The difference between "G" and "J"

One of my favorite parts of the structured program and, the entire wiki in general, is that it is a community project and everyone who reads it can give input into what content is or is not included. All of you have ownership in both the wiki and forum, so you should have a chance to discuss how it is run.

I bring this up because I recently received an email about removing the following video that is on Day 15 of the Structured Program. The video is a news clip of the TMS recovery story of a sports broadcaster in Baltimore who also announces Raven’s games. The problem is that his name is Gerry Sandusky. Keep in mind this is Gerry Sandusky and not Jerry Sandusky.



The write-up of the story is also very moving. It’s at http://www.wbaltv.com/Gerry-Doc-s-Back-Pain-Cure-Healed-Me/-/9380084/8948894/-/jhv4wy/-/index.html

It appears that Gerry has had to overcome quite a bit of confusion over his name and the actions of a dispicable person. An ESPN reporter, Rick Reiley, actually suggested that Gerry change his name during an interview at the start of the football season. Gerry posted a blog article, The Best Reasons for Keeping the Worst Name in America, where he mentioned why he wasn’t going to change his name. It has got to be hard to have strangers you meet think that you commited heinous crimes.

He actually recently received a Baltimore Magazine “Best of Baltimore” award for the grace he has shown in handeling the situation. In giving the award the magazine wrote:
"For almost a year, longtime Baltimore sports personality and Ravens announcer Gerry Sandusky has been in the unenviable (to put it mildly) position of sharing the same name (minus one letter) as convicted child sex offender (and former Penn State coach) Jerry Sandusky. To complicate matters further, both men work in football; Gerry’s father, who played for the Cleveland Browns, is named John; and Jerry’s son, who works for the Cleveland Browns, is named Jon. Despite receiving more than his fair share of hate mail, Sandusky has handled the situation with equanimity and grace. He hasn’t gotten angry over dirty looks when he introduces himself nor annoyed by the recurring question of whether or not the two men are related. Instead, Sandusky has taken the ordeal in stride, posting on his website the 20 lessons he learned from the experience and writing to his Twitter followers: “I really do appreciate those of you who have helped me inform the world of the powerful difference between the letter G and the letter J.”

Of course there is always a chance someone may be confused by Gerry’s name and have a negative reaction. It is difficult to know what the best action, or inaction, we can take in this situation. I was thinking we could add a note on the day stating that this is Gerry and not Jerry, and explain the difference. We could also link to the articles mentioned above. I would also like to link to this thread on the program day, which would help demonstrate that we are an open and transparent group. Transparency is part of our strategic plan.

This is a very unqiue situation and is something that I think we should decide as a community. Transparency and democracy make for a healthy and vibrant commnity, which is our aim. I would love to hear people’s thoughts on this and the proposal that I mentioned.

(originally posted in GD, but will eventually be moved to Designing the Structured Program)

 

I went ahead and added a note and linked to the Best of Balitmore article to the Day 15 page. The text I wrote is pretty simple and straightforward, but I think it helps explain the situation. Of course, we can always change the text in the future if we want. If anyone has any other thoughts on this feel free to bring them up.

 

Hi Leslie,

I really enjoyed reading your expereince with the page. We had a pretty in depth discussion of this issue, but have not received any feedback since we made the changes. Anyways, I am glad to hear that you are finding the program helpful. If you have any thought on how to improve it let us know.