Editor,

It’s impossible to be completely successful at not offending someonewhen discussing culture. I am personally sorry if what we did was misinterpreted as an attempt to fully represent Moroccan culture. I am also sorry if anyone was offended. The goal of our event was to give the student body a glimpse of Morocco, much like the Parisian Quarter Cafe gave students a tiny glimpse of the streets of Paris. And to respond directly to criticism that no one in the French House is Moroccan, Julien was the native speaker last semester and he was Canadian. Was the previous house therefore wrong since none of them were from Paris or even France?

Furthermore, we listened to Professor Semerdjian’s concerns. We had little time to change a lot of our simple event to conform to her wishes. Advertisements had already gone out, and even if we had personally went around to take each flyer down what would have been accomplished? Most of the student body had already seen them. We had spent over a month planning the event. Our house split into separate committees and each of us did separate tasks. Not all of us did research because not all of us were on the research committee, and our research team did speak with Moroccans. Those of us who were not part of the research team split into groups of advertising, food, and decorations. Our advertising committee branched out into separate forms of advertising such as flyers, emails, and posters.

The cafe night is traditionally designed for students to come over to the French House, have some food and something to drink, and enjoy conversation with other students and learn something new. We followed that format–each student who came got to enjoy one Moroccan dessert item, one Moroccan drink, friendly conversation, Moroccan decorations, and some information about Morocco on tables. Students could come and go as they pleased, and from what we gathered, the students enjoyed themselves just as they have in previous years. The separation of tasks caused some miscommunication which was our mistake. In spite of this mistake, the event went extremely well.

Patricia Xi ’12

—

Editor,

Upon reading the first column by Sallie and Sally, “Fashion Reviewers,” we had difficulty determining if this was just a failed satire. In fact, we all wish that it were. If this is not the case, it was an insensitive and shallow attempt at looking at campus-wide fashion trends, and succeeded in nothing more than alienating not only the authors themselves, but also the idea of fashion critique as a legitimate form of artistic criticism.

To be frank, their ability to over-generalize Whitman students is not a special skill if its intent is not humor. Regardless of the subject that the Pioneer focuses on, it should involve intellectual analysis rather than personal rants. Sure, you have the right to exercise freedom of speech, but we hope that the Pio writers use that freedom responsibly instead of letting everybody know both their own social status and their assumptions about Whitman students. We are not in high school anymore; their opinions on our jean sizes are not, and should not be relevant.

A lot of people don’t “own a pair of Rock and Republic’s,” and there are students with parents who are on welfare. We wish that there were more thought put into a “fashion review.” We do not know everything there is about fashion criticism, but we understand that it should be constructive and analytical rather than destructive. If the writers’ goal was to alienate and ostracize their audience, well, congratulations. But if the goal was to offer a legitimate commentary on fashion at Whitman, the writers have a lot of work to do. This article belongs in the op-ed section if anything –– give the title of “fashion reviewer” to someone else.

The writers’ choice to publish these thoughts anonymously makes it seem like this is the opinion of all Whitman students. You don’t speak for us, and we can confidently say that you don’t speak for the majority of Whitman students. So overall, we question why this piece was published at all, why it was taken out of private ranting and placed into a public forum. We think that this discredits the Pioneer as a newspaper and as a representation of Whitman students.

This article comes across at being a lame attempt of being Caitlin Tortorici (props, Caitlin –– we actually find you entertaining). Please don’t write about “Halloween Hook-Ups.” We don’t care.

Later “bitches,”
The Fine Arts House

—

Editor,

I would like to thank you so much for your coverage of both the pre and post Mr. Whitman 2008 Male Beauty Pageant.

All eight of the boys, and all of us Kappas, put endless hours into both creating a wonderful show for the audience, as well as fundraising for the Lake Nkrumba Orphanage in Uganda.

I just wanted to publicly thank all eight of the boys for all of their hard work. All eight boys combined were fabulous to work with and their enthusiasm was contagious.

I also want to thank all of the Kappas and everyone on the Whitman campus who supported the cause through donations of both time and money. It was a true community feat that we were able to collectively raise over $21,000.

Thank you for your support, based on effort and dedication, all eight boys this year deserved to be crowned king!

Cheers,
Maryn Juergens ’10

—

Editor,
Our imperialist foreign policy, the entrenched interests of the military-industrial complex, and our foreign aid programs, which essentially equate to a form of international welfare, have all contributed to the financial meltdown in the U.S.

Why has Barack Obama said almost nothing about embracing non-interventionism and preserving national sovereignty when these strategies could reduce our immense national debt?

But a safe pullout from Iraq and the Middle East is only half the battle. Maintaining military bases in Korea, Japan, Germany and many other countries serves only to perpetuate our collective ethnocentric western ideology, the establishment of a colonial empire, and American primacy in the international community. Might is not, and will never be, right.

What started with Polk (Mexican war), continued with T. Roosevelt (Philippines, Panama, etc.), and culminated with Reagan (too many to list) and Bush’s doctrine, must end with Obama. No empire has been able to maintain its holdings without eventual collapse. Our fate, I fear, will be no different.

Matt Sweeny ’12