Of Color | Stylish Gifts

By SIMONE S. OLIVER

Somali fashion, do-it-yourself henna kits, children’s books that draw inspiration from the lives of Barack Obama and Sonia Sotomayor: it’s not hard to find gifts created for and by people of color this holiday season. Here are some possibilities.

This could be a case of when “keeping it real goes wrong”. Sure we all shop and knowing what to get for the holidays is key but making a separate list for people of color instead of incorporating it in the rest of the guide is a bit much…

Jayson Blair knows his new profession — life coach — smacks some people in the face like a bad punchline.

“People say, ‘Wait a minute. You’re a life coach?’ That makes no sense,’” says Blair, the ex-journalist best known for foisting plagiarism and fabrications into the pages of The New York Times. “Then they think about my life experiences and what I’ve been through and they say ‘Wait a minute. It does make sense.’”

Blair, 33, resigned from the Times in 2003, leaving a journalistic scandal in his wake. The resulting furor led the paper’s top two newsroom executives to resign. Blair wrote a book, then mostly disappeared from view.

For the past two years, he has been quietly working as a certified life coach for one of the most respected mental health practices in northern Virginia.

“He can relate to patients just beautifully,” said Michael Oberschneider, the psychologist who hired Blair and urged him to become a life coach. “Sometimes you just meet people in life who have these electric personalities. Well, Jayson is now using his talents for good.” [SOURCE]

WOW!

There’s so much that could be said about this…

The New York Times has a really interesting article today about how AOL is enlisting well-known print writers for its content sites and the success they’re having. Check it out here!

CNN's Don Lemon

The Great (Late!) Brown Hope

by Danielle Belton

People will listen to a black person sing (Beyonce), watch a black person dunk a ball (LeBron), a black person act (Will Smith) and a black person be president (the O-Man), but when it comes to your average, shouty, loud, political gabfest, TV Land is often as white as pure Colombian Cocaine. Not surprising considering things only recently got all “gendered” up with additions like MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, CNN’s Campbell Brown and FOX News’ Greta Van Sustern (the original!). Heaven’s to Besty, it would be too much to ask for post-racial America to give some minority a shot at screaming at people for an hour.

Not that a network or two hasn’t tried. CNN gave Roland Martin a shot during Brown’s pregnancy break, but that went unmercifully bad. Ratings continued to be low (and still are low with Brown back), and Martin was politely push back down to second fiddle pundit status. CNN also gave comedian D.L. Hughley a show.

I’m still trying to bleach that one from my mind.

The problem seems to be that the networks (or in this case - network, re: CNN) seem to be stuck either playing it safe or swinging for the fences an never any in-between. Everyone else, even the so-called “Liberal” network MSNBC seem anemic to the notion of minority show hosts. The closest they often come is using former MTV/NPR reporter Alison Stewart as a seat-filler for Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow when they go on vacation.

Since no one asked me, I’m just going to tell the networks who the top six minorities are who would make “good TV” and can shout just as loud as the competition. Get out your pens and pencils and get your lawyers to start mulling over their contracts … now. READ THE REST HERE

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Party On, but No Tweets

By ALLEN SALKIN

THE invitation, by e-mail, was clear.

“You are cordially invited to Protocols NYC, an off the record, no tweeting, no blogging, no photos, salon.”

What did they expect guests to do with themselves?

Protocols, held every two weeks since September in a small private penthouse in Murray Hill, is hosted by five Manhattan news media types who each invite two guests. The idea, according to a host, Michael Malice, an author and blogger, is to let invitees talk fearlessly in the present.

“We are fighting against this whole idea that everything people do has to be constantly chronicled,” Mr. Malice said. “People think that every thought they have, every experience - if it is not captured it is lost.”

In an era, when a stray gripe about your boss can land you on an industry blog, when waking up hung over can frantically send you to Facebook to untag your name from photos of the previous night’s frosting-wrestling contest, when shots of you in unflattering jeans become part of your permanent Google search results, there are signs that some are tired of living their lives on the Web. READ THE REST HERE

With media fast tracking from print to digital, maybe journalists should seriously consider getting their technology weight up. Print journalists, are you ready for the digital world?