"Student in yearbook identified only as 'Black Girl'"

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Or, how not to help Texas's image any.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 16:46 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2004-07-02/music_TCB5-1.jpg

I mean, Gibby Haynes is looking like Cameron Frye from Ferris Bueller now.

WTF Up, Texas!

― donut debonair (donut), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 16:53 (twenty-one years ago)

The spokeswoman says the school district will reprint the yearbook pages affected by the mistake.

So you can paste them in? WTF?

― M. White (Miguelito), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 16:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Black pearl, precious little girl
Let me put you up where you belong
Black pearl little girl
You been in the background much too long
You been working so hard your whole life through
Tendin' other people's houses
Raisin' up their children too
Hey how about something for me and you
Here in my arms you're gonna reign supreme
No more servin' baby
They're gonna serve my queen
It's our turn for happiness and our day has come
Living for each other answering to no one

Black pearl precious little girl
Let me put you up where you belong
Because I love you
Black pearl pretty little girl
You been in the background much too long
Together we'll stand so straight and so tall
Created by love to love one and all
Hey heart to heart soul to soul
No other one could ever take your place
My world is built around
The very smile that's on your face
You'll never win a beauty show
No they won't pick you
But you're my miss America
I love you

― a collectivist romantic fling! (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 16:56 (twenty-one years ago)

http://snl.jt.org/arc/skit/That%20Black%20Girl.jpg
ihttp://snl.jt.org/arc/char/DaVa-Latoya%20Marie.jpg

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 17:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Fifteen years in future:

"I wonder what happened to these guys. Billy Ray, Jody..."
"And Black Girl!"
"Oh man, I almost forgot Black Girl!"
"I'll always remember her, walking around, being black."
"Remember how we never met her or knew her name or anything?"
"Totally, that was priceless!"
"Yeah, Black Girl was alright."

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 17:02 (twenty-one years ago)

Eh. It could've been worse.

xpost tee hee, Nabisco

― Candicissima (candicissima), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 17:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Were there any other students whose names needed to be researched? Were there any other placeholders in the book? Four-eyes, homo, deepthroat, freckles, ....

― diedre mousedropping and a quarter (Dave225), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 17:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Look, there was only one black girl in the school - why would anyone need to learn her name?

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 17:05 (twenty-one years ago)

I mean, Gibby Haynes is looking like Cameron Frye from Ferris Bueller now.

well, he WAS educated to be an accountant -- he's only now giving in to his inner CPA!

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 17:06 (twenty-one years ago)

If you're in an all-white school in the middle of Texas, how does one not know what is the name of "that black girl"?

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 17:11 (twenty-one years ago)

Somewhere a young black female tearfully clutches a yearbook to her breast, murmuring over and over, "I have a name! I have a name! ...At last!"

― Aimless (Aimless), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 17:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Very easily. I wasn't in an all white school in the middle of NYC and us 5/6 black girls' names were totally interchangeable. So, if there's one, they can just ignore her outright.

― Candicissima (candicissima), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 17:13 (twenty-one years ago)

In all justice, shouldn't Black Girl be the name of a super-hero?

― Aimless (Aimless), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 17:15 (twenty-one years ago)

some girls I know in Dallas

― Miss Misery (thatgirl), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 17:26 (twenty-one years ago)

There is girl at my school whose first name is "Chinesegirl."

(She is black.)

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Wednesday, 25 May 2005 17:28 (twenty-one years ago)

I have Soul Coughing's WhiteGirl stuck in my head now. Well, this was actually after seeing Tommy Lee sporting a "White Boy" t-shirt (on a message board).

― nathalie's baby (stevie nixed), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 17:29 (twenty-one years ago)

http://fuseblog.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/chingy.jpg

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 17:30 (twenty-one years ago)

The blacker the berry the sweeter the juice
The kind of beautiful you just couldn't fake it
Have you seen the real black girl
So magnificent I just couldn't take it
She's a real black girl
Oh the real black girl
Oooo la la
Oh She's very very
She smells like a cherry
She rolls just like a Radio Flyer
Have you seen the real black girl
Perfect object of a brother's desire
She's the real black girl
Oh the real black girl
Oooo la la
She's the real black girl
Oh the real black girl
Oooo la la
Don't you wanna try it
I know you wanna try it
She's your warm desire
Set your world on fire, fire

― Je4nne ƒur¥ (Je4nne Fury), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 17:30 (twenty-one years ago)

OMG I love Gibby's new look.

― miccio (miccio), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 17:35 (twenty-one years ago)

drinking, being loud, offending people, fuckin', reading Nobokov, partyin', good times.

In that context, with that typo, the phrase "reading Nobokov" seems totally perved.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 17:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Gibby's gone EMO!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 17:39 (twenty-one years ago)

oh, now jeanne has to go and quote paybacks lyrics. well i never.

― a collectivist romantic fling! (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 17:50 (twenty-one years ago)

― Je4nne ƒur¥ (Je4nne Fury), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 18:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Candi kind of weirdly OTM. I mean, Black Girl is just as likely as anyone to be kind of average and quiet and unsexy and sit toward the back of the class getting unremarkable grades and not talking to anyone else; I get the feeling being one of really few people of whichever race can make that even more pronounced.

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 18:14 (twenty-one years ago)

In all fairness shouldn't the "reporter" have found out WHO SHE WAS??????

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 19:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Hahahaha Tracer OTM

About me:
We're black, we're crazy, we're AWESOME. We have big butts (well, except Mo). We have awesome titties. We're not afraid to cut a bitch. We wear short skirts and bright colors. We're all finally legal to drink, so buy us one next time you see us out. We drop it like it's hot. We drink more than you. We party harder than you. We punt babies farther than you. We fuck moms better than you.

And we like pink (well, except Mo). And puppies. And diamonds, And rainbows.

AWESOME

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 19:32 (twenty-one years ago)

They definitely take the cake. How'd ya meet 'em, Sam?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 19:32 (twenty-one years ago)

We have awesome titties. We're not afraid to cut a bitch.

― The Ghost of New Best Friends (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 19:33 (twenty-one years ago)

They're like Fannypack Reloaded.

Tracer, I almost got the sense that the article was leaving her unnamed as a sort of shield -- either cuz she's probably a minor or cuz this is somehow seen as an embarrassing thing to get press on?

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 19:37 (twenty-one years ago)

I'd assume the article would have said something like "The student (name withheld by request)" if that were the case, Nabisco.

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 19:39 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't need to know her name, but a quote would be nice! And if she doesn't want to talk about it, a quote from her mom. If nobody in her family wants to talk about it, a quote from another black student in the district! Something that might make me believe they didn't just call up a white "school spokeswoman" on their lunch break and type this out while eating a $6 panino from 23rd and Lex! The most perfunctory detail would do!

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 19:43 (twenty-one years ago)

I mean the AP article does exactly what the horrible horrible yearbook people are supposed to be doing

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 19:44 (twenty-one years ago)

OK seriously there is no way there is a person just named "Chinesegirl"

xpost Tracer in fairness the link that was posted was from the Arizona Republic, and they were just reprinting "amusing sad news of the weird" story, might've just rang up the school and left it at that. Maybe the newspapers in Texas would have more information.

― Allyzay is not appropriate for freedom (allyzay), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 19:44 (twenty-one years ago)

not really related, but i tghink nabiscos "dialogue" above could easily be repeated in my school. it wouldnt be about Black Girl, but about That Fat Kid, or the Quuiet Nerd. or itll be that Unremarkable One (ie me!). i reckon 30% of my year went unknown, and unrecognised by the other 70%.

but its very different for pupils to be unaware than for the school itself. is the yearbook done by the school?

― ambrose (ambrose), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 19:46 (twenty-one years ago)

US yearbooks are almost always put together by student staff.

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 19:49 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah I don't know why I persist in this idea that the AP somehow high standards, they obviously don't. It also occurred to me that this article may well have been chopped down by the people in Arizona, to get rid of any of the, y'know interesting stuff.

xpost: ambrose yearbooks are usually done by a group of students who spend one entire class period each day "doing yearbook," which is the ultimate cheese-out do-nothing class, you really do nothing but gossip and run loose in the halls for most of the year until the deadline looms and then people pull all-nighters to get the thing done. They are ostensibly "taught" by a teacher who is handy with X-acto blades and paste.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 19:50 (twenty-one years ago)

I did yearbook, but I went to a small school (100 kids per level) and everyone pretty much knew everyone. We also had a rule that everyone should be in the yearbook at least twice, so even if they weren't in any clubs, they'd have a candid picture or something else besides their mug shot to sign. Anyway, I wonder how big schools managed, where you maybe didn't know everyone by sight? I guess you just had to be careful about writing down who was in the picture, like grownup journalists.

― teeny (teeny), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 19:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, and spelling inconsistencies abounded.

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 19:54 (twenty-one years ago)

ambrose yearbooks are usually done by a group of students who spend one entire class period each day "doing yearbook," which is the ultimate cheese-out do-nothing class, you really do nothing but gossip and run loose in the halls for most of the year until the deadline looms and then people pull all-nighters to get the thing done. They are ostensibly "taught" by a teacher who is handy with X-acto blades and paste.

As a member of my yearbook staff, Tracer's description is seriously otm.

― Leon Federline (Ex Leon), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 19:56 (twenty-one years ago)

My totally FAVORITE yearbook mix-up, though, was in my 9th grade yearbook. There was a girl named C4thy Meyer (I didn't really know her, but had friends who did) whose photo appeared under M, in the rows of photos, as per usual. But two rows down there was another photo of her, with a bizarre, shaded expression on her face, and captioned ... CASLY NEVER. I mean, if you didn't know any better, you'd have been forgiven for thinking it was her evil twin.

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 19:58 (twenty-one years ago)

I still think it might have been.

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 19:58 (twenty-one years ago)

My fave was a girl who, in a big black-and-white picture of the cheerleading squad, was standing right next to a bush, such that her glamorous Aqua-Net hair melded perfectly with the line of the bush, making it appear that she had a massive volumized bangs-and-afro combination that extended a foot above her head and nearly down to her waist. She circled it in people's yearbooks and wrote "This isn't my hair, it's the bush."

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 20:02 (twenty-one years ago)

http://img.coxnewsweb.com/B/09/46/39/image_1539469.jpg

In Boynton Beach High's 2005 yearbook, her son, Robert Richards, is shown with a leash around his neck.
Students voting on superlatives — a staple of yearbooks for decades — elected Richards as "Most Whipped" by his girlfriend, using the slang term for a person who is controlled by another in a relationship. The accompanying photo shows Richards, who is black, on a leash held by Melissa Finley, who is white.

"I know it's supposed to be in fun, but there are people still having trouble with African-Americans' past and this will be offensive," said Nobles, who said the picture reminded her of the poster for the 1970s miniseries Roots, which featured a manacled slave. "This picture, to me, is very distasteful."

The yearbooks have been since recalled.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2005/05/18/m1a_skyearbook_0518.html

― [that bastard] jaxon (jaxon), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 20:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Another photo, of the winners of the "Most Likely To Be On Jerry Springer" category, features a male student pretending to be on the verge of hitting a female with the back of his hand.
*snip*
Perhaps least upset by the photo is Richards, 19, who is bound for Florida Atlantic University after graduation next week. In fact, he came up with the idea.
Richards said he and Finley thought it would set them apart from the other superlative students striking traditional poses. They have broken up since the photo was taken, he said, but remain close friends and have the same opinion of the photo.
"We don't see a problem with it," Richards said before referencing the Roots character that haunted his mother when she saw the photo. "Kunta Kinte — that was over 300 years ago."
He also believes his mother and those who might share her anxiety think differently about racism and slavery because of their age. He and his peers aren't as conscious of race, he said.
"If there was a black girl doing this in the picture, it wouldn't be an issue," Richards said.

A number of black students were standing around when the photo was taken and nobody protested, he said. "These are people who if they had a problem would have let us know," he said.

Am I just old and square because my first reaction is "WTF??? Where were the advisors???"

― Candicissima (candicissima), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 20:25 (twenty-one years ago)

In my 7th grade yearbook, one of the kids (who was white) was labeled as "Jamaican Honky". This was not done out of disrespect, or because no one knew his name, it was done because his name was "Jamaican Honky".

(ok, the last name was actually spelled differently but it was pronounced "Honky" and in order to make my story funnier, I'm leaving it like that. I did a search for this name and the only thing that came up was some blog entry from a week ago where some guy mentioned seeing someone named Jamaican Honky in a yearbook once.)

― ianinportland (ianinportland), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 20:29 (twenty-one years ago)

Am I just old and square because my first reaction is "WTF??? Where were the advisors???"

My yearbook advisor was in the storage closet, chainsmoking Winstons.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 20:33 (twenty-one years ago)

ok so it was the same in my school, the most cliquey people doing the yeakbook, and the yearbook just being full of pictures of rugby teams, lads holidays to greece, etc etc. all the pictures just showed the same 20-30 people. i reckon this was a shit, shit shit joke by the editors.

― ambrose (ambrose), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 20:41 (twenty-one years ago)

it might've been a simple editorial oversight, that noone on staff recognized her, wrote 'black girl' as identity and noone ever went back and corrected it.

― j blount (papa la bas), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 20:43 (twenty-one years ago)

no one wants to see pictures of the kid who sits in the shadows at lunch reading kafka

― Community Cornerstone (deangulberry), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 20:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Advisor may have figured the students all seemed cool with it and he didn't want to be the disappointing square, forgetting that the world outside his immediate vicinity contained people who wouldn't be cool with it in the least. We all make stupid, banal decisions all the time that would make us look like massive idiots if subjected to any sort of public scrutiny. The leash one isn't really ultra-problematic -- more an issue of tact and taste than anything else. Pimp-slapping photos, though; that's just bad.

Blount, that was exactly their reasonable-sounding explanation; it's still weirdly embarrassing/telling, though. It'd be a treat to see what they used as placeholders for everyone else they didn't know. And there's still something semi-bizarre about it -- if you're captioning a group photo, left to right, what do you need a descriptive placeholder for? Put XXX there, or something -- you're a lot more likely to catch it and avoid this kind of mistake.

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 20:50 (twenty-one years ago)

I put XXX in review drafts when I can't immediate remember someone's name, or where a band is from, or whatever else, and then I go back to revise and I'm all like VIN DIESEL IS IN FANNYPACK???

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 20:51 (twenty-one years ago)

My yearbook was staffed by nerds. We at the (obviously wicked cool) newspaper looked down on them. I think their solution to getting names right (grad. class of 600) was to simply not list them on anything but the official pictures.

I wish I had kept in touch with the editor my senior year - the only gay, Mormon Objectivist I've ever met.

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 20:54 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah newspaper staff kicked yearbooks staff's ASS! we got to leave the school and drive around town, go get high, make out, whatever under the guise of 'selling advertising', if we were dropping it off at the printers we even got to miss a huge chunk of the day cuz the printer was in oglethorpe county which was like 45 minutes roundtrip. yearbook staff were just a bunch of busybody dorks that on a good day roamed the halls taking pictures - we did that shit on a BAD day. first draft of history bitches!

― j blount (papa la bas), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 20:58 (twenty-one years ago)

I wonder what percentage of ILX was on their high-school newspaper staff. I figure 75% at least.

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 21:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Tenth paragraph down.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 21:06 (twenty-one years ago)

my senior year i had paper, two home ec classes (though one wasn't technically home ec i think, same classroom/teacher though, we "planned" a wedding, i was the only dude in the class and the only one not getting WAY too into the project), and a fucking typing class that was very casual, highly unstructured. i fucking loved that year.

― j blount (papa la bas), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 21:07 (twenty-one years ago)

I was so not newspaper-involved. At Northwestern's hardcore journalism school they like to welcome freshmen by having the dean ask everyone who was editor of their high school newspaper to raise their hand; 80% of the kids raise their hands, and then presumably are humbled by the knowledge that they're among equally-great minds, or whatever. I think that was the beginning of the end for me getting a journalism degree -- there was something really chilling to me about being in a room full of proud high school newspaper eds.

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 21:11 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.hs.wisd.org/

― j blount (papa la bas), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 21:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Haha, same thing at the University of Missouri.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 21:16 (twenty-one years ago)

The Waxhachie INDIANS. What a shockah.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 21:18 (twenty-one years ago)

o man the cheerleaders are one of the few athletics programs that ain't got their own site: TEXAS WTF IS YOUR PROBLEM?

― j blount (papa la bas), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 21:21 (twenty-one years ago)

re: Northwestern - maybe it's to take them down a peg? "You aren't special, deal with it now."

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 21:23 (twenty-one years ago)

in other news, whitey still sucks

― Morley Timmons (Donna Brown), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 21:29 (twenty-one years ago)

i was too cool to be on my high school's newspaper or yearbook. i did write for my college paper, though.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 21:40 (twenty-one years ago)

dorks write for the college paper

― j blount (papa la bas), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 21:42 (twenty-one years ago)

our class was too small to have seperate staffs; one person was the editor of the newspaper (that would be me, yes), and like one or two people were editors of the yearbook, and then everyone else in class was the staff for both. I know I've posted the picture of me working on the paper that appeared in the yearbook, I'm all spotty and wearing a killing joke shirt.

― teeny (teeny), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 21:45 (twenty-one years ago)

I was too much of a slacker to get a traditional editor spot as a senior, and at some point as a junior the advisor figured out that 90% of my interviews were fake, so I got put on column and review duty. It was fantastic. "No, no, you go interview the principal about tearing up the parking lot. I'm going to review the Hooters that just opened up."

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 21:48 (twenty-one years ago)

truth is that i, too, was too much of a slacker to sign up for high school yearbook/newspaper.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 22:19 (twenty-one years ago)

TEXAS WTF IS YOUR PROBLEM?

Uh, speaking for the whole state I have to say I really don't know what you're asking.

On the news they said her name was Shadoyia or something.

― Miss Misery (thatgirl), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 22:33 (twenty-one years ago)

(Check out Pleasant Plains's link for her name and reaction.)

― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 22:57 (twenty-one years ago)

i did yearbook, but i don't remember actually "doing" anything.

― a collectivist romantic fling! (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 23:15 (twenty-one years ago)

My sister was editor of her yearbook. It seemed ultra involved, they took trips to remote destinations (like San Diego, and Boston) and stayed at flashy hotels for "conferences" many times a year. It occurred to me that perhaps I should've done yearbook, because it seems like they lived a caviar and champagne lifestyle.

― Allyzay is not appropriate for freedom (allyzay), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 23:35 (twenty-one years ago)

I totally got the name right after only hearing it once. sweet.

― Miss Misery (thatgirl), Thursday, 26 May 2005 01:13 (twenty-one years ago)

The newspaper lived off of the yearbook's endowment. 40 years of now-$40 yearbooks adds up, apparently. In three years, I don't think we once covered our issue budget selling ads.

I wanted to work for my college paper, but apparently you can't be on academic probation and they pay worse than an online zine.

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Thursday, 26 May 2005 01:27 (twenty-one years ago)

Gibby looks like he's upgraded his Gibbytronix to a laptop

― Amon (eman), Thursday, 26 May 2005 01:52 (twenty-one years ago)

I wanted to work for my college paper, but apparently you can't be on academic probation and they pay worse than an online zine.

I quit school and still worked on my college paper. Some snoops they were!

I was paid eight dollars per comic strip, twice a week. The checks were distributed at the administration building. Since I had quit school, I was afraid of going down there and getting busted. But by Christmas, I couldn't stand it anymore and went down there anyway. They had nine checks, each worth $32, waiting for me!

I actually leapt and clicked my heels as I ran out the door before they could catch me.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Thursday, 26 May 2005 02:54 (twenty-one years ago)

You should do a comic about that.

― Thermo Thinwall (Thermo Thinwall), Thursday, 26 May 2005 03:01 (twenty-one years ago)

I'll even give you $8!

― Thermo Thinwall (Thermo Thinwall), Thursday, 26 May 2005 03:02 (twenty-one years ago)

Haha. To give you an idea of what kind of strip it was, too many of them ended with "At least I still got paid $8 for this!" in the last panel.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Thursday, 26 May 2005 03:09 (twenty-one years ago)

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