When I received the Chicago Tribune Wednesday morning, I had no idea the cover story of the weekly WomanNews section was supposed to be about the use of the word “cunt,” not engaged women coping with the military deaths of their fiancés.

Not until I read Romenesko, anyway, who had plenty of links to the story behind the censored story.

Senior editors who were none too happy with a piece on “the c word” found out about it after the section had already been printed, which led to a last-minute pull-fest with editors and other employees trying desperately to remove the copies from Wednesday’s paper (Glenn Close from The Paper comes to mind).

A new cover story was printed for city readers, others didn’t get WomanNews until Thursday. A very lucky few got the censored edition. Here’s the Trib’s apology.

Eric Herman of the Chicago Sun Times got a peek and looked for some analysis of the story idea:

Written by free-lancer Lisa Bertagnoli, it explored whether the word was becoming more acceptable, citing the opinions of professors and writers. It bore the headline, “You c-nt say that (or can you?),” and covered two-thirds of the front page of the Woman News section.

A features editor discussed the article at the paper’s 11 a.m. editorial meeting, Tribune sources said. While “alarm bells went off” when editors learned of the subject matter, a source said, no one moved to replace the story until 4 p.m., when top editor Ann Marie Lipinski became aware of the story. But by then, the section had already been printed. [...]

The piece by Bertagnoli — who also free-lances for the Chicago Sun-Times — never uses the offending word. But by providing words it rhymes with and making its anatomical reference clear, it leaves little doubt for the reader.

Jacqui Banaszynski, who holds the Knight Chair in Journalism at the University of Missouri and is associate managing editor of The Seattle Times, said papers are struggling to find the line of propriety at a time when it is being redrawn by cable television, the Internet and the alternative press.

“Newspapers are desperately trying to be relevant to younger readers. We’re way past the age of Lenny Bruce,” Banaszynski said.

And while the story idea was “interesting,” Banaszynski said a reporter would have to convince her “that by doing it we would be letting the readers in on a subculture that really had a lot of momentum” before running it.

“I find that word incredibly, incredibly, incredibly repulsive,” she added.

So, does anyone have a censored copy they’d like to share? And readers, what would you have done?

Now this is a damn shame: The L.A. Hell House, which we previously mentioned (and really wanted to experience), closes on Halloween.

And now Salon warns that a growing number of evangelical Christians are handing out gospel tracts along with sugary sweets. Really, isn’t there a better night for converting? Why mess with Halloween? Oh, because people are knocking on their doors. Christopher Healy writes:

[A]s they sift through their loot, many little Batmen and Dora the Explorers might find verses from Deuteronomy or First Corinthians among the candy corn. That’s because many Evangelical Christians, who have always had a shaky relationship with occult-laden Halloween, have decided that instead of boycotting the holiday, they’re going to take advantage of it to spread their message of salvation through the acceptance of Jesus Christ.

“There are few occasions when you have people coming to your door, asking you for things,” says Geoff Dennis, vice president of publishing services for Good News Publications, which turns out 8 million Halloween-themed gospel tracts each year. “So it provides easy access to sharing the Good News that we have.”

“We’re always looking for chances to share our faith,” says Mark Brown, vice president of marketing for the country’s oldest tract publisher, the American Tract Society. “This is the only time of the year you can do this legally.”

Makes you wonder WWJD about spreading the gospel along candy, stickers and toys.

ATS’ Halloween goodies are available for viewing here. If you’re so inclined, you can read the special Halloween edition of ‘”Steps to Peace with God,’” written by Billy Graham, by clicking through the panels.

‘”Tract and Toy Perfect Princess’” is regretfully sold out, but this mega variety pack includes 140 glow-in-the-dark spider rings (if I look at the light as the Lord, am I looking too much into this?).

Publishers agree that retaining the treat is important to the tract’s acceptance by children. “Kids are out there looking for candy,” Brown explains. “If you hand them a tract and nothing else, they’ll have a negative feeling toward you and toward the tract. So you want to give a really good piece of candy; don’t gyp the kid out. Then when they dump the bag, their eyes just pop out, and they associate this with the candy.”

Sort of the same positive reinforcement training technique I’m using with my newly adopted dog, McNulty. Lucky for him he can’t read.

The Rev. Astrid Storm, an Episcopal priest at Grace Church in New York, who calls the practice “back-door evangelism” says, “I loathe making a connection between Christianity and getting goodies. It’s not the best connection to make at the outset of one’s faith, since it hardly equips one to deal with the many disappointments and setbacks that are an inevitable — and important — part of the Christian life.”

Sure enough, we had to stop the treats for a while, too. The little guy started focusing more on the reward to come than the task at hand.

For the Rev. Winnie Varghese, a chaplain at Columbia University, it’s the bigger picture that matters. “If it’s OK for Muslim families to put tracts proclaiming the tenets of Islam into trick-or-treat bags or for more liberal denominations to pass out literature saying that you can be gay and still be a good Christian, then [the Evangelical Halloween tracts] are fine, too,” she says, “but I suspect it wouldn’t be OK in those cases. We always give a certain amount of space to Evangelicals that we don’t give to other denominations.”

“Still,” Varghese adds, “we understand the Evangelical impulse that they must lead as many people as possible to Christ. In that belief, they are ethically bound to do so.”

And that sums up the mission of the tract publishers exactly. “Halloween is typically affiliated with ghouls and demons and witches, kind of the dark side,” Dennis says. “And Christians are commanded to be light in darkness.”

Discussion of who shines brightest aside, take a look at all 37 tracts that appear in ATS’ Halloween category and you’ll find some not-so-funny ones near the end, like ‘”Your First Six Days in Hell’” and ‘”What to Do to Go to Hell.’” Hate to be the kids who gets that ‘”good news.’”

Check out this Newsday story from last week about the growth of abstinence-only programs under the Bush administration. Earl Lane writes:

The administration requested $272 million for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1 for abstinence-until-marriage programs, up from $138 million in fiscal 2004, and well above the $60 million at the end of the Clinton administration. It sought almost as much as the $278 million that went to family planning clinics in 2004 under another federal program, Title X, that has been flat funded under Bush. Congress has not completed action but the House voted a record $173 million for abstinence programs and the Senate appropriations committee approved nearly $175 million.

The campaign of Sen. John Kerry has said he supports comprehensive sex education that includes information about both abstinence and contraception.

While there has been federal money for abstinence education since 1981, the current Bush administration has turned the program into a major policy initiative, both here and abroad. Under Bush’s AIDS prevention plan, according to the nonprofit Alan Guttmacher Institute, at least one-third of U.S. global AIDS prevention funds must be used for abstinence-until-marriage efforts beginning in 2006.

And while there’s no evidence these programs are effective, who needs evidence when you got commitments? Lane continues:

In 2000, at the end of the Clinton administration, HHS developed performance measures for abstinence programs that included the birth rate of female participants and the percentage of participants who have sexual intercourse before marriage. The Bush administration dropped those in favor of attitudinal measures such as “the proportion of youth who commit to abstain from sexual activity until marriage.”

If you haven’t heard or seen it yet, it’s best to strap yourself in. Eminem’s new song and video — an in-your-face hip-hop attack on the Bush presidency — brings some much needed fresh energy into the last weekend of the campaign.

Eminem is the master of self-aggrandizement — even in the genre where self-aggrandizement is part of the art form — and he masterfully combines a progressive political statement with the usual ego-trippin’: “Come on, follow me as I lead through the darkness/As I provide just enough spark that we need to proceed.”

What’s most impressive, however, is how he undercuts his audience’s expectations. In the beautifully animated video, a suit-and-tied Eminem is leading the hip-hop nation through the street of Washington and into a monument. We think he is going to overthrow “this weapon of mass destruction we call our president” and assume the mantle. But instead we realize he is simply leading the young and disenfranchised to a voter registration booth.

But enough already of my own analysis. As she usually does, Cynthia Fuchs, English and cultural studies professor at George Mason University, provides all the cultural context we need in her piece on Eminem and hip-hop activism for PopMatters.com. (Full disclosure: We at PopPolitics have long loved Cynthia, having posted many, many articles and reviews by her over the years.)

Echoing Eminem’s call for change, she presents a nuanced argument for taking the hip-hop generation seriously in this and future election cycles.

For another, much less celebratory perspective on the last Eminem phenomenon, though, I’ve been paying close attention the debate on CULTSTUD-L, one of the longest-standing and best listservs on cultural studies (while it’s open to everyone, you need to subscribe).

The skepticism surrounding Eminem’s new song and video center around three critiques. First, for someone whose previous music has espoused misogyny, the militancy of the lyrics and images is difficult to disassociate with a violent hyper-masculinity. Second, the concept of Eminem leading the hooded masses smacks of fascism. Finally, Eminem’s critique of the Bush administration is recycled and trite.

To which I would say, true, true, true.

But I’ll still take it as the soundtrack for the next five days.

Ms. Magazine Poetry Editor Bia Lowe was recently invited to spend time at the famed artist retreat called MacDowell Colony in New Hampshire. Here is her report. Lowe writes:

To say MacDowell Colony is female is hardly a metaphor.

Started in 1907 by Marian MacDowell at the final request of her composer/husband Edward, the first artist colony in the United States has remained faithful to it’s founder’s commitment to “not let the great poem go unwritten.”

How is this commitment realized? A studio in the woods continues to afford an artist — of any stripe — freedom from the constraints of everyday responsibility and the access to work undisturbed, in solitude.

Read the full story here.

One of the most exciting times in the sports calendar is mid-October when baseball is into playoffs and moving toward the World Series, the NFL and college football are beginning to hit stride, and then, like frosting on the cake, the NHL and the NBA open their seasons.

Although many will feign not to notice, the National Hockey League did not open its season this month as scheduled due to a player lockout that has been underway for 42 days.

Clearly the lesser of all the majors, hockey still carries considerable weight in some parts of North America. Hockey played at its highest level — or played by youngsters on a pond — has that marvelous combination of beauty, power and grace that make all sport a wonder of human achievement. So it is with some considerable sorrow that I watch the latest labor/management struggle play out.

Some will argue that this lockout is only of concern to Canadians — and certainly the CBC covers the story like no one else — but keep in mind only six of the 30 NHL teams are located north of the border, and over the past three decades, youth hockey has grown considerably across the United States, especially in those Sunbelt cities that are now home to a considerable number of indoor rinks.

It is precisely in these cities that the players? lockout could have its biggest long-term impact — not because hockey is so important, but precisely because it is not. A hockey culture has yet to be established across the Sunbelt, and the sport is just beginning to capture a young following through the visibility of NHL teams in places like Tampa and Phoenix. If these teams disappear for a season, the loose grip hockey has there could be lost.

Even Stuart Evey, who provided ESPN?s early funding, admits he?s doubtful about the NHL?s prospects, but not because of the lockout. It?s just that the game doesn?t translate to television as well as, say, poker.

(more…)

We’ve posted a new column today, our first in a while, by David McGrath:

Historically, the presidential election provides higher education with its most bountiful semester. Money, morals, inflation, religion, war, dirty tricks, voting psychology, advertising, ethnic divisions, rhetoric and stem cell research: it?s all there, featured on the menus of courses from sociology to economics to medical science. The daily newspapers offer a smorgasbord of academic meat, served as fresh, authentic texts of excitement and education in the fall term.

So when a professor at College of DuPage (C.O.D.) in Glen Ellyn, Ill., had the good fortune to bag a regional political candidate as a guest speaker for his class, he may have thought he was dishing out an opportunity for his students to develop acumen in critical thinking, to hone their writing skills, beef up their brain power, and tune up their propaganda detectors.

Instead, he may get busted. The charge? Violating C.O.D.?s ethical code by engaging in “political activity.”

Read the rest of “Campus Politics” here.

This entry is kicking off a discussion about where you can find Ms. in your community — and where else you’d like to find it. A message went out to Ms. e-mail subscribers asking for comments (if this is your first time visiting the blog, welcome!), and everyone’s invited to join in.

If you’re unsure of where to locate Ms., it’s available at independent bookstores, Barnes & Noble and Borders bookstores, grocery stores including Whole Foods markets and on newsstands.

A reader from Pennsylvania recently wrote to say she saw Esquire at her local CVS and wondered why there was no Ms. ‘”Perhaps a word somewhere on-line will prompt people ‘?¦ to use their waiting time to impress upon this great national drug chain the importance of Ms. Magazine for the well-being, not only of women, but of many men, too (the goose-gander effect).’”

Can’t argue there. Other thoughts?

Are we in the middle of a socio-political revolution? Does the continual merging of popular culture and politics, the rise of the Internet as both a fund-raising and mobilizing force and the sheer ferocity with which everyone from the candidates to “ordinary” Americans are attacking this election signal a shift of power and a new era of political engagement and intensity?

Well, enter the skeptics. Hanna Rosin of The Washington Post and Kara Baskin of The New Republic have both written articles recently that mock and criticize (in Rosin’s case, it is chiefly by implication) the present enthusiasm among a large portion of the left, especially the younger, ever-innovative activists.

Rosin quotes Leon Wieseltier from The New Republic: “They have this strange notion that one can be profoundly alienated and be the main event at the same time … They don’t really have the stomach for marginality … What they practice is not exactly politics. It’s a frenzy of emotion, of self-love, of self-congratulation in which you pay tribute to yourself and all the things you believe and all the people like yourself who believe in all the things that you believe.”

Although Rosin attempts to give voice to the other side — quoting many of the young activists themselves — she adopts Wieseltier’s perspective throughout the piece. The activists come across as naive at best and often just plain stupid. She even makes Eli Pariser of MoveOn.org — by any standards, a smart, politically savvy pioneer of a new political medium — sound like a hack.

Baskin focuses exclusively on the final concert of the Vote for Change tour and laments its lack of energy, anger and relevancy. She continually notes how the most poignant moments occurred when singers — such as Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, Keb Mo’, Eddie Vedder and John Fogerty — chose to revive songs from the Vietnam era. Where is the music of our time, she wonders?

Behind these articles — and most media representations of this new political activism — is the implication that the engagement of the 18-24 demographic in this election cycle is, at most, just a fad and, quite possibly, a mirage.

And that’s the catch. In postmodern America, the representation is reality. The revolution will, for better or for worse, be televised — and that’s all that matters.

Unfortunately, the revolution will also be hard to come by in a culture that commodifies everything, including its politics. Rosin’s and Baskin’s critiques are full of language asserting or questioning the “hotness” and “hipness” of the new activism and pointing out that, as Rosin notes, the leaders of these new movements “embrace the advertising industry.”

There is no purity left, it seems. No earnestness or genuine anger. Am I the only one who finds that patronizing?

Just Posted: Fighting Words For A Secular America

Tired of hearing the religious right claim U.S. law has religious roots? Want to argue the point, but unsure of where to start? No problem. Robin Morgan has it covered:

When Attorney General John Ashcroft repeatedly invokes religion, the Founders must be picketing in their graves. They were a mix of freethinkers, atheists, Christians, agnostics, Freemasons and Deists (professing belief in powers scientifically evinced in the natural universe). They surely were imperfect. Some were slaveholders.

Female citizens were invisible to them ‘?? though Abigail Adams warned her husband John, ‘”If particular care and attention is not paid to the Ladies, we are determined to foment a Rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.’”

But the Founders were, after all, revolutionaries. Their passion ‘?? especially regarding secularism ‘?? glows in the documents they forged and in their personal words.

Read Robin Morgan’s full story for words from John Adams, George Washington, James Madison and more …

Lovely piece by Frank Rich titled ‘”The O’Reilly Factor for Lesbians.’” May I suggest for companion reading Andrea Mackris vs. Bill O’Reilly, News Corporation, Fox News Channel, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp., and Westwood One, Inc.

Following our previous look at assigning gender to automobiles, I couldn’t resist this piece on the minivan makeover. Refusing to ‘”go gently into that good night of suburban motherhood,’” some minivan buyers are asking for flame decals or turning to young family members for custom design work. Maybe Flea will reconsider her aversion to the ‘”bulbous minivan.’”

ABC has dumped Miss America, signaling what could be the end of the beauty pageant on network television. Moment of silence, please.

According to the Associated Press:

The move, which comes on the heels of a Sept. 18 pageant that drew a record-low 9.8 million viewers, could jeopardize the foundation of a program that grew from an Atlantic City publicity stunt into a TV icon, largely on the strength of the contest and crowning beamed into millions of living rooms each September.

Since Lee Meriwether was crowned on Sept. 11, 1954, in the first televised pageant, Miss America has grown into a nonprofit corporation that makes available more than $40 million annually in scholarship aid and oversees 52 state pageants.

But the pageant’s appeal to potential contestants, sponsors and fans hinges on the annual TV show, a live event whose glittery gowns, hokey talent acts and girl-next-door crownings fueled the fantasies of millions of little girls.

Without network television to provide those images, Miss America faces an uncertain future.

Miss America tried hard this year to bring back viewers by cutting back on the talent portion and selecting sexier swimsuits for the contestants.

But it doesn’t look like NBC — which broadcast the pageant up until ABC bought the rights in 1997 — or CBS or Fox would be interested in carrying on the tradition. Lisa de Moreas of the Washington Post writes:

NBC, after all, is stuck with Miss Teen USA, Miss USA and Miss Universe for the foreseeable future because they are owned by Donald Trump, star of the most successful series developed by NBC Universal Television Group President Jeff Zucker when he was president of the entertainment division.

CBS got out of the pageant business in 2002, citing low ratings. And Fox already has its own beauty pageant; it’s called “The Swan.”

She’s not kidding. Fox’s The Swan — where women compete against one another after being scalpeled into a different body — pulled in a Miss America-size audience for its two-hour season finale.

Plus: A timely story: ‘”Religion, fashion often at odds.’”

Live near Boston? Can you get there this weekend? Lucky you. You can attend a blogging workshop with Natalie Davis, whom you all know from All Facts and Opinions, where she weighs in on politics and activism. Davis is going to share her wisdom on everything from the technical aspects of setting up a blog to developing an online voice. More information is available here.

The workshop is run by the Center for New Words, which was kind enough to have me be part of an event on women and the media last April. They’re truly a wonderful organization, so look them up and see if there’s an event or workshop that interests you.

Update: Sorry, my mistake. The application deadline was that weekend, the workshop itself is scheduled for Nov. 13-14.

Media coverage of the 30th anniversary of hip-hop hasn’t been all that kind to women — Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune noted earlier this month that even VH1’s much-praised And You Don’t Stop: 30 Years of Hip Hop documentary series gave minimal time to female rappers — but here’s one publication that came through.

Newsday’s anniversary package includes a very good story about women’s roles behind and on stage. There’s also plenty of discussion about the objectification of women in lyrics and videos.

“We are so much more than that, we should be reflected as such,” says rapper Jean Grae, whose name comes from the X-Men character. “Unfortunately, nobody is really willing to stand up against it and say there is something wrong with this.”

What’s also cool are the video and audio extras. Here you can listen to female artists tell their own stories. First, though, some history. Nedra Rhone writes:

When hip-hop began in the 1970s, women were involved in all aspects, said Cheryl Keyes, professor of ethnomusicology at University of California Los Angeles and author of “Rap Music and Street Consciousness.” They were producers, writers and performers though they didn’t always receive the same recognition as their male counterparts.

Few may recall that a woman, Sylvia Robinson, produced “Rapper’s Delight.” Or that artists such as the Mercedes Ladies, Lady D and Pebbly Poo worked alongside two of hip-hop’s founding fathers, DJ Kool Herc and Afrika Bambaataa. Grae would run home from school to watch Video Music Box where she saw artists such as Queen Latifah, McLyte and Roxanne Shante. They were some of the first rappers to show that women could sell records, and they often did it with empowering messages.

“It wasn’t the fact that they were female MCs. They were dope because they were dope and they were respected,” Grae said.

The female artists we’re more likely to be familiar with now are those who have built their career as much around their sexuality as their skills. Keyes doesn’t necessarily see a problem with this:

“Empowering yourself through sexuality could be a stereotype, but at the same time it is a springboard for so many other things,” said Keyes noting Lil’ Kim’s appearances in Old Navy commercials.

Some women artists such as rapper Eve have moved into acting. Whether the opportunities came through exploiting their sexuality or not, the result, said some experts, is an expanded set of role models for female fans.

There’s a lot to upack there (on another day). Rhone at least follows up with a very key point: ‘”But with male artists dramatically outnumbering women rappers, the degrading messages are the ones that come through loudest.’”

‘”Female fans, who purchase 45 percent of hip-hop according NPD Group, learn to adapt by divorcing a good beat from the lyrics,’” Rhone adds.

In other words, what they dance to may not be what they listen to. Or they adopt this pose: ‘”They’re not talking about me.’”

Asha Jennings, a New York University law student who spoke out against Nelly’s “Tip Drill” video when the artist was scheduled to appear at her college, tells Newsday: ‘”It’s that individual mind-set and approach to living that has been a detriment to the black community for a long time.’”

And, I’d argue, to women overall. Maybe we need to start an advertising campaign raising awareness about the broader misogynistic impact of these lyrics and images. We could call it, Honey, It Is About You.

In the meantime, listen to Jean Grae. Here’s a recent review of her new release, This Week.