Have you ever tried to fix something but only made it worse? Me neither. Here’s what happened at Uber.
We’ve been seeing the initialism DEI more often. It stands for diversity, equity, and inclusion. Uber placed its longtime head of DEI, Bo Young Lee, on leave due to complaints that a recent event she moderated was insensitive to people of color. Wow — isn’t the whole idea behind her position to be sensitive to exactly those people? What happened?
The event was called “Don’t Call Me Karen.” For those of you who live under a rock like I do, a “Karen,” according to the NYT, is slang for a white woman with a sense of entitlement who often reports Blacks and other minorities to the authorities.
The problem was that the presentation came across as a lecture on the difficulties faced by white women that was insensitive to the concerns of minorities.
Several weeks later, a Black woman asked how the company would prevent “tone-deaf, offensive and triggering conversations” from becoming a part of its diversity initiatives.
Bo Young Lee fielded the question and said “Sometimes being pushed out of your own strategic ignorance is the right thing to do.” The comment prompted more employee outrage and complaints. To paraphrase Mike Birbiglia: What she should have said is . . . . . nothing.
But, apparently, Bo don’t know. She’ll be on leave for a bit.
Today’s poem from The Writer’s Almanac had me drooling pretty quickly. It’s called “Market Day” and is by Linda Pastan.
We have traveled all this way
to see the real France:
these trays of apricots and grapes spilled out
like semi-precious stones
for us to choose; a milky way
of cheeses whose names like planets
I forget; heraldic sole
displayed on ice, as if the fish
themselves had just escaped,
leaving their scaled armor behind.
There’s nothing like this
anywhere, you say. And I see
Burnside Avenue in the Bronx, my mother
sending me for farmer cheese and lox:
the rounds of cheese grainy and white, pocked
like the surface of the moon;
the silken slices of smoked fish
lying in careful pleats; and always,
as here, sawdust under our feet
the color of sand brought in on pant cuffs
from Sunday at the beach.
Across the street on benches,
my grandparents lifted their faces
to the sun the way the blind turn
towards a familiar sound, speaking
another language I almost understand.
Laurence Olivier was born on this date in 1907 in Dorking, Surrey, England. He died peacefully, in his sleep, in 1989, unless he was just acting. Olivier was working with Dustin Hoffman on the movie Marathon Man, and one scene called for Hoffman to be out of breath. Hoffman darted out of the studio, ran around the block several times and returned, out of breath, to shoot the scene. Olivier was surprised that Hoffman did that and asked him about it. Hoffman replied, “What would you have done?” And Olivier said, “I would have pretended.”
The theme of today’s puzzle was AS SEEN ON TV, but you had to read the AS as A.S., and the long answers were each a TV personality with the initials A.S. I.e., AL SHARPTON, AMY SCHUMER, ADAM SAVAGE, and ANDY SAMBERG. (Short answers also included Fashion designer Anna SUI, and Darth Vader via his childhood name ANAKIN Skywalker.) egsforbreakfast noted if the theme had been ASS SEEN ON TV, Tucker Carlson would have been an answer.
Impressively, the constructor was a young (18-year-old) gentleman from Vietnam. Here’s what he said:
“Greetings from Vietnam! I started solving crosswords two years ago to improve my English and thought crossword construction would be the perfect way to take my hobby to the next level. As a non-native English speaker, my puzzle being published really boosts my confidence in my English proficiency!
“I first used AS YOU KNOW as the revealer [of the theme], but later scrapped it because I felt it was too simple — and because the revealer would not apply to everyone, as not everyone knows ADAM SAVAGE. After some more digging, I uncovered AS SEEN ON TV, which is much snazzier and makes the theme tighter.
“I am not familiar with American pop culture, so to decide which A.S. was crossword-worthy, I relied on the frequency of Google Search results and looked for past appearances in crosswords. Further crossword constraints led me to drop some notable names with the initials A.S., such as AMANDA SEYFRIED and ADAM SANDLER. However, in the end, I am pleased with the diverse final set of theme entries. Some others, like ANAKIN Skywalker and Anna SUI, managed to sneak in!”
If that doesn’t impress you, try putting a puzzle together. I tried once and gave up after just a few minutes. Ain’t got the chops.
Here are two young lasses sporting Anna Sui dresses. Good shot, Philly! — Owl Chatter needs to keep up with the latest fashions. And then some purple woman is hawking her perfume.
More nonsense tomorrow. Thanks for popping in.
The Wellington Files 