Monthly Archives: February 2010

Yes I did. I called it a fatitude.We have a collective attitude about fat, and individually everyone has one. Some of us whisper our opinions, this week Southwest Airlines and Kevin Smith are very vocal about their fatitudes.

Do not be deceived. Kevin Smith’s row with Southwest Airlines is not about fat, it’s about deciding who your customers are. The story is (yippee) once again about technology in our every day lives.

For those of you who are not as totally in love with the internet as I, let me bring you up to speed. Kevin Smith is a film writer, actor and producer. He is a hard working guy, made famous by the movie Clerks, however I know that the best day of his acting career was when I visited the set of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Really, I have it on good authority that this was the best day of his working life.

What is not disputable is that Kevin Smith is a celebrity who is clever, hardworking, successful and fat.

Kevin Smith was kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight for being too fat.

Ouch a personal dig at Captain Leysath.

And why do you think that is? I say it’s fatitude. Kevin Smith knows he’s fat. Obviously, the man spends his life surrounded by cameras. Now, how does Kevin feel about being fat?

On February 13, 2010 Kevin Smith clearly felt humiliated by his fatness. Well, maybe not by his size, but certainly by Southwest Airline’s reaction to his size.

Apparently humiliating Kevin Smith on an airplane wasn’t enough for them. Southwest’s blogger Christi Day wrote about the incident on the Southwest Airlines blog. Amongst a few other bits of doublespeak and PR spin she added:

Mr. Smith originally purchased two Southwest seats on a flight from Oakland to Burbank – as he’s been known to do when traveling on Southwest.  He decided to change his plans and board an earlier flight to Burbank, which technically means flying standby. As you may know, airlines are not able to clear standby passengers until all Customers are boarded. When the time came to board Mr. Smith, we had only a single seat available for him to occupy.

It’s nicely written isn’t it? Well, it may or may not be true. According to Kevin it is not true.

“But the last paragraph is still all about your two seat rule. By including it, you guys are still saying I was Too Fat To Fly – or at least NOT correcting it. You even say ‘You’re not here to debate the decision the Employees made.’ But when we spoke, you told me they were wrong, and THAT’S why I was happy and ready to drop all this. I don’t want your money, I just want you to put in print what you told me: that I was grabbed because I was the last guy on, not because I didn’t fit with the arm rests down, or because I couldn’t buckle the seat belt. Because I did. And we both know this.”

When I read that last bit it is identical in tone to the two tweets I have posted above. How? This has nothing to do with an airline flight. This has nothing to do with Kevin’s size. This is about how Southwest Airlines treats people.

Ms. Day’s apology was basically “Kevin we’re really sorry you’re so fat”

Kevin’s complaint is “You’re really hurting my feelings. A lot. Over and over again, just say you’re sorry for hurting my feelings.”

There are two different converstaions being had. Although Southwest is known for listening on twitter, I wonder if anyone is really hearing. Do they get the tone? Kevin Smith called the rest of the world “normies” this isn’t about airline travel.

Matthew Yeomans incorrectly calls this digital populism. The Kevin Smith story would have been a story no matter what. He’s connected, he’s too rich to have to fly Southwest and he’s part of the media. Yeomans also goes on to say:

The combined net effect is that companies find themselves reading attacks on their reputation (whether warranted or not) in the social media sphere before being able to check on the merits of the complaint or how and if they need to rectify it. Sometimes those complaints appear blown out of all proportion (Motrin Moms anyone?) while other times they simply shine a very bright light on a company’s incompetence in a crisis.

Being present on twitter doesn’t mean you’re listening. It just means you’re there. When someone with 1.6 million readers (that you know of) is thrown out of your business, you’d better be sure you’ve made the right move.

When it comes to airline travel Southwest may be a great airline for many people. I know if I’m on a Southwest flight there’s less of a chance that I’ll have to share my seat with someone who is unable to fit in just one. I guess that’s good for someone like me. What bothers me is that Southwest clearly made a mistake as Kevin hopped onto another of their flights a short bit later and fit in the seat. So if they make a mistake with my seat, my luggage or (heaven forbid) my children should I expect Southwest to write about my personal details?

I think not.

* I changed the link in Matthew Yeomans’ quote because I figured I could use the traffic more than Slate.

I’m quite certain everyone knows by now about the terrible death of Nodar Kumaritashvili. Nodar Kumaritashvili was the 21 year old Georgian luger who crashed into a metal pole after being one of twelve Olympic athletes to have an accident while training on the worlds’ fastest course.

NBC showed the accident. And then they showed it again.

Although the world is entitled to know that Nodar Kumaritashvili died while taking a trial run, are we more entitled to view his death than his parents are entitled to not view it?

Granted every network does their 3 second disclaimer, “this is difficult to watch”, but they go right ahead and show it. I would rather my children see naked adults kissing strangers than have them viewing the death of a 21 year old athlete.

What’s interesting is that my lunch earlier in the week was interrupted. Unfortunately my two favorite Pho places in town both have televisions on at all times, and the televisions are almost always tuned to CNN. Earlier this week I was unable to finish my lunch as CNN showed this video. Please do not feel like you need to watch it. If you do not click “play” you will not have to watch it.

Is the luge death more obscene than pornography?
The beating? Is this more upsetting to you than porn?

Why is America able to embrace mayhem and manslaughter, but not an embrace?

You know, besides the other porn The Terrible Porn (NSFW)I sent to my husband’s office.

I got the world’s best press release and I think I’ll be printing it up and tucking it into my husband’s Valentine’s Day card this year.

Apparently Sam Adams has new spring seasonal beer, Noble Pils. It’s made with tons of hops, and hops are flowers! So if I just pick up a twelve pack of beer it’s like a dozen roses.

Only I can get it at the grocery store and my husband will actually enjoy it.

I know it’s a little different, but everything about it makes me giggle, so I’m buying my husband a dozen beers for Valentines Day and pretenting it’s a bouquet.

The search for a new Headmaster is an agonizing one. For the next week and a half the kids’ school will continue to be tense and divided. Candidate interviews include questions that begin with, “you know we love you…” and parking lot chat has a number of parents vowing to leave the school should things take a turn they are not prepared for.

I’ve had one foot out the door for some time. During the summer of 2008 I noticed a faculty member on facebook drinking from a beer bong in a bikini and simulating oral sex while partially clothed. Naturally this all included links to the school. When I contacted the head of school, shaking, she told me that I was a computer hacker and noted that the dress I’d worn to the Major Donor’s Dinner was very low cut.

I haven’t been a major donor since that conversation.

In July of 2009 that head of school left. I don’t know if she was fired, or if she resigned. I don’t really care. She’d spent an entire year not speaking to me, and her allegiance was never to our children. It bothered me, but the teachers at the school are so spectacular, so gifted and so devoted that I couldn’t bear to think of moving my children anywhere else.

I’m not one to cut off my nose to spite my face. I will also do anything it takes to give my children a great education. Education is the only gift I can give them that can not be taken away.

When the Head of School left I was enormously relieved, but, like many other parents, concerned. Who would take her place? What would happen next? Would the school stay on course, or could there better a better tack? I was so busy celebrating her departure that it never dawned on me that a search could be complicated or antagonistic. It was like Dorothy landing on the Wicked Witch. Color after a storm.

I met one of the head of school candidates in a forum. I didn’t realized how anxious this process had made me. I stood there and cried, because it’s been almost two years of feeling like no one in any part of the administration was on my kids’ team. Now I realize that the search committee (the group charged with finding a new head of school) will find someone wonderful, someone who loves learning, who loves nurturing children, and sees education as it’s own reward. I’m trusting the school again, I’ve always trusted the teachers, and I’m excited at the prospect of trusting the administration as well.

If all goes well, my family won’t have to find a new place to live and learn. My children will get the greatest gift that I can bestow on them, and the community that surrounds them will share a love of learning, revere and respect childhood.

I didn’t realize how unhappy I was until I was happy.

From time to time our kids need a voice that’s just a bit bigger than their own. I am my children’s advocate, how do you advocate for your child? The awesome ladies of Momversation had a few words, Asha, Daphne and Rebecca advocate for their kids, but we all have a very different take on it.

I really do want to know.

Jane and Alexander’s school is in the process of selecting a new head of school. It’s more difficult and emotional than it would seem. Many independent private schools have a faculty that includes a least a few parents. The kids’ school seems to have a good number of parents and alumni parents.

The school is at the phase where the finalists are being interviewed. It’s really scary to ask questions of staff who take care of your children day in and out.

I have three questions for each of the candidates that I’d like to see answered:

1. What is your academic vision for the school?
2. Who is the client first, the kids or the parents?
3. How would you go about hiring new teachers?

Apparently these are questions no one else is asking. I don’t know if I’m too direct for my own good, or if I just see the world a little differently.

We’ve made a lot of sacrafices to send our kids to the school they attend. We’ve made them joyfully, as it’s a wonderful place for them to be. Right now, I’m just a little nervous. The school will change, we just don’t know if the changes will be positive or negative. Perhaps they will just be changes, neither positive nor negative.

What questions would you have for a prospective head of school?