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We've heard that things are going badly over at the New York Press, but that's no excuse for what we saw over on their site today. Remember the tragic story of Dennis Kim, the 22 year old poet who drowned in the Hudson two weeks ago trying to retrieve a book of his poems? The Press's JR Taylor follows up on the story, and goes sort of nuts insulting the dead-- first accusing him of being a pedophile, and then calling him "lame" and a "dead creep"-- all this for possibly having slept with a girl five years younger than himself:
We noticed when the Post originally reported that Kim had been with 17-year-old Jennifer Hare when he made his dive into the Hudson. Now we find out that the 22-year-old had a former girlfriend who was also 17. Exactly how former of a girlfriend was Nowak? Was Kim so lame that he was actually dating a 16-year-old back when he was twenty-one?If we had a notebook full of our romantic writings about underage girls, we would also go to extremes to keep it in our possession. If we lost that notebook, we'd probably throw ourselves into the Hudson just to be spared the embarrassment.
There are enough lousy poets in this city that we never felt obliged to regret the loss of Kim's future work. Now we're not so sure we even care about some dead creep who couldn't do better than using his verse to score with high-school girls. Still, it's too bad we didn't know about Kim back when we were assigning those articles on Lolita.
Gothamist to NY Press: eww eww eww. Kim died trying to save his art-- he's a tragic figure, and deserves a lot more respect than what you've shown him here. Pull yourself together and start writing something good. Thanks.
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"Died trying to save his art"??? So it's romantic when someone drowns trying to save his poems, but stupid when someone dies trying to retrieve something from the subway tracks.
Why is it OK for gothamist to be snarky, but not other publications?
Aw, they're just pissed because Benedict XVI won't be dead for some time.
this went way beyond snark-- there's a huge gaping chasm between picking on a dead person who can't fight back and having a little joke at the expense of some live celebrity who can. that's just a fact.
I might not entirely agree with the concept of heroic praise for someone who drowned trying to save "their art", but I wholeheartedly agree that this is a classless gesture from the NYPress - again. Have they not heard of the idea that you're supposed to respect the deceased? Terrible stuff.
everyone at the nyp are a-holes and mangt are cheap a-holes. they're not cutting edge anymore therefore resorting to "howard stern" like shock jock stories.
Like no one at the nyp died ie the art dept guy who got pages of memorials from every writer on the masthead.
Publications like NY Press survive in part by getting copy for free, namely, outraged letters to the editor that flow in after they have printed provocatively on some subject. It's funny to see Gothamist riding their coattails to the same effect.
quality work NY PRESS....
how about following up on real stories. Perhaps, what were the results found on that field study airborne tracer samples in midtown manhattan?
NYCinephile, I think what Gothamist is getting at is the fact that the Press's rant was just that: an insensitive, needless rant which took proper account neither of the fact that it's not uncommon in a relationship for the man (or woman) to be a few years older than his / her partner - nor of the fact that this *was* a sudden, tragic death of a young man whose relatives and friends are grieving. Not to mention the crass insensitivity of so savagely defaming a 22-year-old.
JR Taylor indeed has cause to feel relieved that Dennis Kim is dead. Were he alive, the Press might have suit filed against it and would almost certainly lose. I hope JR Taylor gets a few weeks' unpain holiday at the very least, and that the Press ensures that such viciousness ceases to feature in its columsn in future.
NY Press is dead. Craigslist killed it.
Yay for Craig. Pick up a copy of NY Press if you can find it. It is pathetic.
7 pages of rants and the only ads after page 10 are "massage" ads.
So they pick on a dead kid who can't defend himself.
No class.
bye bye NY Press. Can't wait til you shut down.
Ahh, the good old days, when NY Press aimed its literate guns at the Voice and did a decent job doing it. Those days are gone. Ever since Russ Smith decamped to Ball'mer, the publication has slipped into near obscurity. NYP used to be a "must read," now it's a schlocky publication that doesn't matter anymore.
Only one thing, JR Taylor has been around since the beginning when Smith was editor.
Oh, and can there be more Cell phone ads?
I'm looking for a new phone.
oh boy, the NY press and gothamist can now get into a pissing match by turning Dennis Kim into the LES version of Natalee Holloway. Almost like watching a "Care Bears Cage Match" special.
JR Taylor has no business being a "writer" - not even for the disgusting rag NYPress. True the NYP published my anti-Taylor letter regarding his "report" of the Blood Axis concert held last Easter (He called it a White Power Rally, which, of course, was a total LIE) but I had to write twice and many others wrote also before the NYP even addressed the issue. I have never heard back from Mr. Taylor. Obviously he gets his jollies writing lies and terrible things about people and events he knows nothing about. He was lambasted on The Majority Report on Air America as well. He's a douche. -rg
I like the Press (even though they appropriated 3 of my pix for a cover story, and gave me the ole runaround when I asked for compensation).
JR is generally entertaining, but not this time. Maybe he's having a bad time.
www.forgotten-ny.com
The Press hasn't needed to aim any "guns" at the Voice since the Voice went mainstream back in 2000
Pretty sad. The New York Press has got to be the WORST free mag in town. I only pick it up when I can't find a VV and I need somthing to read on the subway. Usually, I read about 2 articles before I toss it. It's obviously written by people with insecurity issues and by people out to prove that they are journalists by doing everything except actually delivering the goods.
Everything they write always seems to be based on some sort of perceived "outsider" status. Or what will supposedly shock people. Their editorial slant is always reactive to what everyone else is doing. I just end up feeling yucky after reading it. It's always so negative.
Their movie reviewer Armond White trashes every film that every other critic likes. I always know what he's going to write before I even read it. He takes his job as a movie critic WAY too seriously. It's embarrassing. And their investigative articles are just plain boring. The Suicide Girls? Give me a break. What does that have to do with NYC and why should anyone even care? The #1 reason not to read it, however, is that half of the thing is made up of hooker ads. This paper is on its last legs.
Before ranting and raving, you should try getting the story straight before you start to make ridiculous alligations. First and foremost, Jennifer Hare was not his girlfriend and relationships between Haley Nowak and my brother were innocent. It hurts me to read this, you didnt even know him. He was a great person. A kick in the face to you, NY Press..Cheers!
Before ranting and raving, you should try getting the story straight before you start to make ridiculous alligations. First and foremost, Jennifer Hare was not his girlfriend and relationships between Haley Nowak and my brother were innocent. It hurts me to read this, you didnt even know him. He was a great person. A kick in the face to you, NY Press..Cheers!
Before ranting and raving, you should try getting the story straight before you start to make ridiculous alligations. First and foremost, Jennifer Hare was not his girlfriend and relationships between Haley Nowak and my brother were innocent. It hurts me to read this, you didnt even know him. He was a great person. A kick in the face to you, NY Press..Cheers!
I knew his girlfriend Nowak very very well, and she was hardly some young immature high school girl clad in a school uniform just waiting to be corrupted by some young poet in his early twenties. With absolutly no regard for Dennis, his family, his friends and his ex, I have to say NY Press's actions are disgusting. I hope every editor at the newspaper dies tomorrow for letting that kinda shit get published. Then see how their family feels when I call them idiots, pedophiles, and "see they had it comin' cuz they was so stooopid". enjoy hell.
I knew his girlfriend Nowak very very well, and she was hardly some young immature high school girl clad in a school uniform just waiting to be corrupted by some young poet in his early twenties. With absolutly no regard for Dennis, his family, his friends and his ex, I have to say NY Press's actions are disgusting. I hope every editor at the newspaper dies tomorrow for letting that kinda shit get published. Then see how their family feels when I call them idiots, pedophiles, and "see they had it comin' cuz they was so stooopid". enjoy hell.
I think it is completely unfair, insensitive and just shocking that someone would go through great lengths to make fun of such a tragic death. His poems were what was important to him - the exact same way if someone were to jump in after say, their pet or child. & To suggest he's some pervert because he dated someone younger than him is just sick and misunderstood. this person makes me really ashamed to be a journalist, and if i ever, ever, ever see the writer of the article in person i assure you i will kick his ass bloody. I'm sure it wouldn't have been so "funny" if was your own brother/boyfriend/son, douche bag.
What kind of a half assed "journalist" gathers a pile of assumptions to use as basis for slanderous allegations against the deceased? This f*ing idiot taylor didn't even have his facts straight:
1st - no one ever verified that Dennis Kim jumped in after poems or artwork, we simply implied that it would be the only possessions of his that could possibly be important enough for him to make a jump of a few feet into seemingly calm waters to retrieve.
And 2nd - where was it ever stated or even suggested that my relationship with Dennis was anything other than platonic? Who was taylor to jump to the conclusion that two very close friends were intimate simply because of their opposite genders? Or that I would betray my friend Haley in that manner?
I hope the sociopaths like taylor at ny press live to see an undeserving end to something or someone they love, that it might make humans out of them.
What kind of a half assed "journalist" gathers a pile of assumptions to use as basis for slanderous allegations against the deceased? This f*ing idiot taylor didn't even have his facts straight:
1st - no one ever verified that Dennis Kim jumped in after poems or artwork, we simply implied that it would be the only possessions of his that could possibly be important enough for him to make a jump of a few feet into seemingly calm waters to retrieve.
And 2nd - where was it ever stated or even suggested that my relationship with Dennis was anything other than platonic? Who was taylor to jump to the conclusion that two very close friends were intimate simply because of their opposite genders? Or that I would betray my friend Haley in that manner?
I hope the sociopaths like taylor at ny press live to see an undeserving end to something or someone they love, that it might make humans out of them.
J.R. Taylor here. I'll address any further developments on Dennis Kim in NY Press. I just wanted to post a quick note marveling at how a gal can attend a show headlined by a fervent admirer of Hitler, and then complain that I called it a White Power show (which is exactly how the promoter described it to me). Neither the promoter or myself called it a "rally," of course, but anyone that delusional probably makes up plenty of words.
Gee, JR... you're really upset that I called you on your lies. Everyone reading this can see what an assbag you are, and know that everything that spews from your mouth and pen is a bullshit. I'm sure all these people that want you dead are really interested in what you have to say. Who's drowning now?
Cheers.
I found this article really upsetting, but I don't blame the editors for anything except not doing their job. I took an internship as a journalist for a student magazine when I actually was sixteen, and my editor made me check facts religiously. An editor would never allow an insulting article to be published such as this without doing fact checks, which was never done.
For example, Jen and Dennis never dated, not even a little bit. A lot of reporters on the scene made this assumption simply because they're both Asian, but none of them reported that the two were seeing eachother, because there is no actual evidence except for the fact that they're of the opposite sex. In today's society we ought to be past the idea that a straight male and a straight female can't be friends.
Another assumption is that I was underage when I dated Dennis. This is also untrue. If anyone wants to know exactly how former of a girlfriend I am, I'll tell you: we literally broke the day before he died.
Editors also tend to look for grammatical errors, like that novels are underlined, not italicized.
So to J.R. Taylor: fuck you for making assumptions and publishing them as facts. There is a good chance that the next development on the Dennis Kim story which you are addressing will be a pending lawsuit for slander.
You should have been at his funeral today, and looked his mother and two sisters, and Jen and his ex-girlfriend (who is five years older than him, by the way) and myself in the eyes and tried to tell us these things, rather than writing your shitty prose from your desk in your office, completely isolated from the reality of the situation.
I urge Dennis Kim's family and friends to sue JR Taylor and the NY Press; he cannot be allowed to write these lies and get away with it. It must stop here. Not only must you suffer through a horrible tragedy, but you also must read hurtful lies about your loved one as well? My thoughts and deepest sympathies go to you all. God bless.
J.R. Taylor here again, pointing out the obvious: I never said that Dennis Kim and Jennifer Hare were boyfriend and girlfriend, or even dating. I simply noted that...well, there's a link above to the piece. Maybe some commenters here will get around to reading it.
This is not the proper forum for a discussion on the article Taylor wrote about the music show. However, since it was brought up here, I will say this: It was not a White Power show, nor was anyone involved in putting the show on an admirer of Hitler. The promoter is Jewish and the club it took place in is black-owned and -operated. Taylor did not do his homework about the underground Industrial/Folk art and culture being presented, which are sometimes mired in grey areas of usage of and belief in Occult and WWII imagery. It is much easier to call names and take cheap shots at people, much as in the Kim column.
It is clear from most every Taylor piece I have read that his chief purpose at the NYP is to write things that piss people off enough to make them complain about him, and thus generate attention. Let's stop giving it to him.
Not to hijack a thread here, but the headliners at that White Power show were Blood Axis (whose frontman's admiration of Hitler is easily confirmed via Google) and the Celtic folk duo of Changes, whose own anti-Semitic views can be found on their website. An internet search will also confirm that "Celtic folk" is a popular genre amongst the White Power movement...which explains the swastikas on the monitors during the Changes set. Sorry to dwell on this, but I can't be simply snarky about people trying to cover for white supremacists.
Actually, your own editor agreed with me that it was obviously implied in your article that Jen and Dennis had been dating.
And besides, even if it hadn't been implied that's not the offenisve part of the article. I don't care if people think that they were dating, I care that it has been printed in a newspaper that my ex-boyfriend is, "some dead creep who couldn't do better than using his verse to score with high-school girls," and all the references to Lolita.
This article is childish and disrespectful on so many levels, offensive and hurtful to many people who knew and loved Dennis Kim. J.R. Taylor you should be ashamed of yourself.
WE WOULD LIKE TO CREATE SOMETHING IN HONOR OF DENNIS KIM, HAVING DIFFICULTY CONTACTING HIS FAMILY FOR PERMISSION. CAN ANYBODY PLEASE FORWARD US THIS INFORMATION. THANKS