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Ben Bolch’s Los Angeles Times column about LSU is the latest example of how traditional media perpetuates misogynoir

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In journalism school we’re taught that we have to be objective in our reporting and writing.

I could go on and on about how objectivity in journalism is a myth created by gatekeepers in traditional media who wanted to regulate each what stories are told and how those stories are told.

The whole point of “objectivity” in journalism was to avoid offending the news’s primary readers, who were and still are white men. Sections dedicated to white women were later added, but at no point were any black people featured, and our stories weren’t considered in traditional media or in the overall debate about objectivity. White men and white women have all the time been the target market and still are.

This signifies that the way stories about Black individuals are told have historically been told from a perspective that pleases the sensibilities of white people.

New media – the media spaces which have emerged since the advent of the Internet – have modified all this.

As more Black publications and media outlets enter the arena and tell our stories in ways in which honor us and uplift our stories, traditional media outlets shouldn’t have the same level of control over what is considered “objective.”

Nowadays, who you might be is directly reflected in the way you write your stories and the stories you select.

Opinion writing is not objective; in actual fact, it’s exactly the opposite. That’s subjective AF.

Opinion writing is a subset of journalism during which journalists, commentators, critics, etc. share their personal thoughts on a subject of their selection.

These topics might be movies, current events, albums, politics, racial justice issues, social justice issues, and the list goes on.

The text in opinion articles is barely looser than in reportage articles. Op-eds often rely more on how the author personally expresses himself. They may use slang or jargon that may not otherwise appear in regular news, and their personality often comes out more in writing because, again, it is an expression of their deep, personal thoughts.

With all this in mind, let’s talk about it Article by Ben Bolch published in the LA Times. before the UCLA-LSU matchup in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament.

Ben Bolch is a beat author for the Los Angeles Times covering the University of California, Los Angeles. His Twitter bio (remember we never call it X) says he’s “an absurdist who tweets for me, not you.”

Ben wrote the comment last Friday before Saturday’s matchup between the two teams. The headline of the article was “UCLA-LSU Are America’s Sweethearts vs. Basketball Villains” and truthfully, that ought to have been our first clue that the article can be full of the same kind of anti-black, dehumanizing rhetoric that has been pushed repeatedly over the last yr at LSU.

The original light in the column read: “This isn’t just a basketball game, it’s a reckoning. Choosing sides goes far beyond school loyalty. Do you prefer America’s sweethearts or its dirty debutants? Milk and cookies or Louisiana hot sauce?

Aside from the fact that these first two independent sentences should be separated by a semicolon or a period, what about “white people sometimes gets on my nerves”?

Who calls the University of California, Los Angeles women’s basketball team “America’s Sweethearts”?

No offense to these young ladies, as I’m sure they’re all very lovely human beings, but how do you portray them as the light in this equation while simultaneously portraying LSU – the Black team for the purposes of this exercise – as the darkness?

He then writes: “Do you prefer a team that wants to grow women’s basketball or one that seems very keen to divide it?”

I’ll say it again: where does this narrative come from?

LSU’s squad is dominated by blacks, so portraying them as the “bad” opposition to the “good” UCLA team is greater than a bit disturbing, nevertheless it doesn’t end there.

It makes Angel Reese, who has suffered from a lot scrutiny and criticism from the white media, for doing the same thing that every one basketball players – including Caitlin Clark, who is white – do all the time.

How is it different from what Angel Reese does? Steph Curry’s ‘nightie’ gesture?

The comment in the article was misogynistic, sexist and anti-black towards a bunch of young women who’re still learning, growing and deserve all the grace in the world while attempting to balance the enormity of celebrity sports and college life. They operate in an area where they’re expected to be athletic and dominant of their sport, but additionally to be the epitome of grace and civility, if white people have anything to say about it.

The response to Bolch’s comment was quick and immediate. People on Twitter criticized him repeatedly until the Times finally updated the story on Saturday with several disclaimers, including the following editor’s note:

On the ice, the line “Do you prefer America’s sweethearts or her dirty debutants? Milk and cookies or Louisiana hot sauce? was removed and replaced with a note from a second editor that said: “A previous version of this commentary did not meet Times editorial standards. It has been updated.”

This article probably went through at least a line editor and a copy editor and neither of them initially saw a problem with it, so I question the editorial standards the Times references and wonder whether all of its editors were trained in this alleged ” standard”.

The question “Do you prefer a team that wants to grow women’s basketball or one that clearly wants to divide it?” still remains in the article, as does the previously mentioned comment on Angel Reese.

Now let’s go back to what I said at the beginning of this comment.

Ben Bolch is an experienced columnist who has worked for the Los Angeles Times since 1999. Over the course of 25 years, he has had time to practice and perfect his craft, including his writing style and word choice.

I assume Ben Bolch knew what he was doing when he wrote this article. He is a white man who works in a predominantly white school and knows his audience. This comment was written in a way that appealed to the sensibilities of the audience, but also included words and phrases that he deliberately chose.

Again, the editor saw this story and thought it was okay to publish it.

Ben himself probably thought he had done something big with it because he couldn’t stop promoting it on Twitter, even after being yelled at multiple times on Twitter.

He finally issued a lame “apology” on Monday, but the damage was already done. The apology has already been added at the end of the original article, but I’ll prevent the time and energy of reading by summarizing it this manner:

Ben Bolch is not sorry about the language he used towards the young women on the LSU team. He’s sorry he was called out on it so loudly and openly.

The daring emphasis is mine.

It’s hard for me to persuade him, at his great age and at this stage of his profession, especially in any case the white “woke” bullshit from 2020, that he really didn’t understand the seriousness of what he was writing. He not only sees it now; he knew all along, and when his editors agreed, he figured he had gotten away with it.

It’s the journalistic equivalent of throwing a stone and covering your hand.

You’re not smart, Ben.

What Ben did was follow the path paved by all the white media that got here before him.

It’s okay to place down Black people or talk down Black people. There’s nothing incorrect with portraying us as villains, thugs, and terrible people for doing the same things they do all the time and never get called out for. There is nothing incorrect with using weapons against a complete group of young black women who do nothing greater than play sports and take a look at to advance in the world.

White traditional media perpetuates misogyny. We’ve seen this occur in real time with athletes like Serena Williams AND Coco Gauffamongst others.

Ben Bolch was simply following a script that had already been written for him. He said things about black female athletes that he would never say about white women, and when you don’t think me, have a look at his later comment about UCLA losing. He wrote this story as gently as possible, while criticizing the many mistakes they made that ultimately led to them losing the match.

White traditional media perpetuates misogyny all the time.

They needs to be prepared for Black writers (and Black people generally) to point this out regularly.


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Natasha Rothwell Talks About Her Connection With Reesy Teesy’s Story ‘Who Did I Marry?’

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Natasha Rothwell Reesa Teesa, Natasha Rothwell Who TF did I Marry, Who TF Did I Marry on the TikTok show, Who TF did I marry Reesa Teesa theGrio.com

Natasha Rothwell is ready to tackle latest role as ‘Reesy Teesy’.

As theGrio previously reported, the actress is ready to star in a TV adaptation of the viral TikTok saga “Who TF did I Marry.” While fans reportedly envisioned her starring in a Hollywood adaptation of the viral 52-part series, Rothwell says producing the show was the final thing on her mind.

“I devoured it on the spot,” she said. People Magazine, recalling the primary time she watched videos on social media. “(I didn’t think) ‘Oh, how can I do this?’ I did, (but rather) ‘I want to do everything I can to help this woman get flowers,’ because it was the most vulnerable act of honesty (and) radical vulnerability I’ve ever seen.”

Earlier this yr, social media couldn’t stop talking about Tareasa “Reese Tees” Johnson and her compelling story about her marriage and divorce from the person she calls “Legion.” Sharing candidly the small print of her complicated marriage to “Legion,” who she says is a pathological liar, Johnson’s videos have racked up greater than six million views on social media. So Rothwell wasn’t surprised to see “very competitive” negotiations in Hollywood for Johnson’s story.

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But unlike other producers and executive directors, Rothwell had a singular vision for adapting Who Did I Marry?

“It wasn’t her trauma that interested me and[made me]want to throw my hat in the ring,” she explained. “It was her — who she is as a person, how she survived all of this — and the viral fame, how she survived that. I was like, ‘Oh, this is where I lean in.’”

Having spent nearly eight years developing her recently released Hulu show How to Die Alone , the actress and producer says she took the same approach in negotiations with Johnson. Ultimately, her “if it’s meant to be, it will be” attitude paid off when she was notified that the viral TikTok storyteller desired to work along with her.

“My team called me (and said), ‘She wants to work with you specifically. You saw her in the meeting. She felt seen. It wasn’t opportunistic,'” she added.

But just as Johnson felt seen, the How to Die Alone actress felt seen when the duo met for dinner earlier this month. Feeling like she had met her “twin,” Rothwell compared their interaction to being in a “mutual bubble of love where we just enjoy each other and understand each other and learn about each other.”

“I’m definitely looking forward to approaching her story in a 360-degree way, and not just… telling the story that we’ve all been consuming. I think it’s a lot more interesting than what happened to her,” she said, revealing that the series is “in its very early stages.”

This article was originally published on : thegrio.com
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Kanye West’s Wife Bianca Censori Ignores Kim Kardashian’s Demands, Goes Braless Around Rapper’s Kids

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Kanye West

Kanye West’s wife Bianca Censori is choosing revealing and skimpy outfits despite being warned to be moderate in her wardrobe selections when round her husband’s children.

The couple have been spotted in Japan and China in recent weeks, sometimes with the rapper’s 4 children on board. West has daughters North, 11, and Chicago, 6, and sons Saint, 8, and Psalm, 5, with ex-wife Kim Kardashian.

The former couple divorced after a lengthy process that dragged on until November 2022 after Kim filed in 2021. They were married for seven years amid rumors of marital tensions dating back to 2016. The “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” rapper married Australian-born Censori in a personal ceremony in December 2022, although an official marriage certificate has yet to be released.

Kanye West's Wife Doesn't Wear a Bra
Kanye West’s wife goes braless during a family outing with the rapper’s sons, despite strict rules imposed by his ex-wife. (Photo: Rachpoot/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)

On Thursday, September 19, the couple and their sons were spotted shopping in Tokyo. The Yeezy’s Architecture boss wore a nude top, sans bra, and a pair of gray capri leggings.

When the recordings and photos from the trip appeared on the web, one person he tweeted“Very rude to Japanese culture. Disappointing from Ye. Japanese culture is all about manners! He has nothing terrible to do in front of his children. How will he feel when North dresses like that?”

Censori, 29, has been accused of being her husband’s fashion muse, very similar to the SKIMS businesswoman once was. But despite claims that the 2 women have a cordial relationship, there have been rumors that Kardashian disapproves of Censori’s risqué clothing.

According to a report in February, an alleged insider claimed that “Kim instructed Kanye to never let Bianca dress like that in front of their children.” Daily mail“She’s really surprised Kanye let his wife leave the house in that condition,” a source told the tabloid.

“Kanye did the same thing he did with Bianca, with Kim throughout their marriage. The difference is that when Kanye dressed Kim, he was respected as a person, as an artist,” they continued.

While West is usually seen in black sweatpants and hoodies, Censori is never seen together with her butt, chest, and other body parts hidden from view. “Sheer clothing is silly at best, like Bianca Censori is hot, but she usually looks like someone’s idea of ​​a joke,” we read. criticism her fashion selections.

Similarly, while watching the Tokyo shopping trip, a post comparing Censori and Kardashian’s love of skintight outfits began circulating. “Are they both in a costume contest, I wish they could model something else,” we read tweet.

The post shows each women wearing white leggings (Censori wore lace leggings) and a white bodysuit, which caught the eye of onlookers who noted her cleavage.

However, amid accusations that the Keeping Up with the Kardashians star was copying and controlling West, stylist Laura Beham revealed that every outfit is a piece of Censori’s own imagination.

“Bianca knows exactly what she would wear and we execute, bringing the vision to life,” Beham said. Complex in March. She also noted that “Bianca wouldn’t wear anything on the street if she didn’t want to. … It’s shocking to people, but innovation is always shocking at first.”

Censori is not afraid to point out off his daring outfit selections, but some are hoping he’ll make higher decisions within the presence of the rapper’s family, his friends, and even his circle of relatives.


This article was originally published on : atlantablackstar.com
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On Rapsody’s “Loose Rocks” and the Remorse of an Alzheimer’s Survivor — Andscape

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September 13 on ESPN was mine “Rhapsody moment.” Talking about my mother, who has Alzheimer’s, on national television for the first time was cathartic. It was also directly inspired by the North Carolina MC and her song “Loose rocks”, which deals with dementia, a form of Alzheimer’s disease.

Rhapsody said that “(allowing) myself to be human” was a brand new, out-of-body experience on her deeply personal recent album, y. But the quaver in her voice on this song was all too familiar.

“,” she told her Aunt Dale, whom she calls her “second mother” in the song.

“I remember when I was myself,” my mother told me last week. “I just don’t know how to be myself.”

As we have fun World Alzheimer’s Day, the emotions expressed in these two quotes are part of my life story.

On “Loose Rocks,” the Snow Hill, North Carolina native peels back the layers of her aunt Dale’s dementia diagnosis. “She raps, ‘In the hundreds of conversations I’ve had with my mother since her diagnosis, this is her greatest fear. She forgets a lot these days, but she doesn’t forget the things she’s most afraid of losing. There will come a day when she doesn’t recognize who I am. When she doesn’t remember everything we’ve been through as a parent and a child. But most importantly, when she doesn’t remember the grandchildren and daughter-in-law she’s always prayed for. It’s hard to know what to say when these conversations come up, and honestly, I haven’t figured it out yet. I don’t know if I ever will, because how do you tell the person in charge of your life that the very essence of who they are won’t be a memory? They’ll never know they ever existed.’”

“Loose Rocks” isn’t an exact replica of my life. But the anger, sadness, and fear expressed in the song are only as palpable. At some point in the past two years, becoming a parent, essentially my mother, became an inevitable part of my life. Paying bills, scheduling doctor’s appointments, filing taxes, talking to lawyers to rearrange wills—it’s hard to assume all of that becoming a component of life. And yet, it’s even harder to assume life without it.

She was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s a couple of days before Christmas last 12 months, and symptoms began appearing no less than two years earlier. The consensus I’ve gotten from countless individuals who have reached out to me since this piece is that their family members have lived with the disease for 4 to seven years. How much time do I even have left with my mother? How do I prepare for the emotional burden when it inevitably gets worse? How do I live in a moment after I can’t stop serious about the whole thing? And what did she do to deserve this? These are only a snapshot of the questions that paralyze me day by day.

My mother’s stroke and automotive accident were clear signs. I’ll all the time imagine that the quarantine and the coronavirus pandemic did irreversible damage. She kept saying, “I feel different.” Or, “Something is wrong. I just don’t know what.” A natural extrovert, she was forced into isolation. That isolation modified the woman who raised me. Physically, it’s still there. But looking into her eyes, you may see it is a woman fighting to carry on to the pride that made her who she was — but it surely’s a disease that feeds on itself, emotionally crippling her patients and family members. She can still do some tasks on her own, and her commitment to, as she says, “beating this thing” is inspiring. Her indecision is painful now. Her confidence sometimes ebbs and flows by the hour. We communicate day by day via FaceTime, phone calls, and texts. But seeing her misspelled words, especially after spending her life as a teacher, creates a burden that may’t be ignored. The image of him sitting at the kitchen table practicing writing along with his left hand is burned into my brain. Writing with the “non-active” hand helps with cognitive function, or so the doctors tell us.

My parents divorced in 1988, and from there my mother and I moved to my grandmother’s house in central Virginia. They have lived together ever since. At 93, my grandmother, who resides with breast cancer, is quick to inform me that she doesn’t have one other 93 years ahead of her. She recently returned from the hospital after a gentle stroke that she doesn’t remember. My grandmother continuously jogs my memory about the checking account she arrange that may pay for her funeral and burial costs, and “whatever is left, you’ll make the best decision.”

Like RhapsodyMy father and I never had a relationship. I wore our lack of connection almost like a badge of honor. The feeling was greater than mutual, if he didn’t need a relationship with me. Lately, though, I felt offended and resentful.

My mother all the time tells me she’s afraid of being alone. In the future, I’ll sell the house I grew up in and move her into an assisted living facility. I’m wondering what that may do to her Alzheimer’s. Will it speed it up? Will it slow it down? But the query I ask most frequently is pointless. Why did my father’s actions a long time ago ultimately leave my mother alone in a spot she doesn’t know?

The questions we cannot answer are the most difficult.

2023 study by the University of Exeter and King’s College London examined the impact of the pandemic on the brain health of people over the age of 50. Published in the journal, the study found that older people’s memory deteriorated significantly in the first 12 months of the pandemic (and even after quarantine), regardless of whether or not they had contracted the virus. The study found that cognitive decline was exacerbated by aspects reminiscent of loneliness and depression.

During the pandemic, my mother continuously spoke about how lonely she felt and how often she cried about not having the ability to see her family. As an outgoing and extroverted one who was all the time shuttling between Washington, D.C., Virginia, and wherever her beloved South Carolina State Bulldogs were playing football, the change in lifestyle during the lockdown did irreversible damage to my mother.

The most crippling reality of Alzheimer’s/dementia is the stripping away of an individual’s dignity. The person isn’t who they’re or who they may eventually change into. My mother struggles to take care of the independence she has proudly carried throughout my life. But the effects are visible. In the same conversation where she asks the same query five times in five minutes—like when her next therapist appointment is, or when my daughter’s birthday is so she will write it down on her phone—she may offer you the lyrics to her favorite Luther Vandross song or anything related to her college alumni chapter.

Karen Marshall and her grandson Huey visit the Children’s Museum of Richmond in Virginia.

Justin Tinsley

I took her and my son to the Children’s Museum of Richmond this summer. She did nothing but push a stroller while her grandson played with toys, but the joy in her eyes jogged my memory of the woman I’ve all the time loved. As we drove home, she said, “Thank you for making me feel like a real grandma today. I needed this more than you know. I know I won’t get to do it again, so I appreciate it.” That positivity didn’t fade even when she got a phone call a short time later and was told she needed a checkup for her surgery the week before. In that moment, all she wanted was the peace she’d spent years trying to find. Alzheimer’s would eventually rob her of that feeling, but not then. That smile on her face is something I’ll always remember.

What is so bad is how Alzheimer’s takes away time. This stress has affected every part of my life, including marriage and parenting. The conversation with my friend on Wednesday might have been God speaking through her.

“Justin, knowing what I know about your personality, you can’t be everyone’s Superman,” she told me. “You’ll break down and it’ll take years to get back on your feet. You can’t afford that luxury with kids. Or marriage. Because they remember you the way they remember you.”

In a world dominated by Alzheimer’s, being here and now is difficult because I’m clinging to the past. The woman she was once. The relationship we had before all the things turned the other way up. The life she fantasized about but never knew. But it isn’t fair. Not to me, my children, my wife, and even my mother. What matters is the future. I can not lose my mother and family to Alzheimer’s. She would never forgive me for that.

I still have not come to terms together with her diagnosis and there is a likelihood I never will. Her love stays the same, but I see that the disease is already taking away the one one who has known me longer than I even have known myself.

Every day, every hour, with one and all, this type of emotional theft is depressingly fruitful. Money is all the time needed, but somewhere along the way we realize that experiences are the strongest currency. Experiences create memories, and that’s all we will take with us.

It’s hard to say whether “Loose Rocks” will likely be the best song of 2024. But I can say that there probably won’t be a more essential song to me. This song makes me take into consideration what was, what’s now, and what could occur in the next few years. I could never have imagined a world where my mother couldn’t be the grandmother she all the time embodied, and that’s a reality I struggle with each day. In life, we control the things we will control and let all the things else play out the way it does. I can’t control my mother’s Alzheimer’s the same way Rapsody can’t control her aunt’s dementia. “Loose Rocks” isn’t only a painful song. It’s a stupendous song. But it’s also a reminder of responsibility and blessings.

If we’re lucky, we will see our parents get older. Visits mean more, and phone calls change into ornaments that we supply with us for the rest of our lives. Nothing in life is fair or free, because even happiness has its price.

Cover notes

Justin Tinsley is a senior culture author at Andscape. He believes that “Cash Money Records takin’ ova for da ’99 and da 2000” is the most influential statement of his generation.


This article was originally published on : andscape.com
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