Many readers have been busy with celebrations for various holidays this week and many more do not spend much time on Twitter, so some may have missed the news that dropped on December 23, 2019. To get started, I would recommend checking out this thread of tweets from Alyssa Cole. Here Cole lets the public know that RWA (Romance Writers of America) has taken action to suspend author Courtney Milan as a result of an alleged ethics violation. Even with many people getting ready to take breaks for their holidays, this news had an instant ripple effect. Clearly RWA underestimated the ability of romance authors and readers to multitask.
So, what happened? Well, back in August Courtney Milan tweeted about a 1999 novel by Kathryn Lynn Davis which contained what she and many others would describe as fairly egregious stereotyping, and she called the book out as problematic and racist. So, why did it matter that a twenty year old book was called racist? Well, Davis had recently been hired as an editor by Glenfinnan Publishing, a company owned by one Suzan Tisdale, and presumably these folks did not appreciate having the word “racist” associated with someone at the business. Tisdale and Davis responded by each filing ethics complaints against Courtney Milan. Suzan Tisdale’s complaint is here and Davis’ is linked here. The complaints contain several screenshots and Ms. Tisdale submitted more, which can be found here.
Now this is where things start to go off the rails, so hold on. I know I’m throwing up a lot of links here, but it really is worth readers’ time to go check these out. I can summarize everything, but nothing can replace seeing the actual documents or seeing members of the romance community describing events in their own words.
Getting back to Twitter – author Leslie Kelly (a former RWA President) has a great explanation of how ethics complaints are supposed to be handled and it’s very instructive in terms of seeing what went awry in this case. Normally, when an ethics complaint comes in, the Executive Committee (President, Pres-Elect, Treasurer and Secretary) review the complaint and decide if it should go to the Ethics Committee.
Now, at the time these particular complaints were filed, Courtney Milan was the chair of the ethics committee of RWA. Did she get a chance to recuse so that the investigation could go forward? No. It has come out that she was reportedly told to resign her position (which she did). Someone at RWA apparently then decided to bypass the entire ethics committee and form a second ethics committee just for the purpose of considering the Milan complaints. Oh, and the composition of that second ethics committee was – and still is – secret. Because that doesn’t look suspicious at all.
Just as a side note, I’ll mention that in the non-Romancelandia side of my life I have served and continue to serve on a variety of nonprofit and professional boards. Most have an ethics committee, and for those that do, the identity of every committee member is not only known to the accused, it’s a matter of public record. No one has his or her case considered by an anonymous judge. Not only does the accused know who they are facing, but they know who voted which way. This is basic transparency, folks, and it’s essential to building trust in organizations.
The secret ethics committee found Ms. Milan in violation on only one(1) of the grounds of complaint brought forward by Tisdale and Davis, but they recommended that she be suspended from RWA for 1 year, be censured, and that she be banned for life from holding any national or chapter position of leadership. Supposedly this was a unanimous recommendation. However, it is still unknown how many people were on the secret alternate ethics committee nor who they are. While several members of the original ethics committee have come forward to state that they did not receive the Milan complaint, to my knowledge no one who considered these complaints has identified themselves.
Next stop? The RWA Board of Directors. Initially, the Board of Directors, upon motion of President-Elect Damon Suede, voted 10-5 to adopt the recommendation of the ethics committee.
As many are aware, the Board of Directors met and rescinded their vote the very next day (December 24, 2019, if you’re keeping track). So, what happened in the meantime? Well, social media exploded just for starters. When the decision broke, members of the real ethics committee apparently learned for the first time of the existence of the super-secret alternate ethics committee that considered the complaints against Ms. Milan.
Since Courtney Milan has been an outspoken voice in favor of diversity and inclusion in an organization which has had a problematic history with regard to race, seeing her censured essentially for speaking up about racism feels like a betrayal for many of us who had hoped that RWA was working to become more inclusive. In addition, the extreme secrecy concerning how processes work, who considered this ethics complaint, and who voted which way on the Board(per former Board members, vote is to be done by roll call if not unanimous but the identities of who voted for and against the ethics committee report have been kept secret so far) have made it very difficult for authors and other members of the romance community to have any faith in what RWA has been doing behind closed doors in this situation. Added into these concerns are accounts from various current and former RWA members stating that the board did not have oversight of staff and that staff, not the board, at least sometimes decided which complaints got to the ethics committee. And then there is this mention of problematic behaviors from RWA past president (and lawyer!) HelenKay Dimon:
Needless to say, these actions have not been received positively by RWA members or by the romance community as a whole. On Twitter, one can find numerous tweets from authors who have pulled their work from RITA consideration and from RITA judges who are resigning. Many calls have been made for transparency and for RWA to provide a full, complete explanation of what transpired and who was involved at each point along the way. These have been met with silence. In addition, no less than 28 RWA chapter presidents have submitted a letter calling for the resignations of the President, President-Elect and Executive Director of RWA.
And it’s not just the RITA judges resigning. On December 24, Board member Chanta Reed stepped down, citing RWA’s handing of the Milan complaint as the deciding factor in her decision. On December 26, board members Priscilla Oliveras, Seressia Glass, Adrienne Mishel, Farrah Rochon, Pintip Dunn, Erica Ridley, Tracey Livesay, and Denny S. Bryce all resigned from the Board of RWA, Each issued a statement on Twitter that they “no longer trust or have confidence in RWA’s leadership.” Later on, it was confirmed by RWA that the President, Carolyn Jewel, has also resigned.The statement linked in the previous sentence is one which was sent out on December 26 by RWA. I have included that link because it does confirm Jewel’s resignation. However, the statement itself is an anonymous Google doc that I would best describe as word soup. As a professional response to an institutional meltdown, I think it fair to say that it leaves quite a bit to be desired.
The President-Elect, Damon Suede, remains as President of RWA. As a reminder, Mr. Suede is also the board member who, according to the report of the board meeting, moved for the actions of the ethics committee to be adopted. Other than that, his role in this debacle is largely unknown. Likewise, the role of RWA staff in this meltdown has been speculated upon but has not been shared with membership or readers. Given the magnitude of what has occurred, many in the romance community consider this unacceptable and rightfully so.
It’s obvious at this point that RWA screwed up. Frankly, as more information becomes available, it appears obvious that they made more than just one mistake. Their internal procedures are clearly flawed and while Courtney Milan is an author with a high enough profile to draw attention to the problems, one can only imagine how many people who are not so well-known may have been treated equally poorly by the organization. Story after story after story of alleged irregularities and bias at RWA(some going back to the early days of the organization) have been pouring out ever since this particular story broke and I can only imagine that will continue.
So, where does RWA go from here? Over the short term, I honestly think that the organization has broken trust with too many people. This isn’t a situation where they can apologize and hope we will all forget about it. Perhaps if they:
(1) clean house and start over by electing a brand new board who would then hire a new executive director;
(2) audit what has been happening not just with the complaints against Courtney Milan but with the ethics committee in general and make those findings publicly available, including the names of everyone on the shadow ethics committee, and
(3) show by their actions that RWA is willing to listen and to really do the work of becoming more diverse, inclusive and anti-racist, then over the long term they may survive.
However, RWA has damaged its reputation with a significant portion of its membership and with the romance community at large, and one can understand those of us who will be slow to risk trusting it again. There are lots of questions to be answered here, and from what is already known, it is apparent that once those questions are answered, the organization will have to change if it is to survive.
– Lynn Spencer
I’m not sure how this is threaded, but I can only see as far as Dabney’s update of the RITA cancellation. Likely, the issue is on my end. I just don’t know how to fix it. I didn’t mean to make it look like I walked in, babbled a lot and just left.
https://jezebel.com/inside-the-spectacular-implosion-at-the-romance-writers-1841002358
Brilliant article from Jezebel!! As an academic, I know we benefit from RWA’s grants to educators to help fund writing projects and to help us promote the teaching of romance writing in college popular culture curriculum.
I knew when I first glanced at this link and saw Jezebel that they would bring this issue back to gender and the way in which it intersects with race and diversity. One of the most important points here in this article focuses on the concept of the “Nice Girl” and the way the romance genre polices good girl conduct and the right way for women to act. Courtney Milan is “blunt” and “fearless,” as the article states, in her criticisms of racist writing, and so she has become a scapegoat for those attempting to police women’s conduct. Being conciliatory and staying polite about racism in the genre and romance industry only supports white privilege and a submissive kind of behavior women are expected to exhibit. I thought it was so brilliant too for Jezebel to point out the way in which “nice white women” are failing to control the narrative. The article specifically points not only to the multitude of dissenting women posting on Twitter and Facebook on this issue, but also the role in which Goodreads is now playing to disrupt a master narrative. They specifically mention the work that Dear Author and Smart Bitches Trashy Books are doing to contest racism. The questions really are about who gets seen in a romance, who gets represented, whose love gets privileged, which authors have access to being published and promoted, and who in the end is allowed to criticize. The Internet has taken over and has allowed the issue of intersectionality, inclusion, and access to be examined. RWA has no power now to control any of this.
Thanks for posting this!
Isn’t Jezebel a clickbait farm that doxxed teenagers?
Wow. I’m late to the party. I only just learned of this blow up over the weekend. In that time I read a lot of articles, blog posts (especially this one), and comments. Here’s my two cents, whether y’all want it or not. If this were an AITA thread, I’d say, based on what I know so far, that ESH. I’m still a bit fuzzy has to how this all really started. Some say Milan went looking for a target after seeing a publisher liking racist content on Twitter. I don’t think she went looking for a target. Just background into the character of those in positions of authority in the industry. I would’ve done the same. But the part focused on more than anything was how Milan reviewed another author’s work on a public forum. Granted, no author is immune from having their work critiqued and/or criticized, nor should they be. I’ve read comments that said this was a great moment to open dialogue for when white authors portray poc in their stories and I agreed, until we got to the part of the thread that called the author’s work a “piece of shit” and a “fucking racist mess!”. That’s a bit more than just being “critical” or “criticizing” someone’s work. That’s bringing to question the character of the author out into the public. It’s also a showstopper and the clear indication that the conversation is now over. If that was Milan’s intent, then don’t be pissed when it gets called out as such. (Let’s also note that the offending piece of work was reviewed here on this site with a Grade A and coveted title of Desert Isle Keeper. We’ll get into the implications of that later.) Having read the offending passages, my personal opinion is that they are “that bad” and “racist” in nature. It’s cringe-inducing to read. The descriptions are awful as well as the character implies *all* Chinese women are a certain way (demure, quiet, subservient,etc.) problematic. It’s a sweeping generalization that isn’t restricted to *just that character* and it is a gross misrepresentation. Perhaps if the character had said she was personally taught those things, it’d be a different story. I don’t know. Just spit-ballin’ here. I don’t blame Milan for having a visceral reaction. However, she seemed to have gathered herself well enough to lay out a critique and explain why it was problem before declaring it a “piece of shit” and a “fucking racist mess!” <<<< look at that. That was designed to also get a visceral reaction, to shock the reader into paying attention. And so it did. That's a door slammer if ever I saw one. The author, Ms. Davis, reacted just as badly to this. Granted, if someone leveled a broadside at me by calling my work a "fucking racist mess!" with the implication that I am also racist by virtue of the fact that I wrote it, then my reaction would probably be just as visceral. However, Davis didn't need to run to the RWA tattling on Milan because her feelings were hurt and demand action be taken while also compounding that complaint with a lie. She should've taken the issue to where it belonged: to Ms. Milan. Everything she said in the complaint could've been said to Ms. Milan and *then* a dialogue could've begun. If for no other reason other than it needs to be had and by someone smarter than the shitshow of a comment section over at SBTB. It really wasn't addressed much here. Davis claims to have done her research (did she?) which is what poc have asked of white authors when portraying a race and culture not their own. So there's that. Make of the author's claim what you will. Some have said that Milan wasn't calling Davis a racist, just her work. C'mon. Y'all, the book didn't write itself. If I may borrow a few words from George Carlin, the book "didn't pass through a membrane from another dimension". So, if you can call a work racist, but not the author that wrote the racist work, then someone please help me out here as to how. I am legit lost on that one. If we're going to level charges as serious as racism, let's be real about it. I also noted that this site (as well as a couple of others) reviewed the offending book quite favorably. So what does it say of a reader and/or reviewer that views a racist… Read more »
So really, really what we are talking about here is livelihood. People not being given an opportunity to work based on the discretion and/or prejudice of a potential employer. The submission of a novel does not guarantee a job or “contract”and its subsequent rejection is unfortunately subjective which makes it difficult to quantify fairness. But the implosion at RWA,is testimony to the fact that there was a major disadvantage to diversity authors.
It does beg the question what was the fundamental purpose of the organization? Was it to promote authors or to make money catering to the readers, and did the publishing houses they were affiliated with influence the types of romance RWA should promote? Could RWA justify promoting a more diverse romance to a publishing house without any sales data? Would the publishing house take on a novel if it wasn’t guaranteed sales? (or a return on investment) Was this inherently the problem combined with an old guard’s “traditional notion of romance.”
This whole situation reeks of money. Making it and fear of losing it.
Pre-internet the author was sort of anonymous. You could sink in and judge for yourself if you enjoyed the book or not. You didn’t know if the author was male or female. There was no internet, no webpage with a picture and bio, no quick way to determine ethnicity or race. (I never cared about these things.) No constant promotion. Maybe there was a picture on the jacket, maybe. And there was no access to the plethora of reviews available. (Reviews that could influence my decision to even read/buy a book.)
But with the internet also came self-publishing. An avenue to get around the gatekeepers, an avenue that allowed for more female authors in otherwise male dominated spaces, an avenue that let me find more diverse and interesting books.
But I love discovery. I still wander the aisles of my book store and library seeing what grabs my interest. Reading the blurb on the jacket and maybe the first couple of pages. I love the weight of a book in my hand. I love the smell of the paper, the fluttery pages, the spine splayed and gently cupped in my palm. But i digress…
I would hate to see RWA completely destroyed. My hope is that a better organization emerges. I will always love a good romance.
I was trying to be diplomatic; he seemed pretty self-involved to me. I would be interested to know what his other name is, If it exists. And my reaction to Hot Head was much like yours; I was underwhelmed. I have no need to read anything else written by him.
Reading through it, it’s even messier and all sorts of questions are raised for me aside from the other issues. The first involves Damon Suede and why and how his rise through RWA has been so meteoric. Less than a decade in writing/publishing and fewer than 10 books shouldn’t have qualified him for jack, IMO. Does this have anything to do with his being a minority minority (yes, I know white men are not minorities, but male writers of romance are in the minority).
The second is whether or not the Romance community will survive this blowback and what will emerge from the ashes. Let me preface things by saying I don’t like what happened to Courtney Milan one bit. It was underhanded, overblown and completely unethical. She deserves support for how she was treated.
That said, my sympathy for the woman is somewhat limited. I don’t think she’s a “bully” but she went to Kathryn Lynn Davis’ backlog, specifically looking for a fight because she had a beef with Davis’ publishing house and coworkers. She then proceeded to read a sample of a book, self confessed she never finished the sample or book, then instead of publishing a critique on how Chinese Eurasians were portrayed and why it’s harmful or calling Lynn Davis out, she self selected passages, went on an expletive laden rant and sicced her mob of Twitter followers on it. Lynn Davis was in her right to file a complaint.
I read YA literature and have watched original well intended movements meant to diversify the genre and create safe spaces for the marginalized, rapidly turn into packs of SJW who cannibalize their own. Recently, 2 books got pulled. Both were by POC. The first was because the Chinese French woman who wrote it was accused of capitalizing on black suffering…because she wrote about a slavery situation in a fantasy world. The second was because the author – a black gay man – was pilloried for writing a romance with the Kosovo war as a backdrop and a Muslim villain, and was accused of Islamophobia.
I don’t think it’s accurate to call concern — well-founded concern — about the publishing house a “beef,” She went looking for something, and she found it, and she brought it to light. The problem is that it was there to be found.
Agree! Having a suspicion or concern that racism exists in a fictional text and locating passages where the proof is in fact visible for us to see is a legitimate right everyone has. The issue for me in this whole debacle has always been on the racism in the text, and any reader can examine any published work and point out views on race or racism in them and discuss it publicly. Authors can respond back. Readers can respond — here or on Twitter or elsewhere. And in the end, we all get to decide as consumers if we want to plunk down our hard-earned cash for books that reinforce racism.
Any frustration with people debating publicly on social media is a distraction to me because we all have a right to debate publicly. The important thing is making sure that people have evidence when they make claims. I looked at Milan’s passages on racism in Davis’ text and thought her specific references were clear and persuasive. And in the end I can decide for myself if I want to take the time to go to the text itself to make a larger determination on how I spend my time and money.
According to a brief interview with Suede that I listened to which is available free from Audible, he has had a long and successful career as a playwright and screenwriter under a different name. Something like 25 years, he claimed. My overall impression of him from listening to the interview is that he has a very healthy ego.
I read Suede’s first romance (Hot Head) around 2011 or 2012 when it was first published. I was new to the m/m genre and it was getting incredible reviews. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why. Very mediocre work (IMHO).
I heard him interviewed some time/years later on an NPR station, about romances in general and m/m in particular, and again, I couln’t figure out why he was chosen when there were so many other, better (IMHO) writers who’d been working in the space for much longer, and deserved the exposure. Healthy ego is putting it lightly. It is clear to this former PR person that he either is or has a very good PR person working for him.
https://twitter.com/mostlybree/status/1215700223651143680
I think this twitter thread is worth reading, for those who have been acting as if Milan’s actions in critiquing the book are the most important part of this discussion.
https://twitter.com/mostlybree/status/1215701363889491970
The President and the Executive Director of RWA have resigned. Here is the organization’s announcement:
The events of the past two weeks have been the most painful and tumultuous in the history of Romance Writers of America (RWA). While these events stemmed from a recent ethics matter, they have their roots in significant failures of RWA over the course of several years to meaningfully address issues of diversity, equity and inclusion, and deficiencies in our communications and transparency with our membership.
That’s on us. We have lost the trust of our membership and the romance author community and we are taking steps to rebuild that relationship. We have a difficult road ahead, but we are committed to traveling it together and building a stronger, more inclusive organization with all of you — and for all of you.
We have already begun some of this work by:
Hiring an expert, independent law firm to conduct an audit of the recent ethics matter that will include interviews with key individuals as well as findings and recommendations on improving our process. The Board has committed to fully sharing these findings and recommendations with the membership.
Bringing on a diversity, equity and inclusion consultant who could assist RWA with diversifying Board and staff recruitment, as well as design and structure future membership programming and events. The process of identifying and vetting potential consultants has just begun and the Board will provide updates to the membership and seek input as it moves forward.
Cancelling the 2020 RITA Contest.
Launching an evaluation and potential revamping of our awards programs from top to bottom with the help of experts and member input.
We know that this is just a start to a longer process of reform for RWA, and that process is going to require new leadership, which is why the Board is announcing some leadership changes, including the departure of RWA President Damon Suede.
Damon has offered his resignation, effective immediately, and the Board has accepted it. Damon, who has served on the RWA Board of Directors since 2015, as President-Elect from September 2019 through late December 2019, and then as President for the past two weeks, has been a passionate advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion issues for his entire life. We thank Damon for his service and wish him all the best in the future.
The Board of Directors has made a decision to not immediately fill the office of President while the Board – working transparently with its membership – determines an appropriate recruitment and selection process.
The Board also has accepted the resignation of RWA Executive Director Carol Ritter, who has decided to step down from the role she assumed in November. Carol, who has been a steady senior member of RWA management for well over a decade, has offered to stay on over the coming months to support a smooth transition to new staff leadership; the Board has accepted this offer. Carol has been instrumental in keeping the operations of RWA running and we are deeply grateful to her for the commitment and leadership she has brought to our association. The Board will appoint an interim Executive Director upon Carol’s departure and will form a search committee to identify Carol’s permanent replacement.
We know we have a lot more work to do to restore the trust we have lost – and we are going to do whatever it takes to get there so that we can focus on the mission of this organization: to promote the professional and common business interests of romance writers. Our goal is to ensure the successful future of this association so it can be an even stronger, better and more inclusive professional home and advocate for romance authors.
We may not always get it right, but we will do our best, we will be honest and transparent, we will own our mistakes, and we will listen to our community. We hope you will join us – collaboratively and productively – in rebuilding an RWA that serves its diverse and talented members well into the future. We believe this community is worth saving.
Wow. Just . . . wow.
Also, author Angela Francis has called out Suzan Tisdale’s narrative on the “backlash” per her statement in the RWA grievance on Courtney Milan (that she’d lost several authors due to Milan’s review):
“I want to address the false narrative that authors refused to work with Suzan Tisdale only because they feared backlash. For me this is blatantly untrue. I chose to cancel my contract with Glenfinnan because I didn’t want to align myself with racists, and I have the receipts.” – Angela Francis
Read a copy of her emal to Tisdale:
https://twitter.com/afranciswrites/status/1215212844452655104
Wow, Taking in this whole saga’s twists and turns is like watching a guilty pleasure Lifetime movie. Sadly, its real and not fiction.
It’s fascinating to me that Suede’s qualifications coming into question seemed to be the big nudge that pushed him to resign. Not the racist/homophobic hell that the RWA is. That.
And, yet Damon Suede is writing gay and homoerotic romance.
Seems quite weird to me.
https://twitter.com/lesliekelly/status/1214998207983321088
Turns out Damon Suede might not be qualified to head the RWA.
Yep.
I’m a reader, and not a member of RWA. But I have been the volunteer leader of various very small organizations (PTA, scouts, HOA, etc.) and am wondering how much of the problems we’ve all been reading about – that have been occuring for at least a decade or more (RWA not listening to/acting on member-raised issues) – have to do with paid staff vs. elected volunteers. I’m not casting stones or excusing anyone here . . . I don’t know any of the people/processes involved. (Although as a former PR person, I can’t help but cringe over all this.)
Am I correct in understanding that board members and positions like “president” and “secretary” are elected volunteers who change frequently? And they are also RWA members (writers)? Do the all or most of the elected positions change each year or so?
Are staff elected or paid? Are staff RWA members? Does staff change over time?
I’m just wondering about the organization’s structure, and if that structure has contributed to RWA’s problems e.g. volunteers going along “because that is the way it’s always been done, and I’m only going to be here a year” while paid staff have the run of the org because they’re the ones in place year after year? Or is it the same board members, elected year after year because no one else is willing to step up, and hence shape/control the organization to their vision (while mouthing platitudes to keep the dues rolling in)? All of the above?
Thanks for any insight for us poor readers out here!
Claire Ryan has a good (i.e. updated) follow up of all this mess: https://www.claireryanauthor.com/blog/2019/12/27/the-implosion-of-the-rwa.
Thank you for posting this., Kass! It’s interesting to read all of these events as they transpired. I’ve just started following Romance Alliance as an emergent alternative to RWA. It explicitly states that it will be a romance writing organization committed to intersectionalism, with 8 of its 12 board members consisting of multiple diversities, including people of color, LGBTQ, and neurodiversity. To that end I think the most salient point Courtney Milan has made over the past few weeks is that any umbrella romance writing guild must be committed to radical inclusivity, and it’s apparent from the implosion at the RWA and other sites/organizations where white people dominate conversations and policies, that disenfranchisement of marginal groups logically follows.
I’m just popping in between classes – what is the Romance Alliance? Is there a website?
So far I see them only on FB and Twitter but they are in the very early stages.
https://twitter.com/theromanceall
https://www.facebook.com/theromanceall/
Publishers are pulling out of RWA in droves and more board members have resigned. Here’s a link to an article in today’s NYT that sums up the latest.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/08/books/romance-writers-conference-publishers.html
Again, I’m pulling comments that involve personal attacks.
Getting back to the topic of “Has the RWA lost its way?”
A host of sponsors have issued statements pulling out of the RWA National Conference or events. A listing (this may be growing as I write this): Avonbooks, Harlequin, Entangled Publishing.
There has also been another resignation from an RWA Administrator. I’m pretty sure the owner of this site will post more info,
Let me say that what’s happening to the RWA brings no joy to me. What’s happening isn’t the result of one person’s review, but years in the making.
Too many people were hurt over the years by the lack of inclusion and other behaviors, some yet to be revealed.
Before I began writing, I was a reader. I still buy and support authors, and celebrate a good story by talented wordsmiths.
It’s my bet that the 2020 conference is cancelled. The financial applications of this are huge. AAR isn’t a member of RWA but we’ve gone to the conferences before to connect with the industry. I feel for all the authors and chapters who rely on RWA. It’s just such a mess.
It looks like, thus far, I’m wrong.
https://t.co/Av0EWzBl94
I have been thinking about kindness frequently in the past few months. Social media and online commenting appears to me to be a place where the constructs of kindness and respect have been all too often disregarded in favor of judgement and attacks. These online platforms seem to allow us to forget that we almost never really know all of the life circumstances which are brought to a person’s comment – we can guess, but we don’t really fully know. If we think of kindness as ‘having, showing, or proceeding from benevolence and respect’ then I believe we would all be a little more careful before the fingers hit the keyboard. Although it makes me sad, RWA’s decision to cancel the Rita awards this year feels like the correct one to make. Hopefully in the coming year RWA can regroup and reorganize itself into a kinder organization.