If you are a young American gentleman by the name of Nathan Hale, you could choose to emulate your namesake and get hanged by the British for spying, which would suck, or you could grow up to write and illustrate children’s history books, which is probably a healthier call.
This Nathan Hale apologized for offending.
This one didn’t. (Suck it, King George.)
Hale is the author of a delightful comic-panel book series for 9- to 12-year olds called Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales. It started with a sequential-art profile of the earlier Mr. Hale, called One Dead Spy
As Hale acknowledged on his web site, the first edition of Big Bad Ironclad! “had a humungous error in the endpaper[s]. We accidentally had Kansas colored as a Confederate state.”
Heavens. Kansas was on the Union side, a Free State, but in Big Bad Ironclad!, it was erroneously printed in Johnny Reb gray rather than Yankee blue. I have no idea whether Hale was actually responsible for the color error, but he definitely took ownership.
When the Lackman Library in Lenexa, KS invited Hale (who lives in Utah) to show his face in Kansas to make amends, Hale came prepared. He wrote and hand-bound a comic book specifically for the event, “Bleeding Kansas,” all about Kansas’s role in the Civil War. (You can read it online here — parts one, two, three, four, five and six.) He formally apologized — to the resounding boos of the assembled–and gave an hour-long presentation about exciting Kansas history. He gave everybody giant bookmarks. Best of all, he created a Table of Shame, covered with a poster-sized version of the dread endpaper; this version had Kansas colored white. Next to the poster was a blue highlighter that Hale dubbed The Unionizer. The kids all got a turn coloring Kansas blue, as was right and proper, on the poster.
Formal Display of Groveling.
The librarians accepted the apology and gave Hale a “Free State” hat.
Do not read the fine print.
Hale took his Apology Tour to numerous Kansas grade schools and encouraged them to boo him as well.
My esteemed colleague Susan feels that this was a meh apology, since it had the pleasant-for-Hale side effect of promoting his work.
I am sorry that the world has made Susan so bitter.
This is an excellent apology. It took ownership, it took effort, it righted a wrong, it spurred the education of both the sinner and the sinned-against. This is the truth, and has nothing to do with the fact that Hale illustrated one of my daughters’ very favorite graphic novels, the brilliant Rapunzel’s Revenge, a feminist fairy-tale revamp in a Wild West setting.
I’m sorry you hate America, Susan.
I did not say it was “meh”! You are taking me out of context, WHICH WAS, as I can DOCUMENT, that YOU said, and I quote (you can tell by the quotation marks if you are paying attention):
“THIS MAY BE THE GREATEST APOLOGY EVER.”
Which I merely indicated was a little over-the-toppish.
And people wonder why I am bitter.
I love you both.
And I do, too!
Any apology that involves markers deserves a special place in the pantheon.
There should probably be different categories for great apologies rather than choosing One Apology To Rule Them All. This one gets my vote for Most Creative Apology.
I guess “Virginia & Monitor mishap” doesn’t have quite as much pizazz.
When I got to “I am sorry that the world has made Susan so bitter” my husband had to yell “What? What? What are you laughing at like that?” from the other room. This guy is a cheery genius.
SHUT UP with your actual precise history, Poskanzer.
Susan, I stand corrected. And yet I do not apologize, as hyperbole makes a better post. Let’s creamed-corn wrestle.
NOW you’re talkin’!
Excuse me?
“This is an excellent apology. It took ownership, it took effort, it righted a wrong, it spurred the education of both the sinner and the sinned-against.” AND made him a little more money.
Fine and welcome as this is, I have to agree with Susan, “Greatest Apology Ever” seems a bit strong.
Now I’m trying to un-imagine creamed corn wrestling. But no need to apologize…
Nothing wrong with making a little more money when you apologize, and correct an error. That’s simple moral relativism: Plenty of people make errors, offend, never apologize, and still make a ton of money. To err is human, to forgive, we are told, is divine. Anything, even apology, can become craven and unseemly but that’s certainly not the case here. He owned it, made a point of taking personal responsibility and went out the make sure the world knew.
*snort*
Coming late to the whole conversation, I am nevertheless amused.
I have to say that while this does not come under the heading of GREATEST APOLOGY EVAH, I do think it’s the type of apology teachers have to offer to students repeatedly. We are ancient creatures, teaching those fresh young things bursting with bright eyes, bushy tails, and the abhorrent ability to spot our errors and talk about them endlessly. All anyone who works with children can do is own it, and let the kids ride you about it ceaselessly.
Do you think ANY of those kids are EVER going to forget that Kansas was a free state? Nope. And the $7 more the author makes “cashing in” on this isn’t going to break the ethical bank (and I know what children’s author’s make… not much, AND he’s working his tuchus off, doing all of these classroom visits, which means he EARNS that $7 the hard way). I think this apology works, but will refrain from stating an opinion on creamed corn wrestling at this time…
Oh I missed this! I love Nate, I love these books. His apology looks marvelous. And here are my kids doing a video review of One Dead Spy: http://pinkme.typepad.com/pink-me/2012/06/big-pile-of-arcs.html