I have watched Don Imus In The Morning (MSNBC) several times. His talk-show is rarely interesting and I quickly change the channel to watch CNN instead. But it is his character that I have found fascinating. With that Stetson slung over his head, his eyes peek out behind compressed overflowing hair. He looks and sound like a cantankerous old man. I have to also admit that I don't understand him sometimes. He mumbles like he has marbles floating around in his mouth. But when the man began his comments about the Rutgers women's team that lost to Tennessee in the NCAA Women's Finals, I knew he was going to be in trouble. Well, he is.

Check this YouTube.com clip out. Imus makes some very racist comments about the Rutgers women – about the way they look and about their character. Even if he was trying to be funny, he failed. Sure, it is just “talk” but “talk” like this hurts. With people like Mr. Imus on the air, spouting this kind of rhetoric, no wonder we continue to be ignorant about the rest of the world. Mr. Imus and his ilk have no place on the public air waves. If you feel this is an infringement on his right to free speech, feel free to comment below. I would love a dialogue about this.

And to be fair [would we want to be?] here is Mr. Imus' apology [notice his body language and his dark glasses]:

In my opinion, his apology doesn't sound the least bit sincere. What do you think?

Sorry I am subjecting you to a rant but there is yet another travel-to-India article that completely misses the boat.

The author's premise is that Western audiences don't have enough time to “visit” India. Fair enough. See two wedding photographers, Sean Flanigan or Dane Sander‘s really quick trips into the country. It's possible.

So, that's not what I am moaning about. I cringed as I clicked on the link to the article. I just about guessed the only image they would use on the top is of [drum roll] the Taj Mahal. Oy! Com'on New York Times. India is a lot more diverse than that old hackneyed image. But the meat of the article was about, yes, visiting the tourist traps in the North. The South, the East or even the West of India are all but, well, non-entities. And that pisses me off.

Here is a respectful, but perhaps stern, demand to future travel writers of India – please skip North India for once and check out the rest of the country. By focusing again and again only on the Northern triangle – Delhi, Agra and Jaipur, you are only perpetuating the myth of India as a mystical place. Visitors to India will continue to have a myopic view of the country.

No doubt these places in the North are must-see places, but please for the love of God, find a way to see the rest of the country and write about it. And please be a little more original about the use of your images.

International Women's Day came and went by quietly. A few websites mentioned it. Jason Kottke had a link to a photo exhibit called Women of Our Time.

Blank Noise Project attempted to “to understand how different women ( across age groups/ cultures/ communities) have dealt with street sexual harassment in their everyday lives.”

And Mike Davidson asks “What EXACTLY About This Ad Is Offensive?”

“The ad shows a man and a woman, presumably about to have sex, with four other men at various levels of undress looking on. There's no denying that the ad is extremely racy and people are well justified to be offended if strikes them negatively, but from a design perspective, I'm interested in *exactly* what elements of the ad push it over the line.”

Sexy or Sadistic? Here is the image:

You decide. Take the poll.

*With apologies to Wilfred Owen, the author of the poem Dulce Et Decorum Est, for the title of this post.

Hugh MacLeod's ChangeThis Manifesto called “How To Be Creative” is a quick download and a terrific read. MacLeod is the sardonic cartoon illustrator on GapingVoid.

I got this link off of Guy Kawasaki's wonderful marketing blog, How To Change The World.

Also read, Steve Pavlina‘s blog post on maximizing creative output. T'is the season to be creative!

As some of you may be wondering, I have been “gone” for a couple of weeks. Thanksgiving came and whizzed past me. And then I attended a terrific three-day photo workshop in Rhode Island, led by David Williams. It was just the right injection of art + photography that I have experienced in a long time. If I can paraphrase David, his message is essentially, “imbue your work as an art form and all glory will follow.”

If you are a working photographer – no matter what sub-genre your persuasion happens to be – treat yourself to one of David's workshops. You will come away a better photographer and perhaps even a more enlightened human being.