Comment from the Stenonymous Blog Post “Public Service Opinions February 2026.”Reply from Christopher Day on the “Public Service Opinions February 2026” blog post.
What can I say? From the court reporting angle we are a very high percentage white, though I don’t know how well those demographics statistics have been updated. It doesn’t always feel that way in New York City because there’s a healthy blend of culture and personalities.
The big question for me was, is that intentional? And to be honest, I don’t think so. I’ve discussed it with others. It probably has more to do with the affordability of mainstream steno. The built-in genius of the corporates was that lowering the cost of entry would dilute the workforce while making them money off the training. I doubt race was ever a factor, except perhaps with regard to hiring practices, where at least at one time it was rumored that Black women were being paid less at Diamond. Of course, I was never able to confirm that because we’re so damn decentralized and the one entity that wants to bring us together doesn’t want to talk about these things openly. I get that it was something you didn’t do historically, but I saw people getting paid a lot less for the same work. And isn’t it supposed to be different? We have laws on this, however imperfect.
But sometimes I wonder what you want me to do, Anonymous. Here I am with my crazy little typing machine trying to give a voice to anybody willing to speak up with me, and most of them just don’t have the time. Most of them work hard. You shot your shot with that lawsuit and the cards fell where they did. How can we change the system together?
Isn’t that the point of documenting all this stuff? So eventually someone with real reach might find it worth talking about? I mean, not for nothing, but the blog was cited in the lawsuit against NCRA. How long until the whole digital training thing explodes into a deluge of people upset with the outcome of their education? Could be now or never. We can’t really know. It depends on the will of those who were deceived by the whole Ed 2 Go / BlueLedge structure. I intend to do my part by maintaining this website.
Who knows? Maybe one day we’ll have funding for the accent and dialect training components I’ve written about in the past. Or maybe we’ll be systematically eliminated. Or maybe some weird blend where the big companies strike a deal with someone like Taylor Jones to create a course to make even more money.
How you contribute to it and interact may yet change our course.
How lucky we are to be the literate half of America.
It’s Black History Month! I don’t do much acknowledgement on here of the “recognition months.” There is a part of me that feels it’s malignantly ceremonial. What I mean by that is, more or less, while we take this time to acknowledge and remember the contributions of Black people to the United States, and that’s important; we, as a country and society, all too often then turn a blind eye to the racial and systemic injustices of this day and age, comforted by the “ceremony” of giving those people a month.
(NOTE: Phrased that way to parody the “us versus them” mentality of the chronically bigoted.)
This is very similar to how I view the way court reporters are treated. Companies and courts tell us how important we are and what a good job we do, turn around and cut our jobs, and then blame us for shortage. The respect we have is mostly ceremonial. When it comes down to actually improving our lives and working conditions through a simple gesture like speaking slower and clearer there are very, very few that make active efforts to help. The primary difference? Most of us can, if we so choose, give up the game and go do something else. Not so with the color of skin. Imagine if someone spent a whole month telling you how important you were only for you to live in a reality where you are more likely to experience excessive use of force by police. “Stop resisting!” “The beatings will continue until morale improves.”
I have to grapple with the fact that most do not view “the ceremony” my way. It is viewed as a positive thing. I appreciate that very much. I would gladly host submissions related to Black History Month (or Pride, etc). I’m not trying to blackout or cancel the celebration or stifle discussion about what we have learned from history. But I would need people to come forward and submit things. Otherwise, it’s just me, Whitey McWhiteface, writing what I think should be written. Sharing what I think should be shared. And occasionally being called names for it.
But in the end it’s not about me. I acknowledge the power of diverse teams. I acknowledge that I can only bring one perspective out of the billions on this Earth. It is one mission of this blog to attract more viewpoints, opinions, facts, ideas. And I will stand resolute and spotlight anyone that’ll take the time to share with me what they’re doing or what they think should be posted. Because I know stuff is happening just like Margary Rogers’ 2022 project, or Kim Xavier’s video from 4 years ago. I just don’t have omniscience. The community’s help is required to keep tabs on and publicize stuff, at least until the day someone can be employed full time to investigate and write about these things.
Help bring an end to the lack of diversity on Stenonymous. Please reach out with any submissions or projects you want featured. Contact@stenonymous.com. We don’t have the same institutional and organizational bars as the Journal of Court Reporting. Let’s press that advantage and make some magic happen!
P.S.
If you’ve ever wondered why I’m such a hellraiser on issues related to our field, simply put I’ve spent enough time reading up on private equity and documenting the behavior of various people and entities related to our field. I see pretty clearly that they’re looking to push the median wage of our field, about $60,000, toward the median wage of the United States, $30,000, and pocket the difference, multiplied by thousands of court reporters. What would you do to make $3 million a year? Even if you wouldn’t do a damn thing, keep in mind we live in a world where people occasionally stab each other over stolen lunch. Pretty safe to say the big box brigade will do whatever is within its power to take that money from you, especially when it can be given a sham veneer of shortage and legality. The more resistance that is put in the way, the slower this happens, with the possibility of it never occurring. So that’s the “altruistic” bit. I’d do almost anything except illegal things to keep your money in your wallet.
But I get the sense many of you are wary of that. Perhaps it would comfort you to know I am also self-serving. I have a disability wherein 50% to 80% of those with it cannot hold a full-time job. I have another disability right on top of that. I not only hold a full-time job, but I am in the 10% or 20% able to pass a stenographic training course. Then I’m in one of the best stenographic jobs in the whole country, which only maybe 1% of us can hold at any one time. So imagine being in the 1% of the 20% of the 20% (0.04%?). Now imagine that you know, almost factually, that there are forces that are systematically plotting to take that away (example) and that your future hinges on the actions of professionals all across your field.
