"O" Street Blogger vandalizes new Bagley Bridge

[Ravine]

Insert your caption here:________________________________

Playing with this device is more trouble than I'm willing to go to, but here's my caption:

"Hey, does this Sharpie make my butt look big?"

[RealityCheck]

God forbid that any of us get caught on camera doing something silly.

Not to worry, R.B. - - we ordinary schlubs can go on about our silly business with scant concern for these types of public rebukes now heading toward Day 4.

Even the retroactively apologetic bench tagger understands why she's in the spotlight.

I make a living running my big mouth telling people how they should behave.

Here's how two of the 634 [[!) readers commenting on her mea culpa put it this afternoon to explain a distinction you seem to blur:

In your position at the Freep, especially when you babble on about vandalism and how it impacts the city, you must be held to a much higher standard. -- AshamedOfYou

O.J.'s action both at work and outside of work are a direct reflection on The Detroit Free Press. She -- and other Freep employees -- are held to a higher standard due to the types of jobs they have. -- Dtroit4evers

[eno]

Quickie animation created yesterday by 'AdventuresInJournalism' via a service called Xtranormal.com. Just 1:52.

"I'll have to punish you." - Editor Paul Anger

"You do remember we work for Gannett." - Oneita

Count how often you chuckle or laugh aloud, then tell us.

I was more creeped out than amused. What's the Gannett reference about?

[Chuck_MI]

All I can say is if the Freep cans her for this, I will not buy another issue. I already feel silly for dropping a buck for the crossword puzzle each day. Journalism is dead in this city.

[gnome]

In today's Freep. our own Stephen Henderson writes a truly pained response to the whole incident.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...te=fullarticle

So I was beyond disappointed when I learned, last Friday, that one of the strongest voices in support of our approach, a voice I edit, had "tagged" a bench on the new Bagley Street bridge. My heart sank.

But what she did, as captured by a Michigan Department of Transportation camera, was callow and impulsive, exactly the kind of behavior that she scolds in her work.

Her blog will be inactive until May 31. Her column will reappear June 6.

Next week, the Free Press will meet with MDOT representatives to talk about how we might work together to clean up some of the mess and, just as important, change the culture around here so that bright symbols of our future aren't seen as targets for vandals

I feel for Stephen. He has a tough job in the best of times, but when one of your 'stars' does something so mindless it really must require a lot of patience to not go all Visigoth.

The thing about Oneita's tagging video was the ease in which she uncapped her sharpie. Like it was natural and ordinary. That can only mean that our dear "O" expresses herself that way all over the city.

O, marvelous.

[pffft]

I agree that she seemed very comfortable, casual almost, whipping the pen out and tagging the bench. Obviously one act with a pen appears minor, but I think the larger issue that people are reacting to is that in her apology, O. cited growing up in New York, that it's "what we did." If tagging is a deep-seated, cultural thing, we definitely have a divide in this town between those who believe in it and those who don't.

[Corn.Bot]

"O" is nothing short of a Class 1 ~~~~~~ bag. She is absolutely, fucking awful.

Off topic re this quote from earlier in this thread, and really just a rhetorical notation. Based on the number of ~ before the word 'bag,' I'm guessing O is being called a ~~~~~~ bag. I find it interesting that the word '~~~~~~' was considered too vulgar to type in, but in the next sentence, 'fucking' is used to emphasize just how awful she is.

Made me think about TV's uneven censoring of vulgar language. They bleep out words like 'shit' and 'dick' but always allow 'goddam.' Who gets to choose what is profane and what is not? Words describing body parts or function are in poor taste but using the lord's name in vain is not? More blurring of Carlin's 7 words concept. Well, hmm, gosh-dang me to heck, anyhow.

[RealityCheck]

Stephen Henderson writes a truly pained response to the whole incident.

. . . which draws 175 comments by noon.

While I've been part of the banter here and elsewhere [[though not at Freep site), this post by 'troyd' has a point worth considering:

I wish Freep could get as many comments on an important story like that poor 15-year-old gunned down in a drive-by last week. But no, we're still talking about a small tag that washed away in the rain, and why someone wasn't fired over it.

[dookie joe]

I was more creeped out than amused. What's the Gannett reference about?

They love their minorities at Gannett.

[Hypestyles]

there should be more opportunities for commissioned murals in the city, have some professional and youth graffiti artists create murals on these abandoned buildings, at least make them interesting to glance at for once...

[RickBeall]

Even considering the "higher standard" talk, it still seems like much ado about nothing to me.

[buildingsofdetroit]

http://www.zazzle.ca/o_no_detroit_fr...26545269846297