Some debate whether commentaries are appropriate; stark differences in cable coverage of typhoon, health care; Sheila Solomon, longtime recruiter, wins Ida B. Wells Award; J-students urged to skip "apartheid-era" Inquirer city desk; Raul Ramirez diversity fund nets $10,000 since Friday; Eric Harrison, film critic and cartoonist, dies at 57; lift of foreign ownership limit could aid diversity; "Bitch Is the New Black" author joins Washington Post (11/20/13)Some Debate Whether Commentaries Are Appropriate
"Bitch Is the New Black" Author Joins Washington Post
"We are delighted to announce that Helena Andrews will be joining Style as a columnist for the Reliable Source," the Washington Post's gossip column, Style editor Frances Sellers wrote to the Post staff Tuesday. Andrews is likely the first person of color assigned to the column.
"Many of you already know Helena from the weekly pop culture column she has been writing for The Root. She has also been a contributing editor of the online women's magazine xoJane," the memo said.
"A graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, Helena says she first came to Washington to answer phones and find plastic forks as a news assistant in the DC bureau of the New York Times.
"She went on to cover Capitol Hill as a style reporter for then-fledgling Politico. Highlights included interviewing actor-vist Ryan Gosling and style guru Tim Gunn, who, at the 2007 White House Correspondents' Dinner, told Helena her dress was among his 'top six of the night.' To chronicle her roaring late twenties in Washington, Helena wrote a collection of essays, 'Bitch is the New Black,' published by HarperCollins in 2010. Her essay on 'Reserve' is featured in the anthology 'Black Cool: One Thousand Streams of Blackness' (Soft Skull Press).
"We look forward to welcoming Helena to the newsroom next month. She and her fellow Sourcette, Emily Heil, will begin focusing their discerning eye and indomitable reportorial instincts on Washington's social scene in early 2014."
Andrews confirmed for Journal-isms Wednesday that "Shondaland, Shonda Rhimes' production company, has optioned my book for Fox Searchlight. That deal is still in place. It hasn't gone anywhere. In Hollywood speak we're 'in development.'"
The book of essays about Andrews' 20-something years might reflect a brashness new to "Reliable Source" readers. As her mother watched, Andrews declared at party for her book in 2010, "I have a vagina and I like to use it."