Favoritism and the New Discrimination - Why We Need to Return to Qualifications-Based Employment and Chuck Political Correctness and Affirmative Action

There is much talk about the economy these days, and honestly the economy in the past few years has been a real roller-coaster ride.   However, a lot of economic issues are actually self-imposed by a society that has its priorities out of whack, and unfortunately I and many other middle-aged men (as well as a growing number of over-40ish women) have borne an unnecessary brunt of this nonsense.  What I am going to address here is going to be frank, it is going to offend some people's sensitivities, and it definitely will not be the "politically correct" thing to say, but I do not apologize for that.  It is my personal opinion that this so-called "political correctness" has done more harm than good, and it's time for it to go, as well as giving the people who invented that garbage a firm slap upside the head with a baseball bat.  As I write this, some of it mirrors my own frustrations and dissatisfaction with society as a whole, as I feel like at times I have been targeted because of my age, gender, and even faith at times - enough is enough!  Any rate, let us now move on to the discussion.

For me over the past 20 or so years, doing a resume is like trying to write a novel - it is lengthy, involved, and requires a lot of creativity to get people's attention.  It is hard to believe this, but in the past 20 years, I have had a total of over 40 jobs!  Yes, 40!  That amounts to on average 2 jobs per year.  Many of them - the majority actually - have been contract/temporary positions, and none have even lasted two years.  In the past couple of years, the story gets even worse - I have spent most of that time unemployed totally, and it seems like regardless of what I do I had issues getting work.  Some judgmental people would say that it is my fault, but the fact of the matter is most of those jobs ended involuntarily - I was laid off from several, others were short-term work that I had no choice in the length of time I stayed or when they cut me loose, and some were hit hard by the economy and couldn't afford the extra payroll expense, so it wasn't necessarily the employer's fault either in those cases.  Some others may say that it is my credentials - they would try to reason that I need more experience or education, etc.  However, a good look at my own skills and experience would blow that out of the water fast too.  And, as I talk to people, I see that I am not necessarily the only one - at this time, I have at least 5 friends who have been up against the same challenges, and I hear of more every day.  My own mother, as a matter of fact, is 66 years old, has an extensive and stellar work history as a CNA, yet as I speak now she is living on tomato sandwiches because no one will even talk to her about a position.  In all these cases - including mine - there are some common factors.  First, all of the people I mentioned are White.   Second, many of us are middle-aged or elderly.  Third, although the overwhelming majority of these people (including myself) are middle-aged males, I have also noticed that women over a certain age are being hit like this too - my sister-in-law, for one example, is in her 50's and has an impressive resume that includes even executive-level experience, yet no one talks to her either, and she is having to resort to living off her savings right now because she cannot collect benefits, and although she does have one job prospect, they are waiting forever to call her on it.  What in the Sam Hill is going on??

First, let me tell you about my own credentials.  I have 15 years of experience as an Administrative professional, and it has been overall a good history - the majority of my supervisors I have had say I am detailed, have a good work ethic, and am highly professional.   I also have a strong educational background - I have a BA degree, as well as a Paralegal Studies certificate, and I am currently in graduate school earning a Masters.  In my Administrative work, I have an extensive background in Mortgage and Title, as well as extensive law office experience.   Yet, many of the job applications I have submitted I don't even get a common courtesy of hearing back from, and it really bugs me.  With my level of experience and knowledge, some of these jobs should by all measures be in the proverbial bag for me, yet I haven't gotten into one yet.  I fail to understand why, until I started doing some research into it and what I discovered was disturbing - many of these employers end up hiring some 20-something young girl with a big bosom and shapely legs who doesn't even have half the experience, and generally what happens is that this new employee cannot do the job right, yet she keeps the job anyway.  Why?  It is pretty simple - the employers hiring her want a pretty face to ogle over, and could care less about someone who can get the job done.  That is a loaded allegation I know, but let's face it - I have seen that way too often.  Or, if it is a female manager, she will hire this young 20ish-something guy fresh out of college with no experience for a similar reason - yet, the job listings say you need this, and need that, and so many years experience of this or that, etc.   Interesting, to say the least.  That being said, let's talk about some other things I have noticed.

One thing that really chafes my shins is this idea of "mandatory credit checks" for jobs.  Seriously?  First off, what does a credit score have to do with your performance of the job?  Second, why do some jobs require stupid things like this for menial tasks (yes, I have heard of janitors having to pass credit checks to get a whopping $6 an hour - really??)?  I have this to say to employers who want to nose around in your credit history for a job consideration - perhaps if you would loosen up a little and hire good people in the first place, you idiots, perhaps it wouldn't be necessary.  Secondly, if you would have given those people you are punishing work in the first place, perhaps they would have had the income to avoid credit issues - duh!!!!  So, some of these managers need to stop looking at their employees' boobs and butts, lusting over them, and stop punishing skilled workers with minutiae like credit checks - the economy might improve if maybe some unqualified management in these companies was replaced.  However, common sense was never a prerequisite for managerial perks in Corporate America, and good looks in the end win out over proven experience.  Welcome to 21st century Corporate America, folks!

Let's talk about something else that is equally disturbing - a potential employee's use of social media.  I am of the opinion that the First Amendment allows people to have freedom of speech and expression, and that no one should be disqualified from work they are perfect for just because they have a Facebook or Twitter account, because what these people do on their own time is their business.  It is one thing, for instance, to make sure a potential candidate for a job is not a serial killer, a terrorist, or a sexual deviant; as an employer, I would take those precautions too.  Also, it is fine to make sure a potential candidate for a position is not addicted to crystal meth or crack - altered chemical-induced mental states do affect job performance.  But, when a person wants to talk politics with their friends, share religious convictions, or speak out on something, that is their right and their business.  You are hired for a job - at least you are supposed to be! - based on your skills at doing the required tasks of the job, not on whether or not you like the current President of the US or not.  Some companies too are so insecure about their own reputations - call that self-inflation - that they get paranoid that (God forbid!) an employee may mention their name on their Facebook page.   I have learned something about that - if a company is that sensitive about people saying anything, it means simply that there may not be something right with how said company is run, and my question to the corporate management would be what they are trying to hide.   Also, let me put the brass at some of these companies to rest - after your employees have had a busy day at your office, the last thing most of them want to talk about is work, and I really don't think you are going to be coming up in the conversation with their Facebook buddies, really.  Bottom line is that these corporate management types need to get over themselves, simple as that.  Also, while I am on that subject, why is it when a company goes prying into a potential employee's personal business, do they never see the good?  I, for instance, am a capable artist, writer, and culinary genius (my humility shows, doesn't it?), yet I don't see anyone taking an interest in that.  It just seems like the company is just trying to dig up dirt instead of learning about your talents and abilities (unless the potential employee is a hot young female with a well-endowed cup size on their bras - curious there, and forgive the sexism of that remark please).  Bottom line, there is an imbalance in the way companies screen potential employees, and that has to stop; good people are denied work, their families suffer, and they often are not told why. 

Now, let's talk about the experience factor.  I have taken paralegal training, and even have earned a certificate in Paralegal Studies.  I got that back in 2006 in order to help my job prospects, but as of yet I have not even had a paralegal opportunity.  It seems like most law firms will not hire paralegals unless they have 3 to 5 years of experience, which makes no sense.  First, the number sounds like a prison sentence - "3 to 5 before you work for us!" - and second, if the leg-up is not given, then how does a person gain the experience??  Especially for the legal profession, the following is for you:

Now, getting back to the male issue.   I am a soon-to-be 44-year-old male with 15 years of office experience, stellar references, and a high level of education, yet I have had problems getting work.  Some others I have met have similar problems.  No, I don't claim to be a fashion model, I don't have female body parts, but I am good at my work.  So, why do companies ignore people like me - not even a polite rejection letter in most cases - who can do the job, have the perfect qualifications, yet we're rejected?   You know, I can understand (and wholeheartedly agree) that women and minorities deserve equal opportunities, but in recent years "affirmative action" regulations and "political correctness" have gotten so out-of-hand that often good candidates for jobs are passed over because the candidate has "two berries instead of a cherry," or lighter skin color.  What do these externals have to do with skill and ability to perform the tasks of a position, really?   If a woman or someone of color does have better qualifications for the job, then I in no means have an issue with that at all - a company should hire people who are up to the task, and externals have nothing to do with that.  However, on one too many occasions, I have been passed over for jobs because some young girl, or some fat Black woman who talks too much on a cellphone and can do little else, gets a job based on the externals - often, those same people end up being fired or they quit, but that is OK too, because they can just yell "workplace discrimination" even when none is involved.  It's frankly just ridiculous.  America's economic state would be so much better if we started hiring qualified people based on their experience and skills (regardless of color, as there are talented individuals of all shapes, colors and sizes) rather than trying to meet some stupid "quota" just to keep the government from poking its nose in and saying "Ah, you don't have enough Blacks, or Spanish-speaking people, etc."  Who cares, honestly??  At the end of the day, it is the person who gets the job done that matters - that person may speak with a Spanish accent, or could be White, Black, male, female, old, young, skinny, fat, etc; it doesn't really matter - and in the end it benefits both the employee and the company as well.  In other words, if you are going to be "equal opportunity," then be equal in recognizing the skills and talents of employees who can do the job; God forbid, in some cases that may even be a 44-year-old slightly overweight White guy, or a 66-year-old White woman! 

I know this is going to be controversial, and I may be misrepresented in what I have said, so let me close out by saying this.  All people - Black, White, Hispanic, male, female, old, young, fat, skinny, etc. - have potential, and all of us have suitable skills for the job or task that is perfect for us.  It is time we recognize that, and stop letting societal quirks deny some while priveleging others.  And, although I don't think women should be denied any opportunity they work hard for, I also feel that same courtesy needs to be extended to men who are equally qualified.  If the reader gets nothing else out of this, let it be that.  Thanks again until next time.

Sax-Squatch - the Appeal of the Giant Saxophone

By now, many reading this know I am a record collector with close to 2000 recordings on both vinyl and CD.   However, I also play saxophone, and have done so since my junior high school years.   Being both a collector of vintage music and a sax player myself, there are some things over the years I have gotten interested in, and the monster saxophones are one of those.

This is from my high school years many moons ago - I played baritone sax in the school marching band then.

Do any of you remember from about 20 years ago Tim Allen's hit show Home Improvement?  Tim played a character in the show who had his own fictional home improvement show by the name of Tim Taylor, and anyone who watched it would know that the character he played was the original "gearhead."  If he saw a souped-up '60's muscle car, for instance, his reaction to the power of the engine revving was a sound like "Arr-arr-arr!"  We boys like our toys, and although not all of us are "gearheads," there is something about an object of our interest being bigger, more powerful, and exuding immensity - it's a guy thing.  And, what gets me transfixed is seeing the biggest of the big as far as the musical instrument I specialize in.

For the most part, when people think of saxophones they think alto, tenor, and baritone (although with the arrival on the scene of a musack-tooting, long-haired scheisskopf by the name of Kenny G, more people know about the soprano saxophone too - I suppose something good besides the effect of Sominex has to come from Kenny G!).  However, there are a whole range of other saxes besides these, including what used to be the elusive bass sax.  The bass saxophone is about 4 feet tall, and in my own music collection I have recordings of a lot of ensembles that have featured it, mastered by such people as Adrian Rollini, Joe Rushton, and Boyd Raeburn among others.  In this day and age, I have a good familiarity with the bass sax, although I still want one and love its sound.  However, there are bigger creatures in the saxophone Serengeti than the bass, and we'll talk about those now.

The mighty contrabass saxophone, this one manufactured by Orsi in Italy

 

The first of the big boys is a 7-foot behemoth, the contrabass sax.  The contrabass has been around for several decades, although it was rarely seen except maybe in some 1970's recordings of jazz artist Anthony Braxton.  However, in the late 1990's, a company in Italy called Orsi patented a new model of the contrabass, and recordings of it began to pop up all over the place.   One of the groups that featured it at around that time was a small dance band called the Nuclear Whales Saxophone Orchestra, as its leader, Don Stephens, acquired one.  Since then, it has been featured as well by young and talented composer Adam Gilberti in his works The Genesis Concert and Dragon's First Flight, the latter featuring himself and three other well-known contrabass talents - young Blaise Garza, Dr. Jay Easton, and Grant Green.  

 

Performance of Adam Gilberti's Dragon's First Flight from around 2004, with (l to r) Gilberti, Grant Green, Dr. Jay Easton, and Blaise Garza.

 

You will notice from the above picture that although these are four varieties of contrabass (and Green's subcontra - more on that shortly), a couple of them look different than the others.  Reason for that entails a company in Germany, Benedikt Eppelsheim, which in the late 1990's patented a new type of low-register sax called a Tubax, which is smaller, more compact, and easier to manipulate wind to play than the conventional contrabass.  The Tubax comes in two varieties - one is an E-flat contrabass, and the second is the B-flat subcontrabass.  Both are also relatively more economical to purchase than the Orsi conventional contrabass, although they still run a pretty penny.  

 

 

  Eppelsheim Tubaxes - top is the B-flat subcontra, and below is the E-flat contra.

 

 The Tubax has also encouraged the more widespread use of lower-register saxes, and now they are starting to be more readily available.

 

The ultimate saxophone though is an elusive 9-foot monster called the B-flat subcontrabass.   This grandaddy of saxes was not believed to have existed prior to the past 20 years, although there is some 1950's footage of a Steve Allen clip in which it appears one was played - it took 3 guys to play it in that clip.  The clip unfortunately is not easy to find unless you have access to the old "Steve Allen Shows" of the 1950's, but it is perhaps the oldest footage available of a giant sax.  In recent years, there has been a renewed interest in the conventional and compact subcontras, and a Brazilian-based company, J'Elle Stainer, finally built both - the compact subcontra was manufactured by them back in 2010, and the conventional subcontra (over 9 feet tall!) was just recently introduced.  Both of them are something to behold, and hearing one of them is even more of an experience!

 

Italian saxophone virtuoso Attilio Berni playing the J'Elle Stainer compact subcontrabass sax

 

The conventional subcontrabass saxophone manufactured by J'Elle Stainer.

 

The conventional subcontra was recently featured with Attilio Berni, an Italian saxophonist.  Berni is a collector of many odd and unusual saxes, and he features many of them on a tour he does called Saxophobia (An American counterpart, Rob Verdi, has undertaken a similar project).  Being able to see this legendary horn in a concert setting is quite an experience, as the thing practically dominates the stage.   Eppelsheim has capitalized on this as well, and now they offer their own versions of both the contrabass and subcontrabass conventionals.  The Eppelsheim models vary in design somewhat from the J'Elle Stainers, but they do produce a crisp sound and I believe are available at a somewhat more affordable price.   

 

The conventional B-flat subcontrabass saxophone manufactured by Benedikt Eppelsheim.

 

If you are looking for recordings of the contra, subcontra, and tubax, here are some recommendations.  Obviously, if you are into more of the vintage big dance band material, the Nuclear Whales Saxophone Orchestra are the best option for that.   The Nuclear Whales are no longer together as a unit, but they do have several CD's as well as a VHS concert still available - their later CD's feature the contrabass.  From more of a jazz perspective, I would suggest Scott Robinson's CD Thinking Big, as it is one of the best recordings of classic jazz as played with the contrabass.  Also, the Attilio Berni and Rob Verdi Saxophobia concerts feature some good music on them, mostly dance band and classic jazz - Berni's is only available from Italy, and you will need to play the DVD's of the concert on a computer, as a conventional DVD player will not play those.  On the classical side of things, Adam Gilberti's Genesis Concert is a definite requisite - Gilberti, a gifted young composer from California, not only features the contrabass sax and both Tubaxes in his compositions, but also a host of other unique instrumentation - octobass flutes, etc.  Finally, if you want vintage, the person to look for is Anthony Braxton, who in the 1960's and 1970's recorded several avante garde jazz LP's featuring the contrabass saxophone.   Also, Sigurd Rascher deserves mention - his recordings date back to the 1950's, and he was a pioneer of the saxophone and an early contemporary of its inventor, Adolph Sax.  Rascher's works for saxophone are some of the first concert music recorded for the instrument, and he also was an early advocate of the contrabass, as you will hear it on his orchestra and ensemble recordings.  

 

In short, the contrabass and subcontrabass saxophones are some interesting territory to explore, and I am sure that if you are not familiar, it will be an interesting experience for you.   Take care until next time.   

 

 

 

Debunking Appalachian Stereotypes

Within the past year, certain high-profile "neocons" have seen fit to pick on mountain people for some reason.   About a year ago, for example, commentator Bill O'Reilly made a scornful statement about Appalachian culture that honestly was uncalled for and just reprehensible.  In April 2012, for instance, he said "The culture in Appalachia harms the children almost beyond repair.  Their parents are screwed up. Kids get married at 16 or 17, their parents are drunks.  There’s a culture of poverty and ignorance there...You know, I don’t want to rebuild the infrastructure of Appalachia I want to leave it pristine, it’s beautiful." (Lisa King, "Bill O'Reilly's Scorn for Appalachia Still Echoes in the Mountains," at http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/appalachian-chronicles/2012/apr/24/bill-oreillys-scorn-appalachia-still-echoes-mounta/) This stupid, ignorant rant of O'Reilly, the son of a drunk Irishman (no offense to the Irish, but O'Reilly's grandfather was a bootlegger), still reverberates like the aftershock of an electric fence in a rainstorm for many of us, and had he said that against Blacks, he would have had Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson suing the crap out of him (Jackson and Sharpton have no credibility with me either, as both of them are racist plantation pimps).  Also, despite being supposedly "pro-life," it is scary that O'Reilly almost sounds like Margaret Sanger, the eugenics-driven, gold-digging hussy who founded Planned Parenthood and called Appalachian people and others "human weeds."  But, if that wasn't enough, then we have a couple of months back Pat Robertson, who made similar statements when he said this - "That's the big problem, especially in Appalachia. They don't know about birth control. They just keep having babies.  You see a string of all these little ragamuffins, and not enough food to eat and so on, and it's desperate poverty."  (http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/pat-robertson-says-birth-control-very-important-to-limit-appalachian-ragamu).  The tragic thing about Robertson's statement is that he is supposed to be a Christian minister, but I am not seeing much Christlikeness in his attitude when he more or less wants to eradicate a whole population of people.  What is even worse is the fact that much of those stereotypical comments and idiotic statements are wrong, and I am living proof that they are.  Bottom-line is, it seems as if "hillbilly bashing" has become popular today among conservatives and liberals alike, and I for one am about sick of it.

Bigot #1 - Bill O'Reilly, the bootlegger's grandson

 

Bigot #2 - the compromising, hypocritical and half-senile televangelist Pat Robertson

 

Bashing mountain people and their culture is nothing new for the "upper crust" in society, as they have been doing it for generations.  Dr. Loyal Jones, the noted Appalachian scholar and retired professor of Appalachian Studies at Berean College in KY, notes this when he talks about the way that Appalachian people are often portrayed when he sums it up well by saying it this way - " Poor rural people are about the only ones in the country that you can make fun of all you want to with near impunity. Political correctness fades away when the subject is a poor hillbilly. Therefore they make wonderful scapegoats." (Loyal Jones, "The Poor In Rural American Are Not Laughing," at http://www.ruralstrategies.org/poor-rural-america-are-not-laughing)  Jones, in his excellent book, Faith and Meaning in the Southern Uplands (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1999) notes that this type of bigotry was often carried out in the name of "religion," in that many early "missionaries" were not sent so much to proclaim the Gospel, but rather as "agents of uplift" in order to 'civilize the savages."  He writes on page 4 of the book the following:

"In my view, no group in the country has aroused more suspicion and alarm among mainstream Christians than have Upland Christians, and never have so many missionaries been sent to save so many Christians as has been the case in this region.  Mainline Christians believed strongly that Appalachian people had to be saved from themselves - not only from their ignorance of standard educational matters but especially from their cultural values and native religion."

 

This sentiment is echoed by other capable scholars, such as Dr. Ralph Hood, professor of Psychology at the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga who has also worked extensively among the serpent-handling Christians of the region, when he notes in his book, Them That Believe (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008) that in particular regard to the serpent-handlers there has been a lot of misrepresentation and unfair treatment by the secular media (both liberal and conservative, I might add!) and unfair, unjustified stereotypes abound (Hood, p. 3).  What Hood says about serpent-handlers in particular applies as well to Appalachian culture in general.  One stereotype in particular is this whole stupid thing that we are "inbred" or something, and honestly, that does get old to many of us who are native to the region.  One of my own family's genealogists, Carolyn White, addressed this in the family history she authored of my mother's folks from Dry Fork, WV, entitled The Family Album - Dry Fork District (Aurora, WV:  Bookmakers, 2005) in a section entitled "A Word About Kissing Cousins" on pages 5-6.  Carolyn says (rightly) that the circumstances of the time - isolation, limited transportation, etc. - may have facilitated some "kissing cousin" marriages to happen, but by and large they were often distant cousins who were not closely related (lest Appalachia gets a bad rap for that, it also happened in the European aristocracy with more frequency, so there!).  Like she says, I too am tired of Appalachia in general - and my home state of West Virginia in particular - getting a bad rap for this and being the object of jokes and judgemental allegations.  And, for those who make those jokes and allegations (including you, O'Reilly!) I say this - shut up, grow up, and do something more constructive with your time.  And, I give some of those wags the ultimate insult - some of our relatives married their cousins out of necessity, yet some of the critics molest their own kids out of choice, so what is their excuse??  

Now that I have stated the case, it is time for my commentary.  When Trayvon Martin, who was a common street thug, was shot by George Zimmerman here in FL when Martin attacked him, the press made a huge stink out of it - Zimmerman might as well have been Hitler, because the "race card" was played to the extreme.  Many Blacks and others can do anything they want, get away with it, and if you question them, you are called "racist" for doing so.  Yet, I don't hear people doing the same for poor Appalachian people when they are maligned - where are Jesse, Al, and all the other plantation pimps there??  Take for example my good friend Verlin Short.  Verlin lives in the town of Mayking, KY, and he is a hard-working, devoutly Christian man who loves his family, minds his own business, and is just a good guy.  Yet, he has been arrested on many occasions, and you know what his crime was?   It was taking up a rattlesnake in a church service!!  Seriously??  You have Islamic terrorists blowing up buildings, Black street thugs killing their own people even, and yet Verlin gets a bad rap for practicing his religious convictions???  Obama, our worthless President who wants us to attack a country (Syria) which poses no security threat to us, had his nose all in the Trayvon thing, but where was he when Verlin was unjustly imprisoned?   My guess - he was out playing golf and sipping Mai-Tais on a beach in the Caribbean somewhere (at taxpayer expense I might add!) and could have cared less.  Well, here is what I have to say about that one - if I had a brother, I would be honored if he was half the man Verlin Short is! What I have said here is not going to be considered "politically correct," and quite honestly, I could care less.  Every race of people, and every culture, has its good and its bad individuals - there are good Blacks, and there are others for whom the "n" word fits, and there are good Appalachian-Americans and others who would be considered "White trash."  Problem is, this day and age the bad behavior of some groups of people is glorified, while the good people of other groups are villified.  Really??   A little consistency might be nice here, folks. 

I was born and raised in West Virginia, a fact I appreciate more as a get older.  I regret however that in my younger days, due to the idiotic stereotypes of our people I have addressed above, I was actually ashamed to say where I was from - often I would tell people I was from western Maryland (I grew up 14 miles south of the Maryland state line) or from Pittsburgh.   Looking back on that now, I was stupid in doing that, and when we West Virginians have to lie about where we are from, it reinforces idiots like Bill O'Reilly and Pat Robertson in their accusations and stereotypes.   If you are from West Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, western North Carolina, northern Georgia, or southeastern Ohio, be proud of who you are and stick up for the place of your birth!  God put you there for a reason, so there is nothing to be ashamed of.  This is especially for younger Appalachian kids and youth - your friends may make fun of who you are, but you have nothing to be ashamed of;  who you are is a person of rich heritage, strong resolve, driving ingenuity, and good values, something much of society lacks today.  I am politically conservative too, like O'Reilly and Robertson claim to be, but I also remember who I am.  It is time all of us who are from the Appalachians do likewise.  God bless until next time.