Friday, October 5, 2018

New Pacifica ED


Constellation of Arachnid Spies:

Hasty Initial Analysis and Report,
Subject to Revision and Correction.

Subject: Maxie C Jackson III, Human

This particular human appears to the Constellation of Arachnid Spies, as evaluated by relevant colloquy, to be at first sight a low-level low-achievement media management drone of some sort, with little distinction.

We hasten to add, to repeat, that this is a first overview, based on limited information and within time constraints.

He describes himself, professionally, as a ‘Change Agent, Innovator, and Multifarious Content Creator’ in the Washington DC Metro Area.

We have no idea what this means, actually.

The arachnid colloquy is unable to assign any actual meaning to this self-description, but assumes it’s typical human organizational buzz-nonsense.

It’s also, the colloquy feels, impossible to evaluate, which the colloquy feels is quite possibly a deliberate feature.

A valued feature.

His stated educational background consists of a BA from Morehouse and an MA from MSU, both in ‘Mass Communications’ and ‘Telecommunications’ with ‘Management’ as appendments. Note: This is not an MBA or equivalent in any way. These are gut courses and gut degrees, in both human and archnid terms.

Nor are these Harvard, the Sloan School, Wharton, Stanford, etc etc.

Not even close.

No academic distinction is stated or claimed.

His presently available CV clearly favors massive gobbledygook and meaningless buzzwords of the customary and expected sort, with no indication of actual significant or meaningful accomplishment, nor of significant awards, which are generally given freely in media.

At present he may be self-unemployed with MaxWorx Media – this is unclear as is the actual character of his previous positions in that positions are identified but actual claims of accomplishment and advancement reflecting accomplishment, ordinarily customary if not pro forma, appear to be absent.

The arachnid colloquy briefly considered the possibility of his having actual achievements, accomplishments, awards and the like, but preferring to conceal them from a sense of modesty or a need for secrecy… but this seems unlikely.

The colloquy has limited ability to make sense of CV’s of this sort, as they include very few bits of actual information as opposed to various bits of puffery and time-gaps here and there.

This particular human’s focus appears to be on racial considerations in broadcast.

This, for example, is his description of his present focus:

Public Media Consultant specializing in analysis, innovation and cultivation. Actively engaged in providing solutions to public media challenges relative to diversity, inclusion and the opportunity in serving emerging demographics. Producer of Dreams for NYC Inspired by MLK live event at the Apollo Theater. Provides strategic consulting services for MAG Advisors Group/VME Television (spanish language public television service), WMNF (Tampa Bay, FL community radio station), WJSU (Jackson, MS African American public radio station), WVAS (Montgomery, AL African American public radio station), and Next Tier Solutions (public media diversity initiative - New Vision New Voices).

The Arachnid Colloquy, in summary, while aware of this particular present human fixation is understandably able to offer only limited insight.

None, pretty much.

It does appear, however, to be in conformity with Pacifica ‘Values’ with respect to an emphasis on aspects of official ‘minority’ status.

Perhaps, therefore, for Pacifica, an ideal candidate.

Of particular note, the colloquy feels, there is no claim or any evidence of turnaround ability.

Nor of the ability to draw forth function from profound strife and dysfunction.

Nor of creative brilliance as to programming.

The colloquy wondered if there might be some evidence of miraculous previously secret or otherwise invisible qualifications…?

We should note that when this first report was first presented to Indigo Pirate, Spider Friend, he appeared to be less than impressed.

We share his perception and judgement,

Sincerely,


Wolf Spider

9 comments:

  1. My initial impression could be as wrong as an ill-tempered oaf in the Supreme Court, but, so far, what I have gathered does not bode well for Pacifica's future.

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    1. Pacifica's... WHAT?!

      ~ 'indigo, pirate'

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  2. We'll see what happens, as Our Sage puts it, He-who's-more-presidential-each-&-every-day . . .

    Apposite point by Wolf about 'turnaround' competence & experience, not just being a 'change agent'. Just to invoke Godwin's Law, He-who-my-ancestors-had-a-local-difficulty-with was not just a change agent but a turnaround agent, on a continental scale to boot. This shows that content is also crucial. More importantly, compared with Mr The-Third – Mr Tee-Tee or Mr Ti-Ti to his friends, especially Barça fans – there's even less evidence that the palaeo-Pacificans holding office (& those in the pipeline) can devise & agree on an adequate course of action to meet the c. 31 March 2021 deadline when the $3.265m principal of the FJC loan falls due. Much more likely than a loan restructuring is payment from the proceeds of a FCC-approved signal swap(s) – & the sooner that's done the less interest Pacifica has to pay. But that means biting the bullet, not one another. Instead, deflection & time-wasting, in Micawber default mode. And no evidence has been presented that Mr Ti-Ti can handle either difficult people or multi-million $$$ financial problems. (And who'll be appointed Chief Financial Officer? Major Tom was the incumbent, albeit appointed in defiance of the by-laws, moreover, without public protest by even one Pacifica director or delegate: "neither the Secretary nor the Chief Financial Officer shall serve concurrently as the Chairperson of the Board or the Executive Director" – http://pacifica.org/indexed_bylaws/art9sec1.html .)

    So who is Mr Ti-Ti? A Mary-Celeste Twitter account gives an inkling of his interests. It's from November 2014 to March 2015, when he was Station Manager in Cleveland at WCPN. Six tweets & two re-tweets on show. A certain identity politics to the fore: "[j]oin @NPRCodeSwitch for a Twitter chat at 6:30pm ET about the whiteness of #PubRadioVoice [...] The Whiteness of 'Public Radio Voice'. As a black man, do I need to code-switch to be heard?" (re-tweet); "[t]he detached voice is part of the turn-off for #earsofcolor. We prefer hosts with verb [sic: not verve?]" ; "[a]ll in all, I'm much more concerned with hearing unique and diverse perspectives. #pubradiovoice"; & there's no dumbing-down from Mr Ti-Ti: "[p]art of the problem in showcasing distinct voices is programmers suggesting our 'curious audience' isn't 'that curious' #PubRadioVoice". But perhaps one tweet alone swung the PNB vote in his favour: "[i]s this mic on?".
    https://twitter.com/Maxiewcpn (no MLK, he only garnered 77 followers)

    My immediate thought, based on 0.001% of the necessary evidence, is that he'll start off enthusiastically trying to change things here, & change things there, but, on meeting a scale & intensity of resistance he never thought possible, after six months he'll firmly realise the attempt is futile, & thinking of his CV he knows he needs to be in the job at least a year, so he'll ease himself out through some public demonstrations of how impossible his job is, resigning in time to share his 2020 Easter eggs with family & friends. By then Pacifica will have made their second quarterly interest payment to FJC from its general account, not the designated one required by FJC for the first 18 months of the loan. (The interest rate will rise at least twice in the next 12 months alone, if not thrice.) And exactly a year later, with the unplanned exit of Pacifica's ED, FJC will be expecting its $3.265m. So the stakes are high for Mr Ti-Ti. And as a lamb for the slaughter, so is the blade. But he'll be able to skip away. Pacifica can't. The stakes are higher for Pacifica, &, oh yes, for the listeners. And the clock keeps ticking . . . ti-ti . . . ti-ti . . . ti-ti . . .

    We'll see what happens.

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  3. I caught the close of last night’s PNB meeting while consuming a bit of Cherry Pepsi and a Large Circular Italian Food Object in the valued company of my sage friend, Howard the Duck. In the Open return from the Executive Closed Super Secret Special Confidential Executive Mystery Session, which had just formally chosen the Newly Anointed One, Maxie C Jackson III, as Maxie-Mum Permanent Executive Director, the cheerful, ever-eager, and ever-dedicated Pacifica Progressives had turned furiously-shriekingly in their charmingly typical shambolic-storm fashion upon one another, a sort of verbal food fight complete with audio distortion, resulting in effectively complete incoherence suggesting… shall we say certain sharply delimited prospects for the New Era of Pacifica Progressive Progress, Justice, & A New World Order (with Anchovies).

    Howard turned to me, spat out an anchovy, an olive, half an onion, a fleck of cheese, and a bit of duck spit, took a drag on his cigar, exchanged it a moment for a sip of Cherry Pepsi, took another long drag on the cigar, blew some smoke, which mingled slowly with the chill night air, and said only…

    ‘This does not bode well.’

    ~ ‘indigopirate’

    ps: Then he added, ‘What? No white smoke? Isn’t there supposed to be Fucking White Smoke? What the fuck’s the matter with these people?

    pps: I chose not to answer.

    pps: https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/ca2312ea-98ed-4087-ba3b-52134035cc16

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  4. Maxie was ED of the National Federation of Community Broadcasters for a spell. It did not go well.

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  5. Are you making this up Chris? The job description for ED is still up. There is no announcement. There .....oh never mind. Poor Maxie. That other place must have said no.

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    1. You ain't heard nothin' yet!

      But you will within a couple of hours... look for indigopirate's telling excerpt on this Saturday afternoon.

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  6. Only just listened to that incredible PNB meeting! There's photographic evidence of what it did to Maxie-the-Third: top of the thread, before the re-convened public session; below, afterwards, but dignified with a photoshopped smile: https://www.facebook.com/maxie.c.jackson .

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    Replies
    1. Vital portion of this brawl/meeting is in this blog's wings...

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