¡Ask a Mexican! has directly inspired some columns (Ask a Cuban-American, Ask a Korean) or been the basis for shameless rip-offs (The Ethnicist, I'm looking at you–and why haven't you posted in ages?). It was under this aegis of debunking stereotypes that new Anchorage Press editor Bingo Barnes thought it would be smart to solicit writers for a column aimed at explaining Alaska's natives–would call it “Ask an Eskimo,” even.
Boy, was Barnes wrong. After a snow flurry of controversy, Barnes has apologized, but the natives (both white and not) are still fuming. The Press no longer plans to run “Ask an Eskimo!” and we think it's a shame. The only things I know about Alaska's natives is a result of watching Chilly Willy and Nanook of the North and eating too many damn Eskimo Pies. Oh, and The Simpsons Movie part with the Eskimo with the big mamaganzas–that's documentary, right?
