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You are here: Home / Balloon Juice / Very Big Major Announcement

Very Big Major Announcement

by | 172 Comments

This post is in: 

Enough with the classics, out with the old, in with the new.

I am very excited to announce that we have two new front pagers who will be contributing to the blog, promoted from the comments section. It’s our 20th and it is time for some new blood and new perspectives.

Everyone say congratulations to Woodrow and the Thin Black Duke and welcome them aboard this hell bound shit show.

Reader Interactions

172Comments

  2. 2.

    frosty

    Agreed, good choices. Their comments are well thought out, I look forward to their posts.

    ETA #2 for the first time!

  5. 5.

    Ohio Mom

    Congrats to you both!

    Have appreciated your comments, and also the links to the Thin Black Duke’s writing elsewhere (if Woodrow has given us links, I missed those posts).

  11. 11.

    different-church-lady

    Welcome aboard this hell bound sh… now wait just a second, what is this thing I’m on?

  13. 13.

    Matt McIrvin

    Congratulations! I’d say welcome but they’ve been here all along, posting excellent comments.

  14. 14.

    Ksmiami

    Seriously Cole; this high quality writing deserves rewards. I hope you’re paying these new contributors top dollar…/runs away

  20. 20.

    MisterDancer

    Hey, it’s Woodrow/Asim, under my new not-really-a-anonymous nym!

    I do have a pet, who’s celebrating this moment by actually being in my lap, which she never does! So she, at least, gets the gravity of this situation (sigh).

    And I will take a bit to share cat pics. We just lost our beloved Theda Bara, and honestly I’m still grieving that. (ETA: Please don’t fret asking though! I didn’t talk much about her passing here or anywhere, and I don’t expect people to read my mind – – thus why I write so many words.)

    Also: I actually have a dusty old, vaguely embarrassing newsletter which I’ll share in the future. Most of my energy for this kind of writing work’ll be here, going forward, as human cloning is still banned, I hear…

     

    Thanks, again, everyone. I’ll try not to be too much of a wanker. :)

  23. 23.

    Tony Jay

    Good choices.

    Congratulations, chaps. Now would be a good time to blast out “The Heat is On” from the soundtrack to that 80s movie (with the planes and the oil and the tiny wee man smiling) and suddenly feel the full weight of expectation pressing down on the back of your neck(s) like Meatloaf’s bare foot in an otherwise empty sauna.

  28. 28.

    lowtechcyclist

    Everyone say congratulations to Woodrow and the Thin Black Duke and welcome them aboard this hell bound shit show.

    Great choices! They’re the sort of writers I’d like to be.

    Congrats, both of you!

  31. 31.

    Spanky

    Individually, or together? I suppose you mean individually, but reading their back-and-forth in the comments make me think they’d be great together.

  32. 32.

    Benw

    In honor of your promotion, can I be the first to say, “what crappy content, and so infrequent!”

    :)

  45. 45.

    trollhattan

    Welcome! First writing assignment: Donald Trump, great president or greatest president? Go!

  46. 46.

    khead

    My apologies to Thin Black Duke – as I am not familiar with their work.  But Woodrow has been on a roll for some time now. I was going to say something nice to (about?) him just today.  So, good choice there. Congrats to both folks.

  47. 47.

    HumboldtBlue

    Does this mean we get beer?

    Are Woodrow and The Thin Black Duke now made men, or is this a Yakuza thing and they each lose a knuckle?

  50. 50.

    planetjanet

    Just totally awesome!  That is quite exciting news.  I look forward to both official first posts.  No pressure, folks.

  56. 56.

    gwangung

    OHMIGOD

    OHMIGOD

    OHMIGOD

    OHMIGOD

    OHMIGOD

    OHMIGOD

    OHMIGOD

    OHMIGOD

    (Can you tell I’m excited?
    OHMIGOD

    OHMIGOD

    OHMIGOD

    OHMIGOD

    OHMIGOD

    OHMIGOD

    !

  63. 63.

    H.E.Wolf

    This is great news! Congratulations to the Duke and the Dancer, and thanks to both of you for agreeing to post on the front page! Looking forward to it.

  67. 67.

    Yutsano

    Well well well… new meat for the sacrifice?

    Seriously, welcome to the front page! I look forward to your insight and your candor.

  68. 68.

    Mary G

    Yay. Not dissing the other FPS when I say the new blood keeps the blog alive.  Hoping for many great posts from all.

  73. 73.

    There go two miscreants

    Great choices! Two writers who always have something interesting to say. (Among the list of folks I generally toggle to read even if their response is second-order pied.)

  77. 77.

    Ajabu

    Truly Great choices. Will be nice to get some perspective from Our side of the ethnic. tracks. Absolutely no disrespect to the other front pagers but it’s truly different when you’ve lived it… Congratulations to you both!

  78. 78.

    VeniceRiley

    Fresh meat! Yeahhh! I mean, um … Congratulations and I look forward to new fresh front page posts. Try not to Bigfoot them until they’re settled in.

  79. 79.

    MisterDancer

    @Mary G: Not dissing the other FPS when I say the new blood keeps the blog alive.

    Heck yeah. It’s the people who have gone before that built a platform for us new folx to ramble upon!

    OK, gang. I was going to post an introduction thing, but the lack of sleep is catching up, and I want to make a good first front page impression, if you will. :)

    Thanks again for all the support, and I’ll see you here, soon.

  80. 80.

    dww44

    I’ve long read both the new front pagers’ comments and look forward to their long form comments, if you will.  Great additions to the front page.

  83. 83.

    mali muso

    This is wonderful news! Both insightful and eloquent writers with viewpoints and perspectives we desperately need to hear more of. Congrats!!!

  89. 89.

    Sphex

    Delurking to say how thrilled I am with these two new choices (as well as with the blog in general!).

  91. 91.

    Felanius Kootea

    Great choices! I read Thin Black Duke on Medium and appreciate his work (my husband follows him there and had pointed out several of his articles to me before I realized that he was a commenter on Balloon Juice). I have loved Woodrow/Asim’s insights on the ways in which African Americans have strategized to fight authoritarianism (Jim Crow laws, etc.) and won, understanding that it’s a long game. He’s made me rethink my Nigerian impatience for quick wins on more than one occasion. Looking forward to reading you both!

  95. 95.

    lowtechcyclist

    Enough with the classics, out with the old, in with the new.

    Aw, c’mon! We’re already up to a Classics III thread.

    If we don’t have a Classics IV thread, I predict things will get stormy around here.

  96. 96.

    Ken

    this hell bound shit show.

    I really must re-read Robert Bloch’s “That Hell-Bound Train”.  One lesson of which was “Hell for the company,” which works for Balloon Juice too

    Congratulations to the new front-pagers!

  100. 100.

    CaseyL

    Oh, wonderful!  I’ve definitely enjoyed the Thin Black Duke and Woodrow’s commentary, and can’t wait to read their front page posts.

  104. 104.

    Mai Naem mobile

    Congrats TBD and Woodrow. Good additions to the FP. Mo pet pics is my only request, since Cole is so stingy with his.

  109. 109.

    Gin & Tonic

    Really good choices, but I hope, for their sake and ours, that things don’t end up like they did for ABL’s stint on the front page.

    As a white dude, I really appreciate their commentary and look forward to more of it.

  110. 110.

    opiejeanne

    Great choices! I look forward to their contributions to this lovely blog.

    Congratulations to both.

  114. 114.

    James E Powell

    To quote the Gin Blossoms, Congratulations I’m Sorry.

    Slings & Arrows coming your way.

    Welcome. Look forward to your posts. Best of luck!

  117. 117.

    Mike J

    I really thought the time had come for a pivot to yacht racing for this blog.  Until that time, I’m sure the new front pagers will do a salutary job.

  122. 122.

    Starfish

    @Martin: Woodrow has been here a long time, and he is also awesome even if he does go to bed when I ask him if he is going to teach us how to dance.

  124. 124.

    Felanius Kootea

    @Quiltingfool: I read and appreciated his post, but it didn’t start with Obama. His election definitely triggered something, but the roots of this particular madness go way deeper. They’re right there in the less noble parts of US history.

    It’s impossible to enslave people for generations and rip mother from child for sale without losing some of your own humanity. To get thousands of men who could never afford to own a slave to die for the rights of other men to keep owning them requires a deep belief that those fighting have something that elevates them above the enslaved. The invention of race-based slavery in the US was a master stroke of genius – it prevented Irish indentured servants from finding common cause with enslaved Africans and we’re still feeling the repercussions of that today.

    No society is perfect. Nazi Germany studied US Jim Crow laws in creating the Nuremberg Race Laws, as Woodrow pointed out and writers like Wilkerson have documented extensively. Verwoerd in South Africa studied the Nuremberg Race Laws to create the laws underpinning South African apartheid.

    There has never been a nation-wide reckoning in the US of the kind seen in post-WWII Germany or in post-apartheid South Africa, so yes, the election of the first black president was bound to absolutely drive some insane. This is because their notions of US citizenship do not extend to those of African descent.

    We still haven’t had that reckoning. It’s not clear whether we will. The insurrectionists definitely don’t believe we need to and there are over seventy million people who share that view. I truly believe that some kind of reconciliation commission is necessary for the US to move forward in a healthy way.

  125. 125.

    HumboldtBlue

    @WaterGirl:

    I’m sorry, I meant no offense at all, I was just trying to bring some dark humor (I’m watching an absolute gem of a dark Danish drama/comedy Riders of Justice) to the joint.

    The phrase just caught my eye.

  126. 126.

    Starfish

    @HumboldtBlue: This attack is very weird and overly personal. It is like the type of attack that a man might make against a woman for disapproving of nonsense, and it is also an attack on religion. I don’t really know if Watergirl has written about religion here.

    John Cole was very opposed to blocking for a long time, but then at some point we received the power of pie so that we can block at will.

    I am saying that I believe the blog has shifted views on moderation.

    Being protective of the new front pagers so that commenters being jerks do not scare them off seems reasonable.

    I don’t expect them to have the experience that ABL had. Black women experience a highly potent misogynoir.

  128. 128.

    mvr

    Congratulations to Woodrow and the Thin Black Duke. No really. Not just because Cole told us to. This is a good place to be part of and this is in fact an honor.

  132. 132.

    scav

    Congrats all round and aren’t we lucky! (thus the congrats to the rest of us — congrats to the front pagers should probably be accompanied with cattle prods, asbestos mitts, a variety pack of stiff beverages and a first aid kit)

  133. 133.

    Matt McIrvin

    @phdesmond: Imani Gandy, aka Angry Black Lady. Expert on reproductive rights law. She still holds forth on Twitter and still offends all manner of horrible people who she trolls without mercy.

  134. 134.

    WaterGirl

    @Starfish: Things that won’t be tolerated, from the comment policy:

    1. Sexism, racism, ageism; homophobic outbursts, targeting of marginalized groups, etc. We’re not going to put up with personal attacks beyond a joking nature, nor will we tolerate targeted harassment of commenters. Take your shit somewhere else.
    2. Explicit calls for violence. Obviously things said in jest such as “guillotines” or nonsense like that are recognized for the hyperbole they are. But direct, actionable threats or calls for violence are out, for obvious reasons.
    3. Targeted harassment of other commenters or front pagers.
  136. 136.

    Starfish

    @phdesmond: AngryBlackLady. She used to write here and now has a very large Twitter following now.

    One time, John wandered out of his house to go to NetRoots Nation or something like that, and he forgot to bring pants.

    Imani gave someone drinks to get some recommendations for places to buy pants.

    The whole road trip was hilarious, and also almost ten years ago. I am ancient in Balloon Juice years.

  137. 137.

    Starfish

    @WaterGirl: We have a comment policy?!

    The two aspects of Balloon Juice commenter culture that I wish would change:

    1) I wish people would quit misgendering Lindsey Graham. It is not funny if it ever was.

    2) I wish people would quit prison rape jokes. “I see prisoners as less than human and find their rape to be humorous” is also less funny than people think it is.

  138. 138.

    guachi

    @Matt McIrvin:

    ABL is really good at insulting and attacking. But terrible at taking even minor disagreement. I gave the blandest of disagreements on Twitter to one of her tweets a few years ago and was instantly blocked. I don’t miss her posts here in the slightest.

  142. 142.

    stacib

    @phdesmond: I know you were asking WG, but if I may…

    ABL is Angry Black Lady aka Imani Gandy, and she is the reason I started reading this blog, and then left for a very long time.  She used to have her own site, but now I think she’s most visible on Twitter.  She’s amazing, and you would be doing yourself (if you do Twitter) a huge favor to read a bit of her stuff.

  143. 143.

    WaterGirl

    @phdesmond: @stacib:

    If you go to the Past Authors page in the sidebar (or you can click the link I just added here) you will find links to ABL’s twitter and to rewire where she currently writes.

    That’s true of all our past authors – assuming that we know what they are up to, anyway!

  145. 145.

    WaterGirl

    @stacib: That’s kind of you to say.

    I didn’t mean to put off phdesmond; I just didn’t want to spoil this congratulations thread with details about ABL’s treatment by trolls.

    Sometimes things are best not dredged up.  We plan to do everything we can to make sure that nothing like that happens again.

  146. 146.

    Elizabelle

    Great news.  Two people whose comments I look for and read in full.  Who know the room and will not spring fake conventional wisdom and, to prove their creds, the usual bashing of Democrats (the only politicians who have agency) on us.  That type of commentary is all over the internet, and tiresome in extreme.

    Balloon Juice adds two more writers with memories longer than a goldfish’s. Good luck to both the Duke and Woodrow!  Look forward to your posts.

  147. 147.

    piratedan

    congrats to our new front page peeps.  Appreciate the opportunity to have my biases challenged and myself being better informed by reading you.

  149. 149.

    cain

    @Another Scott: We are very proud of her! She even follows me on twitter! (cause I make her laugh, unlike the people here ;)

    I’m so thrilled to see two amazing new writers who can provide a perspective on the front page that will be different. I’ve very much enjoyed the eloquence of Thin Black Duke and Woodrow/Asim.

    I hope they have pets – I see that Woodrow/Asim has a cat! Yay!!

    We STILL need a slot for a black woman though.. ! Nobody is off the hook for that!

  150. 150.

    cain

    @WaterGirl:

    I hope that we don;t get the same with our newest front pager.  I think as a group we will need to be more aggressive against trolls on their posts.

  155. 155.

    Elizabelle

    @WaterGirl:   I am really not into sanitizing threads.

    WRT the ABL posts and the trolling there:  are those in full form, or have they been cleaned up?

    Because this blog can also stand as a record of what was actually going on at a given point. Unless it’s being sanitized, after the fact.

  156. 156.

    C Stars

    Glad to see some new voices here, and from what I’ve read in the comments, I’m really glad it’s these two voices.

  157. 157.

    FelonyGovt

    Excellent choices! Excellent, thoughtful writers.  I’m really looking forward to their posts.

  162. 162.

    marcopolo

    Whew, dodged a bullet.

    Ha ha, welcome aboard to the new FPers!

    Man, I just spent several hours in our local newspaper’s comments section for an article on our towns overloaded ERs/hospitals.  Wow, hadn’t done that (participated in an article’s comment section) in a couple years.  And now I will not be doing it again.  However, I do think I may have made inroads with one person.  After a little back and forth they started posting links to where they were getting their misinformation from so I could actually point out why it was wrong.  And direct them to places that might be a little more honest & forthright about, you know, what’s real vs what’s bullshit.  Fingers crossed a little of my critique may stick.

    Time for bed.  Goodnight all.

  165. 165.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    Congratulations, well earned, good luck and now… fuck off! I think that’s how it usually goes here, right? Seriously, , congrats to you both!

  167. 167.

    Brachiator

    I am very excited to announce that we have two new front pagers who will be contributing to the blog, promoted from the comments section.

    I was away from the Internets all day today. This is a big fucking deal.

    Congratulations!

  171. 171.

    Miss Bianca

    @H.E.Wolf:

    Congratulations to the Duke and the Dancer

    Ooh, late back to this thread, but can’t help myself noting that “The Duke and the Dancer” would be a GREAT title for something. Romance novel? Western? What?! Oh, where’s Mnemosyne when we need her?!//

    Or maybe just an awesome joint post team-up sometime between the Duke and the Dancer.

    OK, that’s enough.

  172. 172.

    WaterGirl

    @Miss Bianca: I know, I loved the phrasing of the Duke and the Dancer, too, but by the time I had re-read that comment last night I figured i had missed the moment to point that out.

    Glad you took the time to write this.

    I think that should have been the title of Cole’s announcement post last night: The Duke and the Dancer

    Maybe not as dramatic as Very Big Major Announcements, but major style points!

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