Atlantic Monthly Contributors's Blog, page 838

A Year with Google Glass Will Turn You Into an Obnoxious Monster

AP

What happens when you spend a year wearing Google Glass? People find you awkward and weird, and you learn to hate your phone. 

Wired's Mat Honan spent the last year wearing Google's wearable technology at every available opportunity, and his biggest takeaway was that people find wearable technology very, very weird. "Again and again, I made people very uncomfortable. That made me very uncomfortable," says Honan. 

Honan found Glass was inappropriate for all manner of social situations, like eating dinner, commuting, and helping his wife give birth to their second child. Even his coworkers at Wired, the geekiest magazine on the newsstand, made fun of him for wearing Glass. 

Glass was also not welcome at his oldest child's school, "because sometimes it scares children," which is exactly the kind of press Google wants you to read. 

That's why, for now, defeating the social and economic obstacles of wearing an ugly $1,500 computer is nearly impossible. "Glass is a class divide on your face," according to Honan. Despite the splashy launch, Google has had to fight the social backlash against wearable technology since Glass debuted earlier this year. Besides the undeniable aesthetic problems, sometimes people threaten to beat up Glass users. 

But Honan's year with Glass did yield one significant benefit. Disconnecting from the Internet was a popular trend story in 2013, and now there's a backlash brewing against our addiction to phones. "Backlash against cell phones won’t arrive until we understand the real problem," Robert Lanham wrote for the Awl recently. "Cell phones have made us dull." Which is precisely what Glass did for Honan. Glass helped Honan realize "what a monster I have become," for spending too much time on his phone: 

Glass kind of made me hate my phone — or any phone. It made me realize how much they have captured our attention. Phones separate us from our lives in all sorts of ways. Here we are together, looking at little screens, interacting (at best) with people who aren’t here. Looking at our hands instead of each other. Documenting instead of experiencing.

Glass sold me on the concept of getting in and getting out. Glass helped me appreciate what a monster I have become, tethered to the thing in my pocket. I’m too absent. 

We are all guilty of this now — standing in a group at a bar where everyone has a drink in one hand, phone in the other, and there are routine breaks in the conversation for everyone to check Twitter. Friends checking out to send an email or a text message, or just to check Instagram, Snapchat, Tinder or anything else we can do on these little wonders of technology

Though Honan isn't entirely sure that Glass is the answer to this problem. "Can yet another device make me more present?" he asks. "Or is it just going to be another distraction? ... I have no idea." But the important thing is Honan acknowledged he was spending too much time on his phone instead of interacting with humans. 

Is a reckoning against smartphones coming? Probably not. There are too many phones now, and they're too integrated into every part of our lives. But expect the "I abandoned my smartphone for a dumb phone and got my groove back in the process" to be the regressive tech trend story of 2014. 

       

Dozens of Fans Have Already Been Arrested at Phish's New Year's Eve Shows

Phish performs at Bonnaroo in 2012. (AP)

Speaking of regrettable ways to spend New Year's Eve, perennial jamband hooligans Phish is returning to its usual Madison Square Garden stint for a four-night marathon. It's off to a great start! Only an estimated 60 or so fans phans have been arrested so far, according to a report in DNAinfo New York.

The mayhem took place at Saturday night's show, and while no one seems to know exactly what crimes were committed, no one is especially confused, either: the band's lengthy, jam-filled live shows have been synonymous with drug culture since well before its youngest fans were born. CBS New York, though, points out that recent arrests at an Atlantic City show included prostitution charges: 

The publication said the nature of the charges against those arrested was not clear, but recent Phish concerts in Atlantic City resulted in 42 arrests ranging from drug distribution and possession, imitation drug deals and prostitution.

Still, 60 arrests seems remarkably high. What gives? Is Mayor Bloomberg celebrating his last week in office by cracking down on the city's real crime underbelly—jamband culture? Or are New York cops simply more bored than ever with fewer murders to investigate? 

Thing is, despite Phish's Madison Square Garden tradition, the band's marathon performances have always been more suited to remote, rural settings, like the group's 2004 farewell festival in a tiny town in Vermont or the time they accidentally made an air force base the largest city in Maine during the course of one weekend in 1997. (There's a whole Wikipedia page devoted to those famous weekend-long festivals.) So why not take the NYE debauchery back to that lonely air force base, where it can thrive? Free the wookies from the NYPD! Let Bloomberg end his reign free of wafting patchouli and "You Enjoy Myself" medleys! All aboard the Coventry Express! 

Anyway, the third show takes place at Madison Square Garden tonight.

       

Will the Tragedy of Challenger Victims Change Your Love for Beyoncé?

BEYONCE

A song on Beyoncé's celebrated new album samples audio from the space shuttle Challenger explosion, and it isn't going over entirely well.

"Flight controllers here looking very carefully at the situation. Obviously a major malfunction," were the words NASA officer Steve Nesbitt said as the nation watched the space shuttle Challenger crumple into a fiery mess in 1986. Those words are also on "XO," one of Beyoncé's newest and arguably her best song.

"We were disappointed to learn that an audio clip from the day we lost our heroic Challenger crew was used in the song 'XO'," June Scobee Rodgers, widow of Challenger commander Dick Scobee told ABC News. "The moment included in this song is an emotionally difficult one for the Challenger families, colleagues and friends," she added. 

While Beyoncé and her producers thought using Nesbitt's description of a human tragedy fine for pop music consumption, Scobee Rodgers and other Challenger family members believe that the usage of the clip is not unlike sampling something from 9/11. To them, Nesbitt's audio should, for the most part, be untouchable. "The choice is little different than taking Walter Cronkite's words to viewers announcing the death of President Kennedy or 911 calls from the World Trade Center attack and using them for shock value in a pop tune," Keith Cowing, a former NASA employee told ABC. 

The debate brings up questions of taste, respect, and the boundaries of pop culture, current events, and history (earlier this year, the upcoming X-Men film used the assassination of JFK in a marketing campaign). And it also brings up the infallibility of Beyoncé — she's weathered a controversial trip to Cuba, a lip-synching at the president's inauguration, and the greatest takedown penned by a misinformed colleague and still come through without a scratch.

And the way she's made controversies (and even former band members) go away is by singing her face off (see: the star-spangled banner). She can't do that here (I mean, we hope she doesn't sing Nesbitt's audio a capella). Beyoncé has apologized however: 

My heart goes out to the families of those lost in the Challenger disaster. The song 'XO' was recorded with the sincerest intention to help heal those who have lost loved ones and to remind us that unexpected things happen, so love and appreciate every minute that you have with those who mean the most to you.

       

The Official Who Oversaw Healthcare.gov Is Retiring Tomorrow

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, who has held several hearings on Healthcare.gov and Obamacare. (AP)

Michelle Snyder, the chief operating officer and second-in-command of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is retiring at the end of the year, according to The New York Times. Snyder was in responsible for "day-to-day activities and the allocation of resources, including budget and personnel," and Healthcare.gov contractors reported to her. At one point she said of the contractors, “If we could fire them, we would,” but it seems like she'll the one taking the fall, at least implicitly. "A head rolls, perhaps," tweeted Glenn Thrush of Politico. This is the second high profile departure in the department since the exchange launched October 1.

Last month, Snyder announced that CMS's chief information officer Tony Trenkle was leaving to work in the private sector. Snyder has been one of the high profile officials slated for firing by people who didn't have the power to fire her. During a congressional hearing last month, Sebelius acknowledged that website contractors reported to Snyder, leading Rep. Marsha Blackburn to blame her for the "debacle." Sebelius defended her, but this quiet year-end retirement will probably be used to validate Blackburn's claim. An anonymous former agency official told the Times that it was inevitable:

"She had to go. She was responsible for the implementation of Obamacare. She controlled all the resources to get it done. She was in charge of information technology. She controlled personnel and budget."

The Medicare Center's administrator Marilyn Tavenner  — the only official who ranks above Snyder — said that Snyder originally intended to retire at the end of 2012, but stayed on at her request. An agency official also said that "it's her personal choice to retire now," which might be true, but it's not hard to guess what gave her the extra push. 

       

Stranded Shipmates Surprisingly Cheerful About Being Stuck in Antarctic Ice

The MV Akademik Shokalskiy is pictured stranded in ice in Antarctica, December 29, 2013. (REUTERS/ANDREW PEACOCK)

A ship full of Antarctic explorers has been stuck in a sheet of sea for nearly a week now, but their non-panicked response almost makes being trapped on the bottom of the world seem like a lot of fun.

On November 27, 74 people set out to explore Antarctica and the Southern Ocean on a scientific adventure. It was part joy-ride through the mysterious, icy seas, and part effort to learn how climate change is affecting the region. The team remained jovial through the harsh conditions, posting consistent updates on its website. They've even remained upbeat and happy despite their ship being rendered immobile by a frozen block of sea ice since December 24. 

The team has been posting (mostly) cheery video updates to YouTube while it awaits rescue. The first attempt, by way of a Chinese icebreaker, was blocked by then. The second, via an Australian icebreaker, was also blocked by ice. That brings the score to Ice: 3, Ice Breaking Boats: 0.

Thankfully, China is making moves to outsmart the ice by swooping in via helicopter. The rescue copter is preparing to air-lift some passengers off the Russian ship Akademik Shokalskiy, according to Russia's foreign ministry, which said that "a decision has been reached to evacuate 52 passengers and four crew members by helicopter from China's Xue Long ship, should the weather allow." 

The ordeal would seem much more terrifying if the team, including crew, scientists and paying travelers, weren't being such good sports about it. Members of the group have been constantly updating their expedition website with video and written dispatches on the situation. Marine biologist Graeme Clark, a member of the science team, wrote on December 24 that the ship had been stalled: 

Too dense to travel through, the sea-ice has stopped the mighty Shokalskiy in its tracks despite aggressive charges by Captain Igor. The ship is now resigned to wait for a change in wind conditions to loosen or dissipate the sea ice before we can escape to open water. These are the challenging conditions for which Antarctica is so well known.

He went on, however, to describe morale on the boat as high, writing of crew members taking the break as a chance to rest and prepare for Christmas: 

While our ice-bound predicament is clearly frustrating to some, others have assured me that they don’t mind at all. The adversity adds to the sense of adventure and satisfies a primal desire for battle with the elements. After all, what is an Antarctic expedition without time spent trapped in the ice, and there are certainly worse places to be stuck than in a seascape of magnificent icebergs. 

One video, set to a rather sensual ditty, shows people eating together, preparing to watch a movie, and hanging around the cozy-looking ship. 

Credit: YouTube

Another shows member John Black describing a blizzard while standing on the deck of the ship. He assures viewers that everyone on board the ship is fine, adding: 

"It's a fantastic adventure we're having. I knew it would be an adventure with the AAE but this exceeds all expectations by a mile. So everyone have a happy new year, we certainly will." 

Credit: YouTube

That almost makes it sound like you should be disappointed if you go on an Antarctic adventure and don't get caught in the ice for a week. However,  Guardian video producer Laurence Topham posted a slightly more despondent confessional-style video:

According to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, the Australian icebreaker will continue "in due course to undertake the rescue once weather conditions improve." 

Expedition leader Chris Turney has said the crew has enough supplies to last for weeks. He's been updating his Twitter regularly, with both practical updates and pleasant scenes from the ship: 

Bad news: Aurora couldn't get through. Tried twice. Low visibility & heavy ice. Returning to open water. Try again tomorrow? #spiritofmawson

— Chris Turney (@ProfChrisTurney) December 30, 2013

Shocking weather today. Wet & windy. Had to use tent for comms on top deck. Aladdin's Cave. In the #spiritofmawson! pic.twitter.com/WppeIGeJhT

— Chris Turney (@ProfChrisTurney) December 30, 2013

http://t.co/p0s9O6c3Sz Wet & windy. 1degC. #spiritofmawson

— Chris Turney (@ProfChrisTurney) December 30, 2013

We're glad to see the team with their chins held so high and also pretty jealous of their trip — or at least, their enthusiasm for the trip. But we hope they get moving soon. Get home safe, Spirit of Mawson! 

       

Our Most Anticipated Movies of 2014

20th Century Fox/Fox Searchlight

With 2013's movies all released (at least in the major markets—sorry, Real America, you'll have to wait until January for August: Osage County) it's time to start looking ahead to 2014. So without further ado, here's a list of some of our most eagerly anticipated films for the coming year. Some of them we are genuinely excited for; others were are awaiting with dread. All of them should be out in 2014. There will surely be more to get excited about as the year goes on, but here is what we're already chomping at the bit to see.  

The Monuments Men - February 7. George Clooney's "Oceans 11 during World War II with art" movie was supposed to come out at the end of 2013 but was delayed in order to give Clooney and company more time to finish it. Being moved out of Oscar season would normally be a warning sign, but Clooney insisted all is well, and he is just so darn trustworthy. The movie, if nothing else, looks like good, old-fashioned fun: a wholesome picture about a group of art-inclined folks fighting the Nazis in their own special way with a bunch of actors you can't help but like. Among them? Matt Damon, John Goodman, Bob Balaban, Bill Murray, and Cate Blanchett. 

The Grand Budapest Hotel - March 7. Wes Anderson's latest looks positively delightful in that positively Wes Anderson way. Ralph Fiennes is a dapper concierge who has a thing for old women, one of whom is played by an aged-up Tilda Swinton. A whole bunch of Anderson's usual company are back for this one—Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Owen Wilson—and we can't wait. 

Veronica Mars - March 14. Of course we are eager to see how Rob Thomas envisioned the futures of our favorite characters from the beloved, short-lived TV show of the same name, but the big question the Veronica Mars movie will answer is whether or not the Kickstarter project that yielded it will be known ultimately as a triumph or a setup for a massive letdown. 

Divergent - March 21. Divergent has a lot riding on it as the heir to the Hunger Games legacy, but it also has a lot to prove so it doesn't end up like Beautiful Creatures or City of Bones. Veronica Roth's Y.A. series is fervently beloved by its legions of fans, and the film has collected a great cast including rising star Shailene Woodley. Hopes are high and expectations could prove correct. 

Nymphomaniac: Volume 1 - March 21. You can watch the first part of Lars von Trier's epic sex flick at home starting on March 6, but why not go see it in a theater for an especially awkward outing? If not, you could also always go see Muppets Most Wanted, opening on the same date. 

Only Lovers Left Alive - April 11. Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston as vampires in this Jim Jarmusch film that has already hit the festival circuit? Sign us up. 

Transcendence - April 8. Christopher Nolan's cinematographer breaks out on his own with this sci-fi story of artificial intelligence. This could also be Johnny Depp's return to less schtick-y acting, or at least we hope it is. 

The Other Woman - April 25. This comedy is your chance to see both Kate Upton and Nicki Minaj test their acting skills. That alone has us sold. The film also features Leslie Mann and Cameron Diaz who team up to take revenge on the scumbag who screwed both of them over (played by Jamie Lannister from Game of Thrones). 

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - May 2. Marc Webb's first time directing Andrew Garfield as the webslinger was unexpectedly delightful. The second go around has more franchise hopes on its shoulders and a plethora of villains that could potentially make it feel overstuffed. We're hoping that it lives up to the first film, or that at least the fantastic chemistry between Garfield and Emma Stone remains in tact. 

Godzilla - May 16. Who would've thought that a Godzilla reboot would be something to get worked up about? But the first trailer for the film was so packed with wonderful character actors that our interest was piqued. 

X-Men: Days of Future Past - May 23. Bryan Singer summoned basically all the stars that have ever been in an X-Men movie (and then cut Anna Paquin's Rogue) for this time-hopping extravaganza. It could be good revisionist history fun like First Class or it could be one huge mutant mess. 

Maleficent - May 30. We've learned to be wary of Disney's live action takes on classic stories. Alice in Wonderland and Oz the Great and Powerful didn't do much to inspire us, but there's something about Angie's cheekbones as this Sleeping Beauty villain that make us think this could be a creepy joy. Or that it could just inspire drag queens for years to come. 

The Fault in Our Stars - June 6 This is Shailene Woodley's second big Y.A. adaptation, and while this one doesn't have franchise potential, it has readers' high hopes attached. John Green's book is simply the story of two teens with cancer who fall in love, but it's wonderfully resistant to being maudlin even though you'll totally be sobbing by the end of it. 

Jupiter Ascending - July 18. The Wachowskis are at it again, and this time they put Channing Tatum in eyeliner. 

Guardians of the Galaxy - August 1. Marvel movies have become so rote that we're loathe to get excited for any of them, but Guardians of the Galaxy is something new for Disney and the comic book juggernaut. It's a weird space tale that involves a talking tree (voiced by Vin Diesel) and a talking raccoon (Bradley Cooper), and stars Parks and Recreation's Chris Pratt in his first bid at movie stardom. 

The Giver - August 15. Yes, it's another Y.A. adaptation, but the adaptation of Lois Lowry's beloved 1993 dystopian story deserves your attention, and not just because the movie will feature Taylor Swift acting alongside Jeff Bridges and Meryl Streep. 

Gone Girl - October 3. Gone Girl is yet another 2014 book-to-film adaptation, but this one has decidedly darker subject matter than, say, Divergent. Gillian Flynn's twisty story about a wife gone missing is so much more than just that, and its literary turns pose significant challenges to filmmakers. If anyone is up for the challenge, though, it's David Fincher, who has assembled a positively bizarre cast for the project, including Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris, Tyler Perry, and the girl from the "Blurred Lines" video. 

Interstellar - November 7. Christopher Nolan's first post-Batman film as a director is packed with movie stars—McConaughey! Chastain! Hathaway!—and has already produced a very cryptic trailer. It might be brilliant. It might be totally confusing. It might be both. This is Nolan we're talking about here. 

Dumb and Dumber To - November 14. It's hard to say whether we're anticipating this one or dreading it, but it should be interesting to see how this long-in-the-works sequel finally turns out. Likely it will be some form of dumb, but, hey, Jennifer Lawrence is in it!

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 - November 21. You know the drill. More hunger. More games. More Julianne Moore (as President Alma Coin; President of what, you ask? That's a very good question).

Exodus - December 12. Ridley Scott is taking the likes of Christian Bale and Aaron Paul to Egypt. Scott's track record hasn't been great of late, what with The Counselor either confounding, repulsing, or boring its audiences, but it should be worth seeing what he turns up with here.

Annie - December 19. We can't say we have high hopes for the Quvenzhané Wallis-starring, Will Gluck-directed, Jay-Z-produced interpretation of the classic musical. First of all, there's Cameron Diaz's Miss Hannigan hair. Second of all, they changed Daddy Warbucks's name to Benjamin Stacks. But perhaps we should be approaching this with the titular orphan's trademark optimism.

Into The Woods - December 25. Opening just a week out from Annie is another big musical adaptation, this one with perhaps higher Oscar hopes riding on it. Rob Marshall (he of the Best Picture winning Chicago) is directing this Disney adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's show about the dark side of fairytales. Meryl Streep stars as the show's Witch. 

Unbroken - December 25. Angelina Jolie is directing the true story of Olympian Louis Zamperini, who was a WWII POW. Not to be confused with Jolie's hubby's WWII movie Fury, opening a month earlier. 

 

       

What Hazing Is Like at the Deadliest Frat

AP

Rushing fraternities is a nightmare. One survivor of the rush process at a chapter of the deadliest frat in the U.S., according to Bloomberg News, compared his experience to that of a spy getting tortured for information.

Sigma Alpha Epsilon, one of the country's oldest and most prestigious frats, has accounted for "nine deaths related to drinking, drugs and hazing since 2006, more than any other Greek organization," according to a new investigation by Bloomberg's John Hechinger and David Glovin. If the fraternity's name rings an alarming bell, it's because SAE hazing rituals were the focus of the Rolling Stone piece that caused such an uproar last year. 

Bloomberg spoke to former pledges who rushed SAE at Salisbury University in Maryland, in 2012, a particularly bad year, who reported the frat to school officials. The ensuing investigation, concluded in November 2012, shut down the chapter and banned them from campus until 2014, after which SAE will return with a year-long probationary period. 

Sigma Alpha Epsilon is older than the Civil War. Founded in 1856, the frat boasts a number of famous alumni, particularly in finance, including former billionaire T. Boone Pickens, and former President William McKinley. William Faulkner was also a member. But SAE pledges at Salisbury in 2012 had to survive gruesome rituals in order to join the frat's prestigious pipeline to finance and power. 

So what does it take to enter one of the oldest annals of power in the Greek system? The mental fortitude of a spy being tortured for top-secret information. Pledges were starved and secluded in a basement for hours, forced to drink after being confined for so long, forced to dress like women, paddled, and repeatedly verbally abused with homophobic slurs during the pledge process, according to former pledges and university documents reviewed by Bloomberg. “It honestly reminded me of Guantanamo Bay,” said Justin Stuart, who was 19 years old when he rushed SAE in 2012. 

Stuart reported everything to the university after partaking in SAE's pledge process. Perhaps the most disturbing incident his class of pledges went through was when they were locked in a dark basement, with all windows covered by blankets, and continually blasted with clips of Rammstein's "Du Hast," a pounding metal song, for roughly eight or nine hours. Fraternity brothers abused the pledges in different ways over the course of the evening: 

At 9 p.m., brothers ran down the stairs to the basement and told pledges to put their backs against the wall, with their heads down, Stuart said. The older members screamed insults, according to Stuart.

“You’re a worthless piece of ****.” “I’ll make you suck a ****.” “You’re a good-for-nothing [homophobic slur],” Stuart quoted members saying in a written account that he said he also gave university officials.

Fraternity members shattered liquor bottles against the wall, Stuart told campus police, according to a police report. Members ripped shirts off pledges and told them they couldn’t eat, including a student on medication who required food at regular intervals, Stuart told police.

At one point, an upperclassman spat in the face of a pledge named Ryan Afifi, Stuart and Kellner said.

Another incident involved the pledges dressing like women, in dresses and high heels, while upperclassmen took turns hitting their butts with a wooden paddle. On a different night they were locked in the basement without food or water for hours again. But this time, when they emerged pledges were taken immediately to a party and forced to drink different kinds of hard alcohol. 

Despite the two-year suspension and one-year probationary period, the Salisbury chapter was never punished by its national body. “We’re still recognized by our national office as having a chapter in good standing,” Dwight Marshall, Salisbury SAE chapter's volunteer alumni adviser, told Bloomberg.

       

Sorry, Gérard Depardieu: France's 75 Percent Tax Rate Is a Go

AP

It seems like it was only a year ago that France's Constitutional Council declared that President François Hollande's 75 Percent "Millionaire's Tax" was unconstitutional. Now that same court has given a revised version of the policy the go-ahead.

Before, individuals who earned over one million euros (about 1.375 million American dollars) would have to pay a 75 percent tax. But that was struck down because the French court found it wouldn't be evenly applied.

Now the tax will be levied against the employers who pay out salaries exceeding one million euros. While French football clubs, home of several high earning players, and Gérard Depardieu have protested the tax, the majority of French people are in favor of it. This makes sense, since the majority of French people do not earn or pay salaries of over one million euros.

The good news for employers is that the tax is temporary; it'll apply to 2013 and 2014 earnings only. And it's capped at 5 percent of the company's revenue. France is hoping the tax will reduce its budget deficit (though that is in the billions, while the estimated take from this tax is about 210 million euros annually, so it won't do much) and encourage companies to distribute salaries more evenly.

The best news of all (unless you're Russian) is that Gérard Depardieu, who angrily left France last December to avoid to supertax, is now a Russian citizen.

 

       

Ani DiFranco Cancelled Her 'Righteous Retreat' to a Former Slave Plantation

AP

Feminist icon Ani DiFranco's "Righteous Retreat" seemed like a good idea: for just over $1,000, fans could spend four days hanging out with DiFranco and learning how to "develop one's singular creativity" through various workshops held in a "captivating setting."

Unfortunately, it turned out that that "captivating setting" used to be one of the largest plantations in the South, with hundreds of slaves working its fields. But don't worry! According to Nottoway Plantation's version of its history, life was awesome for them:

Ever the astute businessman, Randolph knew that in order to maintain a willing workforce, it was necessary to provide not only for his slaves’ basic needs for housing, food and medicine, but to also offer additional compensation and rewards when their work was especially productive. Every New Year’s Day, John Randolph would give the field slaves a hog to cook and the Randolph family would eat with them in The Quarters. There would be music and dancing, and the Randolphs would give the slaves gifts of clothing, small toys and fruit, as well as a sum of money for each family. In addition, the workers received an annual bonus based on their production.

It is difficult to accurately assess the treatment of Randolph’s slaves; however, various records indicate that they were probably well treated for the time.

Nottoway is now owned by the Paul Ramsay Group. Ramsay is an Australian billionaire who has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to right wing political campaigns in his country.

For some reason, DiFranco's fans weren't all that comfortable spending time in a place that was built by slaves and giving their money to a man who sponsors conservative causes.

After a great deal of outcry, DiFranco decided to cancel the event. Her long blog entry offers up a variety of excuses and justifications but little by way of an apology. She claims she was not initially aware of where the retreat would be held other than that it would be close to New Orleans. When she figured out that it would be on a plantation, she thought that merited a mere "whoa," nothing more:

later, when i found out it was to be held at a resort on a former plantation, I thought to myself, “whoa”, but i did not imagine or understand that the setting of a plantation would trigger such collective outrage or result in so much high velocity bitterness.

Speaking of "high velocity bitterness," DiFranco doesn't seem too happy that other people's "divisive words" have ruined her party:

let me just concede before more divisive words are spilled. i obviously underestimated the power of an evocatively symbolic place to trigger collective and individual pain. i believe that your energy and your questioning are needed in this world. i know that the pain of slavery is real and runs very deep and wide. however, in this incident i think is very unfortunate what many have chosen to do with that pain. i cancel the retreat now because i wish to restore peace and respectful discourse between people as quickly as possible.

again, maybe we should indeed have drawn a line in this case and said nottoway plantation is not a good place to go; maybe we should have vetted the place more thoroughly. but should hatred be spit at me over that mistake? 

i also planned to take the whole group on a field trip to Roots of Music, a free music school for underprivileged kids in New Orleans. Roots of Music is located at the Cabildo, a building in the French Quarter which was the seat of the former slaveholder government where all the laws of the slave state were first written and enacted. i believe that the existence of Roots of Music in this building is transcendent and it would have been a very inspiring place to visit. i also believe that Roots could have gained a few new supporters. in short, i think many positive and life-affirming connections would have been made at this conference, in its all of its complexity of design. 

 i do not wish to reinvent the righteous retreat at this point to eliminate the stay at the Nottoway Plantation. at this point I wish only to cancel.

So now, because everyone got mad at DiFranco for seeming sympathetic to or supportive of former slave plantations, those underprivileged kids will suffer. That's not DiFranco's fault for planning an event in a place that her intended audience would find abhorrent and then refusing to apologize when it did. It's everyone else's fault for not being cool about it.

Whoa.

 

 

 

       

The 'Call Me Maybe' Singer Is Going to Broadway

AP

Carly Rae Jepsen, who "Call Me Maybe" launched a thousand parodies and lip dubs and made us wonder how you can miss someone so bad when he hasn't come into your life yet, is heading to Broadway. With Fran Drescher!

Jepsen will take over the titular role in "Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella" from Laura Osnes, who was nominated for a Tony, on February 4. That's also Drescher's start date as her evil stepmother. Drescher's predecessor in the role is Tony award winner Harriet Harris.

Both Drescher and Jepsen are making their Broadway debuts and filling the shoes and/or glass slippers of talented Broadway vets, which won't be easy (Jepsen did star in her high school's musicals, the AP noted, and attended the Canadian College of Performing Arts, so clearly she's ready to take this on). At least they'll only have to do it for a limited time: Drescher signed on for just 10 weeks, while Jepsen is doing 12.