"Forty years later, Ann Meyers Drysdale is still opening doors."

I have little recollection of this story, but it's a good one. If you're wondering, the Pacers were 38-44 the previous season.

40 years after trying out for the Indiana Pacers, Ann Meyers is still blazing trails, by Ben Rohrbach (Yahoo Sports)

The press pulled no punches.

“Well, in case Ann doesn't make it,” Washington Post columnist Dave Kindred wrote in 1979 of Ann Meyers, the first woman to sign an NBA contract, “the Pacers say she'll stay with the team ‘in some capacity,’ which could mean, I guess, she'll cook pregame meals for the real players.”

Prospective teammates weren’t much kinder.

“This whole thing was done in L.A. by our owner, and I can’t possibly see how this can help us,” Pacers forward Mike Bantom told The New York Times 40 years ago on Sept. 5. “I think when you're trying to build a winner, this is no way to convince our fans that we are serious about our cause.”

Former New York Knicks owner Sonny Werblin even issued a statement.

“It's utterly ridiculous,” Werblin said of Meyers’ Indiana tryout. “It's disgraceful. I don't think the commissioner should condone it. I think it's bad for the image of pro basketball. It's a travesty.”

What few realized then and is only now coming into focus on the 40th anniversary of the day she signed a one-year, $50,000 contract to join the Indiana Pacers’ 1979 rookie camp: Ann Meyers Drysdale opened doors for a generation of women in basketball, and at 5-foot-9 she still stands tall in the game, long after her critics made exits. In order to understand how she got where she is today — a trailblazing front-office executive and broadcaster for the Phoenix Suns and Mercury — Yahoo Sports asked her about a door they tried to shut before it opened ...

Your Sunday must-read: "Relax, Ladies. Don’t Be So Uptight. You Know You Want It."

As a male of the species, one acknowledging his fair share of missteps and imperfections, it's unclear to me how best to introduce this essay apart from stating that it makes perfect sense.

What has NOT made perfect sense to me over the years are lingering and idiotic notions like male chauvinism, toxic masculinity and the doctrine of women as inferior beings, particularly those attached to some manner of supernatural sanction.

Pfui. That's plain rubbish.

Yes, there were times in my youth when I displayed overt symptoms of misogyny. I have no glib excuses for any of it, and I won't cop a plea. I'd dearly love to forget those times, but cannot, because it simply wouldn't be honest of me; besides, I learned from it. Eventually it dawned on me that I was dead wrong.

Being male is one thing, and being a dick is something else entirely.

Ever since then, I've tried my best to learn and improve. It's a work in progress, and a process of awareness, one that never ends. Who wants to be remembered as a sexist, racist, or homophobic turd? Not me. People are people: full stop. We may disagree, but it won't be because of your sex, race, or sexuality.

Your beer, on the other hand ...

Relax, Ladies. Don’t Be So Uptight. You Know You Want It, by Anastasia Basil (Medium)

Remember the ’80s, when men preferred Hanes and could legally rape their wives?

... Movies, ads, and TV shows of the ’80s were tailored to give your dad a testosterone boost and teach your brothers to be men. Strong, no-bullshit men, the kind who say what they think and take what they want. Grab ’em by the pussy kind of men. No way was your brother gay. Or you. Unless you were into threesomes. A girl could be into another girl, but only to feed the male gaze, then it was hot. If two women truly loved each other they were going to hell. Read your Leviticus, but first, let me ask you a little something. You’ve got pretty red hair. Is it naturally red? Why don’t you let me see if the carpet matches the drapes? Relax. Don’t be so uptight. You know you want it.

snip

We are all byproducts of a collective mindset. Those who question the mindset of their time and shine light on its moral defects are considered malcontents. And yet, it is malcontents like MLK who are (later) lauded as heroes — not for upholding America’s values, for shaping them. Here’s a fun game. Ask yourself: What strongly held opinion of mine will my grandchildren one day struggle to understand?

The 23 percent of Americans who supported civil rights in 1963 knew exactly what they were doing. They didn’t accidentally do the right thing. They weren’t accidentally on the right side of history. Instead of bullheaded allegiance, they questioned, examined, and took a knee to the moral defects of their time.

snip

Have you ever known someone who hasn’t changed their hair style in decades? They still have the bangs they had in seventh grade? There are people who haven’t changed their views since seventh grade, either. We shouldn’t use our present-day ideas and perspectives to judge the distant past (the Parthenon was built by slaves), but if someone drags an antiquated moral norm into the present, they should expect to be held in account.

final snip

I wonder… would today’s anti-feminists be yesterday’s anti-suffragettes? #WomenAgainstSusanBAnthony

Want to know what a feminist is? A feminist is a person who, instead of being the docile pet of their generation, rears back and bares their teeth. The idea that we no longer need feminism is absurd — it’s the equivalent of technology stopping at the floppy disc.

THE BEER BEAT: "Busting Up the Brotherhood of Beer: Time to confront sexism & harassment in the industry."

Sexism in "craft" beer is a topic that keeps bobbing to the surface, as when beer writer Bryan Roth described the problem as a grassroots industry struggling to find leadership on social issues: THE BEER BEAT: How "Ambitious Brew" prefaced "I Know What Boyz Like" -- and "The Misogynist Within."

Beer writer Lew Bryson also read Michael Agnew's pointed article (below).

I know a lot of great people in the beer biz (whiskey, too). A lot of them are women, which means they sometimes have to put up with a bunch of bullshit from guys. Read the article, and see if you don't recognize some of that crap. I'm tired of my friends having to deal with it. If you hear some guy say something that's over the line, don't just look away. Tell him he's over the line. Make beer a better place. Wheaton's Law: Don't be a dick.

Here comes the learnin'.

I'd suggest diverting your gaze from Untappd, if only for a few seconds, and partaking in something real.

Busting Up the Brotherhood of Beer: Time to confront sexism & harassment in the industry, by Michael Agnew (The Growler Magazine)

... Ask women working in beer and it becomes obvious that the beer industry faces the very same problems of sexism, harassment, and even assault, that the rest of the country is facing. While the ranks of women are growing, the industry is still dominated by men. The majority of breweries are founded by men. The people who make the beer are overwhelmingly male. It is mostly men who distribute and sell it. If bathroom lines at festivals are any indication, it is mostly men who drink it.

I listened to the experiences of four female industry members, all who expressed their love for the industry and the people in it, but whose stories reveal that discrimination and harassment are a reality in craft beer ...

THE BEER BEAT: How "Ambitious Brew" prefaced "I Know What Boyz Like" -- and "The Misogynist Within."

From Bryan Roth's article at Good Beer Hunting.

Maureen Ogle's Ambitious Brew: The Story of American Beer was published in 2006, and I've finally gotten around to reading it.

When the Beer Was Bitter, and Its Future Cloudy, by William Grimes (New York Times; October 27, 2006)

In the annals of immigrant success stories, lager beer deserves its own chapter. Before 1840, Americans drank English ales and porter or, more commonly, whiskey and rum. But as Germans by the thousands poured into New York and moved onward to Midwestern towns like Cincinnati, St. Louis, Chicago and Milwaukee, they presented a new beverage to the American palate, a different kind of beer that Americans took to with such, shall we say, gusto that it soon became the national drink.

The rise of lager beer, and the great names associated with it — names like Busch, Pabst, Blatz, Schlitz and Miller — is the subject of Maureen Ogle’s effervescent, occasionally frothy “Ambitious Brew,” a fairly standard history with a provocative thesis attached. Ms. Ogle, in telling the story of the great beer families, takes the air out of a few myths, chief among them the standard narrative used to explain beer’s sad decline in quality to the pale, tasteless, mass-market drink advertised these days on televised sports.

The twice-told tale of beer’s fall from grace goes something like this. In olden days, thousands of craft brewers turned out a pure, flavorful product made from nothing more than hops, barley, water and yeast. After Prohibition, however, the big beer companies started manufacturing beer with cheap ingredients like rice and corn, duped the public into buying it through lavish advertising campaigns and forced their smaller competitors out of business, making the world safe for Bud Light.

The real story, as Ms. Ogle tells it, is a little more complicated.

Maybe it actually was a "little more complicated," but one of the author's own anecdotes confirms that the industrial beer barons of old weren't exactly exemplars of vision or social consciousness.

Ogle tells of the run-up to Prohibition, with the "Drys" an early example of a well-funded, highly-motivated single-issue lobby group. The teetotalers began putting points on the scoreboard in the late 1800s, but it took the brewers until 1913 to so much as begin organizing in response, and unity was elusive among them.

Perhaps the most effective argument coming from the prohibitionist camp pertained to the sinfulness of the average saloon. Most were tied to a brewery, and the breweries feared giving up this lucrative distribution arrangement even when the saloons were functioning as cesspools, gambling dens and whorehouses.

The ensuing xenophobia and patriotism (almost to a man, the beer barons were of German ancestry, albeit American-born) greeting America's inexorable march toward entry into WWI effectively did the rest. The brewers didn't know what hit them, primarily because they refused to pay attention until it was too late.

Ever since Leg Spreader first oozed to the surface three years ago (really -- it was January, 2015), much has been accomplished with respect to sexism in "craft" beer.

Quite a bit is left to be done, judging by another excellent piece by Bryan Roth, who is one of the most thoughtful beer writers around -- perhaps the Dave Zirin of good beer?

In the immediate aftermath of Roth's essay, just about every brewery mentioned belatedly recalled those long ago words of Phil Collins: "There must be some misunderstanding/There must be some kind of mistake."

Coming amid the overdue tsunami of #MeToo, I'm afraid to ask this question, but can the "craft" brewers of today really be as blind as those pre-Prohibition beer barons?

I Know What Boyz Like — A Grassroots Industry Struggles to Find Leadership on Social Issues, by Bryan Roth (Good Beer Hunting)

 ... “It’s a microcosm of the cultural zeitgeist right now,” says (Craig) Smith, the brewer and consultant from Florida. “We couldn’t be more divided in everything.”

In the macro sense, the sentiment feels true, especially for anyone who scrolls through news feeds or turns on the nightly news. But, as shown from a variety of viewpoints across many entries to the beer industry, there has also never been as much cohesiveness around this one topic. If anything, now may be the most ideal time to push the hardest toward change. The Brewers Association struck a decades-long victory recently when tax reform passed, lowering federal costs for selling beer. It’s making a significant investment in a public hop-breeding program. The organization even launched an initiative to address an ongoing problem of lost kegs, which can be a significant financial burden to breweries.

Battles have been won. If ever there was a time to jump into the fray for other causes, now would be it. In fact, others have already done so.

At the end of December, the UK's Campaign for Real Ale consumer advocacy group released its first executive statement on discrimination, condemning "any behaviour that discriminates against individuals because of their gender, race, ethnic origin, disability, age, nationality, national origin, sexuality, religion or belief, marital status and social class.” Any use of sexist images or slogans would bar placement at the group's festivals, competitions, and publications.

Currently, no state guild in the U.S. lists any similar language on its website. The Brewers Association has its marketing code, and won’t announce inappropriate names of award-winning beers at events, but nothing as definitive as what the UK organization issued.

“It's important that CAMRA's stance is as public as possible in order to ensure that all our members are aware of the organization's policy when it comes to discrimination, and that they understand the standards of behaviour and value that we expect any member of CAMRA to follow,” says Tom Stainer, the organization’s head of communications. “It's also important that we make it clear to the rest of the industry where we stand on issues of discrimination.”

Similarly, the UK’s Society of Independent Brewers followed suit, issuing a statement that “SIBA members who promote their beers with sexist, offensive advertising have no place in our membership of responsible, professional brewing businesses.” The group goes a step farther than its U.S. counterpart in regard to offensive names or labels, holding the right to disqualify competition entries out right instead of simply not saying a beer's name during award announcements.

Change is happening in many sectors of society, but across the U.S., an attempt at incremental steps continues to be led by those with the least at stake ...

This would be an excellent juncture to turn to a more palatable topic, like Maibock or NEIPA. But I'm not finished yet. I recommend reading the whole article, although only the conclusion is here.

The Misogynist Within, by Kai Wright (The Nation)

Sexual harassment expresses power dynamics from which all men benefit.

... And so now we face a reckoning. Let it be more than a coming to terms with sexual harassment. Yes, let’s bring the abusers to justice. But let us also consider the many ways in which we’ve organized ourselves around misogyny—in our workplaces, in our families, and as individuals. Maybe then we can mount a movement larger than Democrats and Republicans, and start talking seriously instead about things like peace, justice, and equity.

DNA's and the newspaper's masks ... or, thoughts occasioned by an excellent essay called "Meet the man who hides behind a mask."

Before linking to a very good column written by assistant editor Jason Thomas of the News and Tribune, kindly permit me a necessary digression.

---

Earlier this year I exchanged e-mails with N and T's editor, Susan Duncan, on the topic of Develop New Albany's Taco Walk, during which several of the organization's higher-ups decided it would be hilarious to wear sombreros, shake maracas and sing the Frito Bandito's corn chip theme song.

Needless to say, not everyone found it so funny. For more on why it isn't, revisit this posting about William Anthony Nericcio's "aggressive, relentless, and, at times, pathological interrogation of Mexican, Latina/o, Chicana/o, "Hispanic," Mexican-American, and Latin American stereotypes."

Actually I wrote to the newspaper in part because DNA consistently refused (and continues to refuse) to so much as acknowledge receiving my e-mails inquiring about the circumstances of the Taco Walk.

Here is the text of my letter to Duncan.

---

Dear Susan,

Last Saturday, Develop New Albany sponsored a Taco Walk. Member(s) of DNA’s board thought it would be cute to bring sombreros, mariachis and other stereotypical symbols of Latino culture of the sort that led to a major scandal at the University of Louisville during James Ramsey’s tenure.

I’ve personally spoken with an employee of a downtown eatery – a first-generation American with Mexican roots – who said she mustered every last bit of discipline to avoid crying when DNA’s own board members came into her establishment brandishing these items, and singing the theme to the old Frito’s commercials (ay, ay, ay ay).

This surely ranks on a par with blackface in the lexicon of appropriation and inappropriateness, and yet not only did the News and Tribune completely fail to notice, but it also published at least one photo documenting the tastelessness that utterly evaded editorial scrutiny (see attachments).

Naturally my efforts to engage DNA have been met with silence.

In vain, I’ve asked the question to them: If it was wrong for James Ramsey, why is it right for you?

As with U of L, DNA is the recipient of taxpayer support. As it pertains to individual participants, if someone wants to indulge in this manner it’s his or her free speech; tone deaf but permissible. But taxpayer-supported organizations simply must aspire to a higher bar. 

To me, DNA’s response is simple: “We’re sorry it happened, here’s why it’s inappropriate, and it won’t happen again.”

It’s a teachable moment, and for once would place DNA in the position of educating about its own National Main Street mandate. Instead, DNA has circled the wagons. It’s a virtual arm of city government, and as the newspaper seems determined to avoid addressing, NA’s current city government is not a transparent entity.

Since the Charlottesville incident, the pages of your newspaper have been filled with earnest denunciations of bigotry and white supremacy. This is fitting and proper. Does a sombrero during a Taco Walk equate with the lessons of Charlottesville? Perhaps not in scale, but certainly it’s a branch of the same tree – and in your eagerness to capture the forest, you’re missing this particular tree.

Thanks,

Roger

---

To Duncan's credit, she quickly replied, although handily avoiding the non-vetting of her newspaper's questionable photograph (above).

Thanks for keeping us updated. We are likely to run an editorial about this, if nothing else as a reminder to be more culturally aware. Event organizers missed an opportunity to promoted Mexican heritage and cuisine, instead tapping into stereotypes. Insensitive, yes, but I doubt it was done maliciously, likely without thought.

Then a month passed. DNA continued to stonewall, and so I asked Duncan what had happened.

I did follow through with broaching this in a meeting of the editorial board. The consensus opinion was that a better result would occur if we challenged DNA before next year’s event to use it as an opportunity to promote cultural awareness. The thinking was that too much time had passed since the taco walk, that running an editorial now would have seemed out of place and resulted in less chance for real change.

As an interesting side note to all this frantic circling of wagons, both here and in Jeffersonville, it helps to know that a member of the community first conceived of the Taco Walk idea and brought it to DNA with the best of intentions, imagining that by doing so, the community would benefit.

While DNA has alluded to the event being a windfall success financially (DNA will not release exact numbers), the volunteer concluded she wasn't happy with the way her idea was implemented -- cultural appropriation was among the reasons for her decision -- and so, working under the assumption the Main Street organization possesses a fundamental sense of decency, she told DNA she'd be taking it back for a future reboot.

Um, nope. Seems the anchor already had been dropped.

DNA wasted no time in sending her packing: Taco Walk belongs to DNA now, and the organization will do with it as it pleases -- and don't bother running to Big Daddy Gahan, because the fix is always in.

It was horrendous treatment of a person who was just trying to be helpful, so let's hope the N and T follows through in 2018 and holds DNA's feet to the fire as it prepares to profit once more from the idea it purloined.

You might even say lots of community pillars in New Albany are wearing masks, if not Frito-encrusted sombreros, which brings me to Thomas's recent essay.

---

As aspiring writers, we're constantly advised to write about what we know, and so it might make perfect sense to write about oneself; surely we know ourselves better than anyone else, right?

Alas, not so much. Autobiographical honesty is fiendishly difficult to achieve, and that's why full credit goes to Thomas for trying. This piece is very good, and I'm glad he wrote it.

Maybe the other members of the editorial board read it, too.

A boy can dream.

Meet the man who hides behind a mask, by Jason Thomas

Who am I?

I am white. I am male. I am a father. I am a fiance.

Other than that, I'm not sure.

Who are you?

I wear a mask. It cloaks me in confidence, in extroversion, in a self-prescribed aura of coolness.

The mask is ugly.

Behind it is a man of broken faith, a man unsure of his footing, a man who says he would die for his son and his son's mother. Would he?

A man — a person — like many of you.

I watched a movie on Christmas night that made me think. Really think.

It was called "Get Out." It has received considerable attention, in part, for its exploration of white people's exploitation of black culture. And for many other underlying themes that made me, a white male of privilege, squirm in my flannel-pajama-wearing cocoon of comfort ...

THE BEER BEAT: The Bechdel Test, and what 1980s lesbians can teach us about beer.

Source material: Alison Bechdel, "The Rule."

It's best just to read what Emma Inch has to say about what 1980s lesbians can teach us about beer, with a minimum of commentary on my part, but a brief diversion to signpost the Bechdel Test.

The Bechdel Test, sometimes called the Mo Movie Measure or Bechdel Rule is a simple test which names the following three criteria: (1) it has to have at least two women in it, who (2) who talk to each other, about (3) something besides a man. The test was popularized by Alison Bechdel's comic Dykes to Watch Out For, in a 1985 strip called The Rule. For a nice video introduction to the subject please check out The Bechdel Test for Women in Movies on feministfrequency.com.

I'd already bookmarked Inch's essay for the column when this popped up in my feed.

The Next Bechdel Test, by Walt Hickey, Ella Koeze, Rachael Dottle and Gus Wezerek (FiveThirtyEight)

We pitted 50 movies against 12 new ways of measuring Hollywood’s gender imbalance.

... 30 years on, we’re not exactly sitting on a superior answer for measuring the movie industry’s gender imbalance. What does the next Bechdel Test look like? The time is ripe for a successor. Is there a short, punchy test we can apply? One that, if movies start passing it, would indicate that the industry is actually becoming better for both the women who make movies and the people who watch them? Is there a new test that could pull the modern film business in the right direction? And if there is, where on earth do we find it?

If FiveThirtyEight circles back to consider the implications for beer, that's peachy.

Until then, I turn it over to Emma.

online.com/2017/12/15/do-you-pass-the-test-or-what-can-1980s-lesbians-teach-us-about-beer/">Do You Pass the Test? Or: what can 1980s lesbians teach us about beer?

 ... The contemporary beer scene is not alone in sometimes struggling with the representation of women, and there are many examples of great work in this area. But every time women are invisible in areas of influence, every time a beer is marketed solely at men, every time a ‘beer for women’ is produced, every time we have to remind people that women were the first brewers, every time a disagreement on Twitter degenerates into macho posturing, every time craft beer lovers are portrayed as people with beards, every time a woman has to justify why she likes beer, or why offensive beer names are unacceptable, every time sexist ‘banter’ is excused, every time beer fans are greeted on social media as ‘lads’, every time the ‘women don’t drink beer’ myth is perpetuated, every time the consumption of alcohol is accepted as an excuse for sexist, racist or homophobic behaviour, we all lose out.

Antifa and capitalism: "Hate is not an isolated occurrence, detached from the rest of society, but very much a symptom of a system built on exploitation."

This one's going to go down nicely at the Friday night fish fry.

The Anti-Capitalist Politics of Antifa, by Stephanie Basile (CounterPunch)

As antifa has burst into the mainstream in recent weeks, suddenly the efficacy of confronting Nazis in the streets is being debated on the national stage. Antifa is not one particular group, but a term used to describe anti-fascists committed to stamping out fascism before it can rise to power. The debate around antifa tends to stay narrowly focused on the use of physical self-defense in public spaces. What’s received less attention is the anti-capitalist politics of antifa, and how some anti-fascists and are putting these politics into practice through workplace organizing.

Two workplace examples are given.

Phoenix, Tiffany, and Kenny all identify as anti-capitalists and anti-fascists. They see combating fascism, racism, sexism, and capitalism as inextricably linked. “They’re inseparable, they are the pillars of white supremacy,” says Phoenix. “They can’t exist without each other.” Tiffany frames the connection between capitalism and other forms of oppression as being rooted in our material reality. “When I think about the connections between capital and white supremacy, I think- who owns what, and how did they come to own it? Slaves were working the land, producing cotton, or tobacco, or sugar. Where did that money go, and what does that mean?” For Tiffany, using concrete material conditions of workers’ lives as a starting point is the easiest way of making connections between systems of capitalism and white supremacy.

In his new book Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook, Mark Bray places current antifa struggles within a larger political ideology that is explicitly anti-capitalist. He notes that antifa has historically brought together broad segments of the left, including anarchists, communists, and socialists. “Many anti-fascists will argue that you can’t really be an anti-fascist without being an anti-capitalist, because they argue that capitalism breeds the conditions for fascism,” says Bray.

While anti-fascists have differing opinions about how fascism takes roots and grows, “what they agree on is that you can’t take fascism as a blemish on capitalist society, but instead as a key part of it.”

The compelling argument builds from these, which are excerpts only, so go and read the damn article -- and enjoy your "osters."

Tree-based sexism: "Decades of urban landscaping sexism are partly to blame for high pollen counts."

Yes, of course I have a link to match the meme.

Sniffling and sneezing? Too many male trees are (partly) to blame, by Aimee Custis (Greater Greater Washington)

With February's early warm weather, DC's pollen counts are climbing earlier than usual. What you might not know is that decades of urban landscaping sexism are partly to blame for high pollen counts.

That's tree-based, not people-based, sexism. Some common types of trees used in urban landscaping are dioecious, meaning individual trees are either male or female.

When it comes to dioecious plants, cities tend to prefer planting males to females because females drop fruit or seeds that the city then needs to clean up. The most notorious female offenders are gingko trees, whose undesirable smelly fruit plague residents with "strong notes of unwashed feet and Diaper Genie, with noticeable hints of spoiled butter."

But male dioecious trees don't drop seeds or fruit. Instead, in the spring, they release pollen.

With February's early warm weather, DC's pollen counts are climbing earlier than usual. What you might not know is that decades of urban landscaping sexism are partly to blame for high pollen counts.

That's tree-based, not people-based, sexism. Some common types of trees used in urban landscaping are dioecious, meaning individual trees are either male or female.

When it comes to dioecious plants, cities tend to prefer planting males to females because females drop fruit or seeds that the city then needs to clean up. The most notorious female offenders are gingko trees, whose undesirable smelly fruit plague residents with "strong notes of unwashed feet and Diaper Genie, with noticeable hints of spoiled butter."

But male dioecious trees don't drop seeds or fruit. Instead, in the spring, they release pollen.

Horticultural epidemiologist Tom Ogren traces the modern preference for male trees to around 1950, when the USDA released a book that promoted planting male trees over female trees for easy, litter-free maintenance. The idea caught on with private homeowners, nursery suppliers, and city planners. At the time, Dutch Elm disease was on the uptick, and swaths of trees in US cities were being replaced. Today, DDOT's Design and Engineering Manual (section 47.4.4) confirms that "...trees near walks should be thornless and fruitless to minimize maintenance," though of course there are plenty of fruitless trees that aren't dioecious males.

Favoring male trees isn't a bad idea in itself, and Ogren believes no one had any bad intentions. "But when a city does this on a massive scale, it has a huge impact on the health of the people who live there," he said to Governing. Ogren, who developed the Ogren Plants Allergy Scale (OPALS) used by the USDA and American Lung Association, says planting more female trees will reduce the pollen count in a city.

That makes sense. The job of female trees is to capture pollen, essentially acting as natural air filters. But when they're nearly non-existent, we're left with a ton of pollen in the air with no females to trap it ...

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.

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.

"Sanders’s suggested policies are better for the struggling people of this country, particularly women."

There simply isn't much to add.

My Kind of Misogyny: I Don’t Care If They Call a Warhawk “Cankles”, by Amber A'Lee Frost (The Baffler)

... I’d obviously be pleased to see a politically decent woman president, and if Hillary gets the nomination, I’ll happily cast my protest ballot for Jill Stein from the safety of my blue state. (Truth be told, as a Cold War social democrat, Bernie’s already my “compromise” candidate anyway.) Obama’s presidency has not yielded much in the way of material gains for black people in America, and it’s hard to imagine what a symbolic feminist victory like a female president would guarantee for all but the most privileged of women. As it stands, I’d no more vote for Hillary than I would for a Margaret Thatcher or a Sarah Palin.

And isn’t that the simpler explanation of left dissent from Team Clinton? It’s not that critics of Hillary are largely misogynist or even that they’re obsessed with political purity. It’s that she’s a proven neoliberal warhawk, a Wall Street sycophant, and a consistent enemy of the poor.

Schilling slays some Twitter trolls.

In the days preceding International Women's Day 2015, this story was all over the place. For the overview:

Curt Schilling posts a nice win for fathers, by Steve Rosenbloom (Chicago Tribune)

Curt Schilling can be insufferable. Sometimes it seems that’s his raison d’etre.

Schilling also can come off as world-class stupid, starting with denying evolution, a contention that made his timeline a stitch to read last November.

But Schilling became a hero this week, and even if it’s only this week, it’s a big win.

Schilling played dad in a big way. He exacted some revenge on Twitter trolls who made despicable comments about his daughter.

The original post, in which Schilling is quite clear about the source of the bullying:

The world we live in…Man has it changed. ADDENDUM!, by Curt Schilling (38 Pitches)

 ... These aren’t thugs, tough guys or bad asses, these aren’t kids who’ve had it rough, they aren’t homeless or orphans, these are pretty much ALL white, affluent, college attending children, and I mean children.

And the follow-up: Is it Twitters fault?

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.”

I don't always use space at NAC to tout my beer writing at Potable Curmudgeon, but today is an exception. The column appears on Mondays. You may or may not agree, but in any event, thanks for reading.

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.”

 ... I’ve changed my mind many times when presented with persuasive evidence contrary to my previous assumptions. I used to be satisfied drinking Stroh’s – then I wasn’t. My mind and my tastes evolved, and an immensely enjoyable 30-year journey through the world has followed. Changes in latitude could not have occurred without changes in attitude.

Being a Tribune local guest columnist is so easy, a caveman can do it.

... and did, yesterday.

OLSON: Palin-osis spreads among some liberal women, by Doug Olson, Local Guest Columnist

In which a male "former teacher" (ouch) endeavors to speaks for womankind, while in the process pole vaulting over the thin line that separates satire from mean-spirited bile of the sort that currently is poisoning the presidential campaign.

Here’s a sneering snippet.

Palinosis is a near-fatal, always traumatic malady occurring in epidemic proportions among aging, left-wing “feminazis” (a little Rush Limbaugh lingo here) that long ago bought into the notion that all men were sexist pigs bent only on keeping women ignorant, barefoot and pregnant. In other words, women that are suddenly realizing they've been living a toxic lie for the last 30 years or so.

Presumably only Healthblogger is laughing.

The mystery to me is what the newspaper has to gain from encouraging sexist diatribes, but perhaps it’s just another sad measure of how far the level of discourse in America has fallen ... or how few reasonable local people are willing to aply for the position of local guest columnist.

Photo credit: http://www.gigglesugar.com/152917