FILE UNDER: DISGUSTING

Here’s a bit of heresay that I hope has been exaggerated. Was talking to the new designer of a Dallas publication, one that’s been on newsstands for longer than anyone expected, and he showed me a page out of their newly redesigned issue. He pointed to one picture in particular and said that he had blown it up to full-page size but the publishers had told him to make it much, much smaller– they weren’t sure it was a suitable for their mag in a larger size. 

“Can you guess why?” He asked and handed me the magazine. 

I stared at the picture for a good 45 seconds trying to figure out what on earth would’ve caused a controversy. There were two well-dressed ladies and a gentleman seated at a cocktail table smiling. I couldn’t figure it out. They were all recognizable faces, staples on the Dallas party scene, perfectly photogenic and presentable. I was stumped. Then it hit me. 

“Oh my god. Is it because the man is black?” 

“You got it,” he said. 

And here I was thinking it was 2007. Shame on me.