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Posted on 06/28/2005 4:20:35 PM PDT by anniegetyourgun
In 1994, an 18-year-old Centreville student named Jayson Blair walked across the stage of Chantilly High School to accept an award from the Chantilly Pyramid Minority Student Achievement Committee.
This past weekend, Blair served as the master of ceremonies for the Pyramid's 20th anniversary award ceremony.
A natural performer, Blair seemed to enjoy reading off the names of hundreds of students and bantering with the crowd of parents, teachers and administrators.
In the 11 years between his graduation from Centreville High School and his appearance last Saturday, Blair passed through three universities, three prestigious newspaper internships and the single most controversial scandal in newspaper history.
In April 2003, an editor from the San Antonio Express News alerted The New York Times, where Blair was working, that an article he wrote contained paragraphs nearly identical to those published in the Express days before. It did not take long for Blair's career at the Times to unravel. Editors eventually discovered he had filed three dozen plagiarized or fabricated stories since first joining the paper as an intern in 1998.
Searching for a new career
So what is Blair doing these days?
"Looking for a job," said the 29-year-old with a smirk.
After recently completing an online degree through Jones International University, Blair said he is now looking to work in the human resources industry.
"I want to help protect employees who find themselves in situations like the one I was in," Blair said.
As to how he came to do the honors for the Chantilly Pyramid, a private, nonprofit organization that aims to instill “the highest standards of character” in minority students, Blair said the answer is relatively simple: The founders asked him.
"His parents are members of the organization," explained Pyramid founder and president Shirley Nelson. "We didn't have an emcee, so I asked him if he would do it, and he said, 'Yes.'"
"I couldn't say 'no' to Shirley," said Blair following the event.
The Blairs of Centreville and Chantilly
Shirley and her husband, Dr. Johnny Nelson, started the Chantilly Pyramid in 1985 when their son was a senior at Chantilly High School and have continued to run the program, awarding trophies each year to minority students with GPAs of 3.0 and higher.
"There has been an academic gap between minority students and their peers, so our goal was to encourage higher minority achievement," Johnny Nelson explained.
Though the organization has faced funding shortages over the years, Johnny Nelson said local families have continued to step forward to keep the program going.
One of those families was the Blairs. Jayson's mother, Frances Blair, serves as a vice president on the Pyramid board, and she said asking her son to host the event was a show of acceptance by the community.
“I think it's an example of the spirit of the Pyramid,” Frances Blair said. “They want Jayson to know that he's still one of their own. He made it to the top, and, even though he fell, they want him to know we're still proud of him.”
The Blair family's connection to the group began in 1992 when Frances Blair began teaching at Chantilly High School. She continued to work within the Chantilly pyramid for the next 10 years and helped organize two Saturday morning tutoring programs that have prospered. Joining her on some of those Saturday mornings was her son.
But, when talking about his own ascent into the national media, Jayson Blair said academics had little to do with it.
"People tell you all your life to work hard, get good grades and go to a good school because that's how you really get ahead," Blair said. "That's a lie."
Today Blair acknowledged that his ability to get close to people and win their affection took him places he never expected to go.
Two years after his extremely public downfall, Blair still crackles with an irrepressible energy. He grins; he jokes, peppering his conversations with one-liners and wisecracks, yet always staying focused on the topic at hand—even when it's himself.
Networking to disaster
When Blair talks about his original career goals, he said that at best he hoped to graduate college and work for a small weekly paper.
But, after transferring from Liberty University to the University of Maryland in 1995, he found himself in connection-makers paradise where every influential professor seemed to want to help him. After ingratiating himself with the journalism department's top administrators, Blair said he quickly found himself on the fast track to becoming a star reporter—a track he said he was not ready for.
"I walked into the associate dean's office one day, and he said, 'We want you to do this Boston Globe internship,' and that was it," Blair said of his first high-profile summer internship. "Nobody read my clips."
Stuck in his own history
Reflecting on his legacy, Blair said he accepts that he will always be remembered primarily for his journalistic sins.
“Nothing is ever going to change that first line of my obituary,” Blair said. “Even if I manage to reach and help more people than I ever did as a journalist, it won't change a thing.”
But, instead of dwelling on what he might have accomplished, Blair said he is now focused on what he still can do.
“There's this assumption that the lives of talented people will follow an arc that keeps going up and up,” he said. “But we all go down sometimes. Everybody makes mistakes; some in private, some in public. What's truly important is what we learn from those mistakes.”
And, after recovering from both drug and alcohol addictions, as well as going through a mental health regimen, it seems Blair's friends in the Chantilly pyramid are ready to forgive his past mistakes.
Lt. Col. Charles Coffin, a Pyramid board member, said he was surprised when he first heard Blair would be doing the hosting honors. But, after watching the younger man on Saturday, Coffin said he thought Blair did “a hell of a job.” He even mentioned there is talk of inviting Blair back to emcee the event next year.
“Jayson is a product of CPMSAC,” Coffin said. “We all know about his problems, but this is his community. And if we can't embrace him and care for him, who will?”
He isn't the only one with problems. It appears that the Sac Bee has a problem with finding the sources used in some of their stories.
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/050628/columnist_resigns.html?.v=1
""But, when talking about his own ascent into the national media, Jayson Blair said academics had little to do with it.
"People tell you all your life to work hard, get good grades and go to a good school because that's how you really get ahead," Blair said. "That's a lie."
Today Blair acknowledged that his ability to get close to people and win their affection took him places he never expected to go.
Two years after his extremely public downfall, Blair still crackles with an irrepressible energy. He grins; he jokes, peppering his conversations with one-liners and wisecracks, yet always staying focused on the topic at hand—even when it's himself.""
Has he learned anything at all???? This quote would indicate not.
"...now looking to work in the human resources industry."
Hey Jason, get a real job!
There are no standards. Nothing matters. Do anything you want. There are no consequences for anything. How long before murder is just another "incident". Actually, with OJ, I guess it already is. Why bother with anything. Rob, steal, lie, cheat, it's OK.
Blair should come clean and tour the conservative cirquit - let him tell us what he knows about the NY Times.
Good idea. That would be honest work.
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I doubt the veracity of his story.
Wonder when this buffoon will realize that he needs to change his name, looks, and location to find a job.....and given his skill for lying and covering up, he might be able to pay someone to give him a reference under that name! Maybe the local mini-mart might fall for it.....
Thanks for the ping.
The liberals read the color of his skin and pushed him way past his skill level. If they had read his clips he might still be working at some small town rag with an editor keeping him on the straight and narrow. OK, I'm wrong - a liberal editor would be intimidated by the color of his skin and would make the same mistakes Raines made. Also, this whole story is probably one more Blair lie. It has that warm sociopathic charm...
Sounds to me like he needs more help. Maybe he should write a self-help book, "Why I'm a Flop And a Fraud and Why I Will Always be a Flop and a Fraud."
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