Randomness.

original

  1. Us Weekly puts the Obamas on the cover, and sees a bump in sales. Guess the “rebranding” of Michelle Obama is working.
  2. In a video on her site, Hillary Clinton hits all the notes from her surprisingly good concession speech. She thanks her supporters for their help and time, throws some love Obama’s way, talks about the progress they’ve made in shattering “that highest and hardest” glass ceiling. Oh, and then she asks them to help a sista out with all them bills she got.
  3. Bobby Jindal, the 37-year-old governor of Louisiana whose name has been bandied around as a possible running mate for John McCain, is getting hammered at home for not vetoing the pay raise the state legislators just gave themselves.
  4. In South Africa, Chinese people are the new black. No, for real
  5. Chinese South Africans: blacker than Obama? Washington Post reporter Jonathan Weisman thinks so. “He really did not become immersed in black American culture until he left college and went to Chicago. The great irony is that he is much more white than black, beyond skin color.” It’s a statement so ridiculous it actually transcends stupidity and achieves a kind of idiotic sublimity. Kudos.
  6. Americans love them some religious plurality.
  7. Tom Colicchio of Top Chef: “Women are reluctant to enter the culinary world because they believe (and this is not unjustified) that a cooking career is incompatible with raising children, which leaves those of us who want to hire, promote, and mentor women with a slimmer field to choose from than we’d like. And to an extent, they’re right: The bottom line is our society does not yet provide women in the workplace with the type of social supports, like high-quality subsidized child care or extended parental leave, that allows them to fully go for it, and the impact this has on the scope and depth of a career is profound. Right or wrong, men plunge into their careers without much thought about how they’ll navigate the work/family balance. They assume someone — spouse, parent, paid caregiver — will materialize to take care of it (and usually someone does.)”
  8. And finally: Shaq spits…not fire. I think we should do what we can to make sure ‘how my ass taste?’ part of the lexicon. Who’s with me?
G.D.

G.D.

Gene "G.D." Demby is the founder and editor of PostBourgie. In his day job, he blogs and reports on race and ethnicity for NPR's Code Switch team.
G.D.
  • This US Weekly cover of the Obamas bugs me. I realize it’s all part of the “game,” especially as project “reintroduction of Michelle” is moving full speed ahead. But seeing our next president share the cover with “The Hogans. Mom Dates 19-year old,” or “Angelina Talks About Sex During Pregnancy” just doesn’t sit very well with me. Ok, so I’m not being entirely serious, but still though… I’m just sayin… US Weekly? Aren’t they on par with the likes of National Enquirer, Stars and others of that particular ilk? Next thing, I’ll hear that Tyra Banks won an Emmy Award. Ooops, I guess that already happened.

  • Obeezy: It’s not like the Obamas have been hurting for press attention from more serious publications. The New Yorker did a profile on Michelle Obama maybe two months ago.

    Yeah, US Weekly probably won’t ask a question worth hearing the answer to, but the ‘CELEBRITIES ARE JUST LIKE REGULAR PEOPLE!’ treatment probably helps defuse some of the nonsensical ‘elitist’ blabber the Obamas get hit with.

  • exactly. if you want to reach the masses, US Weekly is pretty much the perfect vehicle.

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