Beyond the Blog: Doug Star Part 2ish?

Or Jasdon? Jug? Dine!?? D-TAR!

This is going to be a shorter escapade since I’m down with some funk that keeps testing negative for COVID but is still pretty evil. If any part of this makes no sense, blame the virus. Anything not funny but reads as I thought it was funny I also blame solely on this cold from hell.

Anywhozles, we left off with Jasmine Star, busted for plagiarizing in September of 2013 who was outed shortly after Doug Gordon busted for also plagiarizing that summer.

While Doug got some traction online, most eh’d it and moved on, not being terribly surprised. With Jasmine though, people were mad and her blah apology didn’t go over well with, well anyone.

Still, because Jasmine was the industry darling, big places were afraid to take it on. The furor died down a bit and was basically at a hum. I got the usual bullshit backdoor “atta" boys” from a few notable people at the time who were too chicken shit to be brave enough to say it on their own profiles. I’m looking at you SC. And MORE than a few “how dare yous” from people also afraid to do it under their own profiles. Whatever, it is what it is and what I know from running this blog is that ultimately people are either brave or chicken shit.

So in October 2013, I was blissfully unaware of any shit hitting the fan when I was on my almost yearly sojourn to New England. I love Maine/New England and try to go every fall because it’s my happy place and I need a bit of photography for me at the end of wedding season.

The government was on strike so being in Bar Harbor to explore for the first time was kind of a hoot since you couldn’t legally access Acadia National Park. Since I couldn’t see it by land, I booked a trip by sea and spent the say on a boat seeing lighthouses and the park. Since I was literally in the middle of the ocean, fighting bitter winds and trying to take photos, I didn’t check my phone and didn’t see anything that was going down while I was offline.

I got off the cruise shortly before sunset and was hanging out on a pier in Bar Harbor, taking photos as the sky changed when the sun slipped beneath the waves for the final time of the day when my phone rang. It was a dear friend of mine who I met at one of my first WPPI’s and is a person who RARELY calls me. I answered because I was really curious what was afoot.

When I answered they were laughing and couldn’t believe I did it. Did WHAT? I asked. The petition!!! They gleefully replied. I was like, what petition and they realized I had no clue whatsoever what was going on so quickly filled me in on the scoop.