LEO, Fried chicken and race | Thorn
We got a bit of blowback on our Indi’s vs. Chicken King showdown last week because the panel had no African-American judges. The truth is, we wanted a diverse panel and had lined up a chef who is black, but that fell through at the last moment, and we could not find a replacement. Bad on us. We work to bring diversity to all we do — panels, stories, writers, photos, artists... Regardless, this criticism opened fascinating discussion about race and the media. One critic said on social media: “ ... it’s like... a lose, lose situation for all parties involved. On the outside looking in... the article makes no sense not to have at least one person on the panel that actually lives around and frequents the place... on the other hand... who wants to be the one black person on a fried chicken review? It’s like... if they asked, ‘What was your favorite rap album of the year?’ Why can I only speak on rap? Do you think that’s all I listen to? But, then again... who wants to read a Year in Rap according to four white people? It’s fucked up man.. fucked up.” (All true, although we do frequent both places, probably more than we should.)
Who is the real zombie now? | Rose
Gov. Matt “Oblivious” Bevin recently said zombie TV shows that “celebrate of death” are helping to drive up shootings and violence. But Kentucky native Tony Moore, a cocreator of “The Walking Dead,” wrote in the Courier Journal that his creation and those like it “are generally viewed as being about the strength of the human spirit in the face of phenomenally bleak circumstances. I think this is ultimately why they resonate with people so much.” Perhaps most revealing is that Bevin can see only the dark side of the show, which may explain why he is always on the attack.
‘Ville happy to be small town | Thorn
Amazon announced its newest headquarters will be in New York City and northern Virginia, and Louisville competitor Nashville gets an Amazon hub out of the deal. The newspaper there says the Amazon hub is the single largest jobs announcement in the state’s history, promising a $230 million investment and as many as 5,000 jobs. This is a good time for Louisville to reevaluate itself. Perhaps working against us in Possibility City is ingrained parochialism and insularity. You know, the same thinking that gets in the way of us approving something as benign as Topgolf.
