Weronika / November 11, 2011 8:22 AM

Hello :) Thank you so much for this article. I have been part of TyK for 2 years now, in a more behind the scenes way. It is so disappointing to see all of the "bad press" coming to an organization that does SO MUCH good. Thanks for an honest article that shines some sense into this messy situation.

Kellie / November 11, 2011 12:00 PM

I am so glad to see this article. There has been so many rumors and so much speculation, including accusations of people "skip(ping) town," it's as though some people have sacrificed perspective in exchange for indignation.
This is a wonderful project and I feel so lucky to be friends with so many involved and to be a part of the city that promotes cycling , specifically for women. I think its great that it can move on to another city and celebrate that same strength and badassery. It just means we need to pick up the slack here ...and I don't think we'll have any problems with that.
Bike on, bitches!

Kelsey / November 11, 2011 4:17 PM

Very nice to see a positive approach to the situtation at hand. More calming down, less negativity! We are mature, strong, women. Let's prove it more with articles like THIS.

Good Journalist / November 11, 2011 5:01 PM

So, is this an opinion piece? shouldn't this be in the editorial section?

Maybe et some quotes from both sides what is really going on with this before you throw this in the news section? Maybe?

There are legitimate concerns about about the professionalism of the TyK organization and unless the leaders of this organization don't come out and say "hey, sorry for the misrepresentation" their credibility will be shot.

TyK can certainly hide behind your friends who choose to blindly follow. It still doesn't fix the reputation and the impression that calendar went to fund something other than what people thought, no matter what your web pages say.

A good PR person would tell you drop your defensive friends and say, "hey, sorry for the misrepresentation".

Anyway, the editors should move this to the opinion section where it belongs. It is slanted like a Fox news story and doesn't empower anyone.

Ellipse use? I have attached a copy the AP style guide.

Jacob / November 11, 2011 5:53 PM

I know that at least a full half of the women who modeled TyK this year had no idea that the funds were not going to benefit the women's health center and they were not happy that things had not been made more clear. I don't believe that most of these women were angry so much as confused and possibly a little hurt. They had been going around for many months telling people the calendar was benefiting the health center, when the fact that it wasn't was not made public (on the Kickstarter campaign) until October.

Most have chosen to not speak up publicly and I cannot blame them. The few (and especially the instigator who, granted, went about it pretty poorly) that have spoken up have been subject to as much witch-hunt nastiness and petty ugliness as Alexis Finch was. I would even call it a gleeful pile-on by a vocal subset. It's very sad. Neither side has come out looking good here.

Ultimately, the issue seems to have been resolved. Ms. Finch posted on TyK's facebook page immediately and explained everything very well. She didn't run and hide. At this point the story is carrion being picked over by crows. The back-and-forth bitchery on BOTH sides is what has me sad and tarnishes TyK more than anything else that may or may not have happened, however.

Andrew Huff / November 12, 2011 6:43 PM

"Good journalist," it's ironic that you call out someone for using an ellipsis while misspelling the word. Incidentally, other than not putting a space on either side of the ellipsis, there doesn't appear to be any violation of AP style in this case. Perhaps you'd be best focusing on the issue at hand rather than impugning the author's writing skills.

As to your question of which section the article should be in, I'll simply point out that there is no "news" or "opinion" section on Gapers Block. Opinion and news are intermingled; we trust our readers can tell the difference. Apparently we're wrong in at least one case.

Not so good journalist / November 16, 2011 12:52 PM

You know what's really sad? That most of this could have been avoided with a simple apology from Alexis, rather than her smug attitudes towards the whole affair. It goes to show just how much she cares about the incident.

And yes, people feel like she abandoned Chicago, took the money and fled. Because, well... That's what she did. She used the goodwill and likenesses of these models under false pretenses, changed her mind after the fact, and has taken the stance of it being "Too late now, oh well."

There's still the matter of her and her "accounting" to be considered too. Still haven't seen any of those records, receipts, expenditures. Some LLC she has going there. If you can't produce those sorts of records, and have to say that you "will be preparing an accounting of the past four years of TyK" what sort of business does she have running? Does she have any business running a business? Sounds like there's going to be a lot of falsified nonsense put forth if anything is at all.

All in all, this whole thing smacks of shenanigans. Whether or not she purposely misled people, or it was unintentional, it's still something that she should probably make an apology for. Some sort of amends or atonement.

Also... "The Monthly Cycle?" Really? As if women don't get subjugated enough. That has to be one of the worst names for a pro-woman organization/club/group that I have ever heard. Period.