Profunksticated

Yo, Profunk is back and as pissed off as ever.

I had a phone interview lined up today that didn’t happen. Seems the hiring manager for this gig had a personal matter to attend to, and wanted to reschedule our conversation. OK, fine. But then she says that well, they’re still re-thinking the position to include a requirement for which I have no experience. I thought, it’s maybe time for me to re-think whether I want to even pursue this further, my desperation notwithstanding.

I then contacted the recruiter who arranged the interview and told her what the hiring manger told me. The recruiter told me she was unaware of the possible change in the job requirements. I wanted to tell her of course you were unaware; you’re just a corporate functionary (read: flunky) that the so-called “line of business” folks don’t tell anything important as a matter of course.

I’m so good at holding my tongue. Oh well, I still have an in-person interview tomorrow.

Also getting my goat today is this story in New York magazine about the late Gerald Boyd and his fall from a high-ranking position at The New York Times. You might be familiar with the story of one Jayson Blair, a young African-American male Times reporter who created a scandal in 2003 by fabricating stories.

This is a tale about the hazards of being the “HNIC” in a predominately white institution, especially one engaged in a public function such as journalism. Mr. Boyd was the Times’ first African-American managing editor and had an entire newsroom to run. But Mr. Boyd somehow got tagged as being Blair’s mentor and that’s how Blair got away with his deceit for so long. The New York story, however, says the two had no close personal or professional relationship to speak of.

Not only was I pissed about Jayson Blair’s actions, I hated the intellectually dishonest statements of the right-wing pundits/Times haters who called Blair’s scandal an example of affirmative action run amok. Uh, excuse me, but was it affirmative action run amok when a couple of white boys, namely Stephen Glass of the New Republic and Jack Kelley of USA Today, also got caught fabricating stories in their respective publications?

Some right wingers refer to the newspaper as the New York Slimes. I would also, but for different reasons. Mr. Boyd and his boss, executive editor Howell Raines, were fired shortly afterward by Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger. Cowardly doesn’t begin to define Sulzberger’s decision. Instead of standing up for his two top people, this guy took the easy way out.

Mr. Boyd died a year ago, less than three years after his dismissal. May he continue to rest in peace.