1.) "Go to the black Macys if you want plus-sized formal gowns," from Consumerist.
The story told by "Amanda" sounds a little bit far-fetched in that I doubt any Macy's employee would run on at the mouth like that. But, as a woman who has bought clothing on both sides of the plus-size threshold, I can tell you there is a morsel of truth in this. Though it doesn't really follow that if black women are plus-sized they must be poor -- why would black women supposedly need plus-sized suits and party wear if they're broke? Maybe it's about the fact that African-American church ladies tend to dress up more than your average white Lutheran? (It works in opposite ways, too -- my MIL tells a story about trying to buy size 10 ladies shoes in a store in New York with a large Asian population, and no dice.)
Big girls, what say you?
2.) "D.C. Bureau Cuts = Journalism 2.0 Opportunity?"
Every time I hear about D.C. or state capitol buro cuts by newspapers, I think about how easily the right online operations could step into the vacuum, start kicking arse and continue the reinvention of the news business. Think about how any laid-off or bought-out newspaper folks are going hyper-local or to startup news sites. Of course it'll take money, but some smart venture capitalist/would-be media mogul or co-operative could set up a shop, get some people credentialed and start covering statehouses and Congress themselves. A bunch of smaller Politico-type sites that will one day join up, become a giant media conglomerate and collapse onto itself the way newspaper chains are right now, but hey that's decades from now so . . . Anyway my point is, the days when it only "counts" if it comes from a newspaper are over, poopies. Again, like duh.
