Apparently Ping needs to add Google+. And here I thought Blogger was behind….

So I’m Getting Traffic…By a Few Weird People Who Want to Push Their Advertising…

I don’t mind reading comments to some of my blogs, but what I have a problem with is when they go pushing their own websites that are advertising businesses or causes I cannot support. The one I just had was regarding my post about how I was going to be seeing an immunologist and for those people that know me, this immunologist is like the last step doctor as none of my other doctors have been able to figure anything out yet. But this guy did three things wrong, well four, but the three main things was referring to me as “man,” saying “don’t waist time” – it should be “waste,” and making the assumption I hadn’t already seen an allergist at some point in the midst of everything and that perhaps the only reason I don’t still have an allergist is because they can never find anything wrong even when I have all the signs and symptoms before their eyes! That’s because I have no IgEs, the commonly tested allergy component of the immune system. And by the time the immunologist refigured my original test, my IgAs which mostly deal with allergies, particularly food allergies, they are the parts found in the mucosal linings of our bodies, are very low. My original labs showed deficiency in IgG subclasses 1 and 3 and subclasses 2 and 4 were low in addition to IgM was low. This is pretty serious at any rate. But that’s the hardest part about playing the waiting game.

Update to Arrogant Authors

This is the newest reply from the author:
Dear Ms. Spann,

Yes, let’s try to dig into this a little deeper. I’ll help you (and your mother) if I can.

Would you tell me what stories or documentation you were seeking but couldn’t find, what references didn’t match up, all those things you said were missing or misidentified?

I am copying your professor at your suggestion. I’ll answer any questions or concerns he has as well.

There is a difference between saying you couldn’t find some of my documentation and saying that it doesn’t exist, or that more than half were misidentified. If the documents you are seeking are hard to find, that’s not a surprise if you’re looking for documents that are located in a single archive that you haven’t visited.

For example, if I found a document in the papers of Tom Waring, you’d have to visit the South Carolina Historical Society to find it (unless it was, for example, an article in the public domain that might be available on microfilm through Interlibrary Loan); similarly, if you’re looking for something I found in the papers of Jack Kilpatrick or Turner Catledge, you’d have to visit their collections at the Alderman Library at the University of Virginia, or the archives at Mississippi State University. (In most cases, I have copies of every document we cite and, to a limited extent because of the time involved, would be willing to help you by finding the documents or telling you where they are beyond the faily detailed explanation of provenance in the last 100 pages of the book.

This scattering of documentation about civil rights, of course, is why scholars spend so many years pulling together the substance of their important work.

I guarantee you that every source we cite exists, and is fully and properly accounted for. Your note comes as a surprise because that book has been examined every which way from Sunday by civil rights historians, journalism historians, and other scholars whose life work is precisely on the subjects we wrote about in The Race Beat, and no one so far has challenged a single finding, citation or attribution.

As I said in my earlier email, the first edition had a few index items that took readers to the wrong pages, but we quickly corrected them. There were also four or five minor fixes we made in the text — we spelled the former governor of Florida as Leroy Collins when it should have been LeRoy Collins, with an upper case R; we suggested there was a median strip in the middle of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, which there was not; and I had a reference to one journalist’s grandfather, when it should have been his great-great-grandfather (or maybe there were even more greats).

But that was it. I’m not saying with all absolute certainty that someone wouldn’t find a random misidentification here and there, but I’m not aware of any and I feel confident such a problem does not exist to the extent you suggest.

So, if you’ll please send me a list of some of the problems you found, perhaps I can figure out what you’re referring to. I’ll be glad to try to help.

Best,

Hank Klibanoff
co-author, The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation

—
Hank Klibanoff
Email: hsklib@gmail.com
Phone: 404-376-2641

Well, I can sure try. And, yes, he actually did contact that professor!

Of Crochety Old Men, Rude Police, and Arrogant Authors

I seriously have to explain that title.

Yesterday I had gone to the dentist for a toothache that began around the same time as a fever on Sunday. The good news: no drilling needed. The bad news: I technically need a professionally fitted nightguard that costs around $400 which I can’t afford, but I went to CVS and got a bite wing (cost about $50) for temporary trial (and my mouth hurts this morning. Anyway, the dentist thinks I have been grinding my teeth at night because of an oncoming cold or sinus infection which must be causing my fever (which I still have this morning).

After I left the dentist, I went to Whole Foods to get a bag of spinach, chocolate milk, very vanilla soy milk, and I got an organic orange to snack on for the drive home. Then I made a pit stop by Staples on 280 to see about notebook paper which was supposedly on sale for $1 according to the website (yeah right).

Well, that’s when my day turned from bad to worse. I had gotten back in my car and had gotten a text from my cousin in response to a text I had sent her. So rather than text in motion, I sat there and replied back. Then I got another text from someone else and made a reply. Well, it was during this time that the car that would change my day appeared. It had come down the lane, turned around, illegally I might add, then just sat there. I was done texting for the time being and getting ready to back out, but noticed in my rearview mirror that someone else was about to back out, so I had to wait. Well the driver of that car must have decided he couldn’t wait on me any longer and decided to go ahead and park next to my car and then suddenly slam! He bumps my car with his car door! My whole car shakes! Well this ticks me off because the last time something like that happened, it resulted in about $500 worth of damage that we couldn’t get repaired to that vehicle I had at the time and even though my insurance company tracked the person down, we couldn’t do anything because they refused to respond. So this time I got a picture for identification of the model and the license tag for evidence.

I calmly explained to the man when he got back that he had bumped my car, but then he began to yell at me, so I walked away. I was starting to cry because why was I getting yelled at when I was the victim?

Then the police officers on horses rushed over but they surrounded me threatening and harassing me, claiming I was yelling at an old man. WHAT???!!!??? Wow!!!! They were two stores away and didn’t hear what actually happened. They just automatically assumed that just because he was older, that he was the innocent party. They yelled at me to shut up and refused to even listen to me.

Wow! Now I know why the Birmingham Police keeps coming under scrutiny for POLICE BRUTALITY. Only this time, it was brutality of an innocent white victim.

Well, I immediately e-mailed my local representative, Cam Ward, to tell him why I loved Alabaster after this incident, as well as Governor Riley, and an administrator for the Birmingham City Council because this kind of behavior on the part of city police officers anywhere is irreprehensible. Alabaster police officers do not act like that. Troy police officers do not act that (I used to live in Troy).

Police are called to protect and serve. Part of that is to find out what has happened by getting the information from both sides, not by making threats to someone who is already clearing upset from someone who has started yelling. I walked away. I did not yell. I walked away. He was the only one doing any yelling when they came over.

The worst of it, they let him go easy while they still harassed me and threatened me just because he was still old. The one officer was all, “Are you okay, sir?” And I heard the man say, “She must have a mental problem?”

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I wanted to pick up my orange and fling it at someone. I was the victim. Not THAT man. If anyone at that scene had a mental problem, it was him for the way he instantly began to yell at me for just trying to calmly explain that he had hit my car and how I know he had hit my car.

Well, anyway, I’m glad that God must’ve been looking after me on account of the fact that based on their threats, things could’ve gone a lot differently, but they didn’t, and I’m here to tell about it. But I’m rightfully irate. As is my mother. I was emotionally and physically traumatized yesterday and for no reason. After much prayers, I am considering going down to my local police to have charges pressed against the man for what he did. I know the opposite of grace, but I think under the circumstances, grace can only go so far….

Arrogant authors. November 25, 2009, I posted a comment on the following website: http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/the-race-beat-the-press-the-civil-rights-struggle-and-the-awakening-of-a-na/. My comment: I was utilizing this book for a historical research paper on Freedom of the Press during the Civil Rights Era and when I went to find the articles the author used, I could not find over half of them; the ones I did find had the wrong dates or the wrong page numbers and someone of them were not in existence! The authors don’t do a good job citing their sources at all.

Comment by Susan from Alabama — November 25, 2009 @ 12:07 pm

The response: Dear Susan from Alabama,

I just came upon your comment while looking for something. Naturally, your comment is disturbing to me because we believe our footnotes are impeccable, and to date have not heard these kinds of claims from anyone. The first edition hardback did have some page numbers wrong in the index—but not many and they were corrected. Every single article we cite exists, and I’m confident exists on the date we cited. Out of 1,000 footnotes, there may be a scattered error that I don’t know about, but to suggest you couldn’t find more than half the articles you sought is beyond belief. Email me at hsklib@gmail.com and I’ll gladly help you. We put 15 years into that book, the sourcing is correct, comprehensive and a source of great pride. So I’m not likely to let a random email from an anonymous person cast doubt on it. Thank you. Hank Klibanoff (from Alabama)

Comment by Hank Klibanoff from Atlanta, GA — January 29, 2010 @ 12:44 am

I sent a message this morning:
Look Mr. Klibanoff, my thoughts on the accuracy of your citations as posted November 25 at http://www.popmatters.com hold true. My mother was also trying to help me find some of those cited sources and it was much to both of our avail that what I stated was true. Sadly, your book was not the only one, but it was the worst one. I even mentioned this to my professor whose class I was writing a paper for which is why I had used the book, and he even agreed that may be a strong possibility, especially since the authors were not coming from a historical background first, but a journalistic background. I had to agree. That is why I was most aggrieved. But unfortunately, your response comes a little late for me because since I couldn’t find most of the sources I was looking for from your book, my paper suffered for it, and therefore, my grade may have suffered for it, thus my graduate career may have suffered for it and my health. Now if you would like to forward your message to my professor directly, perhaps I could have a miracle-a sort of a second chance because for whatever the reason, my mother and I were absolutely horrified the fact that we could not find the majority of the sources cited in your book for the reasons that I indicated. It angered me because one or two sources having an incorrect citation is one thing, but the majority?!? By the way, the sources we looked for at the time were all the sources pertaining to the following topics: Emmett Till, Rosa Parks, Little Rock-Central High, lunch counter sit-ins (particularly Montgomery, Alabama), James Meredith, Birmingham civil rights demonstrations, Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, and New York Times v. Sullivan. Not that I remember everything that was covered in your book as opposed to the topics I was focusing on, but my final paper topic ended up being The Press During the Civil Rights Era, 1955-1965. If you’d like to e-mail my professor directly about what your response, his e-mail is wsloan@bama.ua.edu. I’m sure he’d love. Heck, you can even forward this message to him if you want, which I’ve half a mind to do so myself were it not for the fact for my thoughts are so scattered right now! You might have put 15 years into the book, but that doesn’t mean you doublechecked your citations for accuracy because clearly if two people have discovered that there were inaccuracies, then well….

His reply: —
Hank Klibanoff
Email: hsklib@gmail.com
Phone: 404-376-2641

Well, that answers a lot! I think I might have put that guy in his place. It may be the first time this audacious journalism major has truly won an argument of principles!

I am not going to say anything else on that topic though, except NEVER get arrogant with a red-head because a red-head can be just as stubborn and bull-headed.

See, I have a stubborn dog, and when we both get stubborn, nothing gets done!

Anyway, to anyone reading this, please pray that the situation involving the crotchety old man gets worked out however it will.

Sweet Success

It looks as though my experimental first blog off of FB is starting to fall into place, bit by bit, although wouldn’t you know, it’s still throwing its fair share of kinks into the cogs, but still…!