‘Dead Letter ¢

I was at UPEI tonight to sit in ona lecture by Dr Jones from Harvard University. Having been a founding member of the UPEI Model United Nations Club at UPEI in the early eighties anda graduate from our university in 1985, Iwas disappointed to open your magazine and read material that amounted to the worst trash I have ever seen from a secondary institution of higher learning.

In New York City where we meet in the

United Nations with most of the major universities from North America, I came to know many people from campuses such as UCLA, Harvard, and other fine places of learning. I wonder if you have recently compared the quality of your publication to other schools like the ones I have mentioned? If this is as good as your staff can do, replace the staff with some people who can do better. While I realize that your staff is not exactly paid well, quality journalism does exist here on PEI and in other places around the world. I agree with Andy Robb, ifthe rest of our alumni saw your paper, the fund raising department would be in dire straits,

If we aim for the sky perhaps we can reach the stars, but if we are content to reach for a tree branch, most likely we will fall on the ground. Best of luck towards a better paper.

Barren Ings, Class ef 85

Like Voltaire, I disagree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it, but, you know, get your facts straight first. You and Andy Robb have the same problem, you haven’t read the paper more than once, and so, after acursory perusal you feel sanctified enough to write a letter suggesting we model ourselves after Harvard or UCLA, or were you just dropping names in alame effort to impress. It makes no matter, here’s the numbers you ought to know:

1)The Cadre is currently the number one ranked paper for its size in the country in terms of

uploading national news. ‘That country is Canada, by the way Bubba. 2)The Cadre receives no funding from alumni so you have no power to threaten us, 3)Our staff features the nation’s bestnews editor, the funniest guy I know, and several of the most dedicated people you would ever hope to meet. 4)The Cadre covers matters important to students, not former students, so if you don’t like it, perfect, its not made for you. 5) The issue before the one you saw was our student election issue, the election had an all-time high voter turnout, things like that matter. 6)The Cadre is the best student newspaper there is, piss on Harvard and UCLA, let them compare themselves to us:Do they publish twenty times a year at an average of 24 pages withnearly half of that campus, regional and national news, on a budget of 17, 000 dollars? Do all their papers in their Main building get taken off the shelves in the first two days of release? I doubt it pal, I

seriously doubt it. _

Py artlich wistttbeen 1 Ai auinded byr'vour Cadre, which I doubt you even read extensively, and more about yourself.

8)Darren, my man, if there is one thing I have learned in this experience it is that it is far better to end up on the ground, than to end up without a clue.And the best of all skills an editor, or anyone for that matter, can have, is the ability to bounce. Best of luck towards a better

understanding. Kent Bruyneel Class of 96

Bear BLS:

My roleat The Cadrehas changed quite a bit in the past school year. I came down ona lark, with the promise of Puya records and hopes that I may write some movie reviews. The reviews are what started me here, but I lost interest and fell into writing letters to the editor.

Yes, most of the letters to the editor were written by the Cinephile, which at least explains why most of the letters are signed by characters from movies. What made these letters so important was the fact that even though it was just

points of view of everyone on campus, at one

they were true. The truth is that most people hate The Cadre for some reason. The truth is that most people complain about The Cadre to their friends. The truth is that I overhear their complaints and write them down. The truth is that if they had written them down themselves they would have sounded a lot less stupid.

Inthe past few weeks, I have witnessed a drastic improvement in the quality of The Cadre. In that time, there have also been quite a few real letters from people with complaints — about the content of the newspaper. Having very few complaints myselfin the past few weeks, except for a few proofreading errors, I am curious as to what exactly. these people’s problems are. However, the complaints were vague and did not elaborate exactly what their problems were. Ifthere is one thing that I have learned from going to this university, it is that if you have an opinion, justify it. To call something apiece of trash is one thing, to say why you think that way is another. I know it’s easy to take potshots, because my characters have done it

every week. I just expect more from real people.

Never mind the fact that sometimes less than a dozen people put out two dozen pages every week. Never mind the fact that the people who contribute to this paper get paid nothing or next to nothing. Never mind the fact that they have full course loads on top of that. Actually, maybe you should mind that. There aren’t enough people on this campus willing to go through the shit that some of the people at this newpaper go through. It is a miracle that this paper gets published atall.

What is that joke about the similarity between assholes and opinions? I think it has to do with everybody having one. I guess assholes are similar to snowflakes, too, because every asshole is different and so is his or her opinion. I say thatthe newspaper is pretty damn good and far superior to last year’s (I would

justify that but I don’t have the space). Certain

snowflakes like to think that their asshole speaks for everybody else’s opinion. How naive. Oris itarrogant? I don’t know, because at this point this asshole is very tired.