. Hines, and with the News and Tribune yet again down a reporter, the SoIn newspaper was late to a pre-selection plot line explored by the C-J.

NAFC school board vacancy concerns NAACP leader, by Kirsten Clark (Courier-Journal)

New Albany-Floyd County School Board is expected to swear in a new member Monday evening following the resignation of DJ Hines, ending a process a local NAACP leader says lacked transparency and raises concerns about minority representation on the district's governing board.

"I am disappointed the school board has missed an opportunity to make itself more reflective of the community in which it serves," said Nicole Yates, president of the New Albany NAACP, in an email to the Courier-Journal. "The student population in Floyd County schools is 22 percent minority. Yet there is zero minority representation on the school board."

She continued: "Just last year the school board expressed disappointment that a minority school leader was not chosen at New Albany High School. The recent vacancy would have been a chance for them to lead by example while demonstrating that the same standard that they argued for New Albany High School applies to the board."

The N & T did muster an unattributed preview, and minimalist coverage of the actual meeting.

NA-FC Schools board votes to fill vacancy; Members vote 4-1 for Lee Cotner with one abstention, by John Boyle

... Board members approved Cotner in a 4-1 vote with one abstention. Cotner will serve for two years to finish the term of D.J. Hines, who unexpectedly resigned roughly one month ago.

Cotner previously served two stints on the NA-FC school board. His first term stretched from 2002 to 2006 after he was elected as an original member of the first school board. In 2012, Cotner was reappointed by board members to fill an opening.

And the selection process?

"The only thing that they had to qualify was that they had to live in the district," board president Becky Gardenour said. "We got 10 letters. I checked with the county clerk to make sure everybody lived in the district, and three people didn't meet that requirement. We got lots of good candidates. All of them were qualified."

THE BEER BEAT: Addressing diversity in "craft" beer, with Naughty Girl once again on the wrong side of the debate.

Let’s put an old saw to the test: Is it really true that any publicity is good publicity?

Specifically, if a New Albanian Brewing Company beer and beer label, as conceived on my watch in 2011, appears alongside an article by a national recognized blogger in 2016 and then is linked on Facebook by a brewing superstar, that’s wonderful, right?

Right there it is ... or "wrong" there it is?

Mitch Steele, formerly of Stone Brewing Company and one of my heroes in the field of “craft” brewing, is pointing to Naughty Girl in the context of "doing better" with issues of diversity and equality, presumably because Naughty Girl does worse.

This latest embarrassing reference to my checkered past starts here, with a very good blog post.

Addressing Diversity in Beer: Seeking Action, by Bryan Roth (This Is Why I’m Drunk)

Over the weekend, I listened to the latest Good Beer Hunting podcast with members of Indianapolis’ Central State Brewing. Among the variety of topics covered by host Michael Kiser was a lengthy discussion of the business’ commitment to social issues of equality and diversity. The Central State crew spoke with earnest about their interest in LGBT issues and Indiana’s political climate.

On Tuesday, I saw a brewery with a beer named “Date Grape.”

This contrast is not just the push-pull of today’s beer industry, but American culture as well. It’s easy to find wonderful examples of people, businesses and institutions doing what’s right for the advancement of human beings. Then you turn around and that 180 feels like more than a metaphor when you see downright ignorant acts.

Later in his piece, Roth links to my blog column about the Great Leg Spreader Crisis of 2015.

The PC: Ripped straight from the pages of an Onion satire: “13 white males not really so eager to discuss issues like racism and sexism.”

In a comment to Roth's post, I linked to my follow-up a year later. I merely wanted him to know that the story didn't end in 2015.

Can I get a “do-over” on Naughty Girl?

Earlier today, I spoke with Roth by phone in connection with another article he's writing about this general topic, and he asked how all this has changed me, and in answering, I said that the jury's out because change always is a work in progress.

Leg Spreader gave me pause, as did the reactions of some colleagues on the guild board. In turn, I started seeing Naughty Girl in a different light. My professional life was evolving during the same period of time. These chain reactions in consciousness continue, and I'm constantly taking mental notes.

Have I become some sort of expert on these issues, whether they pertain to sexism, equality, diversity or a hundred other thoughts of cultural worth, worth having?

Of course not. All I can do is try to be better informed, and as a result maybe improve myself as a person. All I can do is try my best to listen, think and act responsibly. To me, the beer revolution always meant something better, far beyond the beer in the glass. I'm disappointed in myself that when presented with an opportunity to reflect this ethos with regard to a Belgo-Indian Blonde Ale being brewed in 2011, I chose a lower common denominator.

But what's done is done. Now, I'll do what I can do. I appreciate the work that Roth and others like him are doing to keep the sun shining on "craft" brewing's ongoing sexism issues.

For a long time, the Brewers Association rightfully needed to focus on political and business issues in order to better grow their portion of the industry or further define “craft” and its value. But that time is over. The revolution has happened. Now it’s time to think socially and consciously.

Another tale of two perspectives -- The school board, Bruce Hibbard and Twitter.

I was struck by the difference in emphasis between the Courier-Journal's and the News and Tribune's coverage of last week's school board meeting. The reporter Clapp strikes a very neutral tone.

New Albany-Floyd schools votes on expulsion policy; Board will no longer hear appeals, by Jerod Clapp (River Ridge Revue)

(Lee Ann) Wiseheart and Superintendent Bruce Hibbard argued over the district’s posting of a vice principal position at New Albany High School and whether it gave enough opportunity for minority candidates to apply ...

... Hibbard said the issue of getting more minority employees in education is a nationwide issue, not one that’s isolated to New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated Schools. Wiseheart said she understood, but hopes the district can be a part of changing that trend.

Meanwhile, the C-J's Clark goes straight for the jugular.

Board member questions NAFC diversity efforts, by Kirsten Clark (C-J)

New Albany-Floyd County Schools Superintendent Bruce Hibbard came under scrutiny during a discussion Thursday night about a lack of diversity among principals, assistant principals and central office leadership in the district – which employs only one minority administrator ...

... In addition to initiating discussions in meetings, Wiseheart has taken to Twitter to express disappointment in the schools district’s minority recruiting efforts.

... At the end of the 15-minute conversation, an exchange between Hibbard and Board President Becky Gardenour became particularly heated after Gardenour called out the superintendent after she felt he had criticized another board member for missing a school event.

“I really would appreciate it if there’s not a dig if a board member doesn’t attend something, I really would appreciate (that) that would be kept out of our discussions,” she said.

“And I would also appreciate if our board doesn’t make tweets about the disappointment of the board and the superintendent,” Hibbard said. “I think that’s inappropriate. It's unethical. If you read Indiana School Boards Association ethics ... (we vote) and we move on from there. We don’t hold grudges. And yet, that’s kind of what the last year and a half has been.”

“No, that’s what it’s been for six years,” Gardenour quipped. “Alright, anything else? Alright. Meeting adjourned.”

Turns out that Hibbard's as thin-skinned as Jeff Gahan. No wonder they occupy the same bed.