[Our man in washington]

So you'd all better tell your jokes now, before these leftists from these "elite" campuses take over. Then again, a lot of us were overwrought in college, so maybe she'll grow out of it.

[BlueLancer]

Ol' Jennifer needs to chill out and get herself one of these ...

Vibrating Harry Potter broom

If used properly, this should tend to ease whatever ails her.

[martin_fierro]

I'm not sure who's the poorer writer -- Jennifer, or the guy who rebuts her (and with whom I agree).

[Living Free in NH]

Here's a reply that I found via Yahoo...

Dear Editor,
I am writing in response to Jennifer Zachary-Higgins letter in Issue # 5. Quite frankly, this letter appalled me.

The author savagely attacks The Last Word section of the BiCo, calling it “… a mockery of all that is true and good in the world.” Unless I misunderstand, she says this for the following reasons:
A) She doesn’t think its funny, and
B) It serves no useful political function.

In regards to point A, she has every right to express her opinion. Tastes vary, and so do senses of humor. However, asking “… that David Langlieb stop his immoral page” because of this is extremely arrogant and offensive. I, for one, think that The Last Word is very funny, and I’m sure that many other readers agree with me. Just the fact that one student (or even many students) dislikes it is no reason to stop writing it. It so happens that I strongly dislike Laura Esquivel’s novel “Like Water for Chocolate,” and was somewhat miffed at the fact that my high school had it as assigned reading for both English and Spanish. Still, it never even occurred to me that I should tell Esquivel to stop writing—many people like her books, and their opinions are just as valid as mine.

If anything, point B is even more troubling. It states that The Last Word is “…trying (unsuccessfully) to make us laugh and distract us from our important work”. This in turn implies that art (which includes writing) has no value outside of its political content. This alarming notion is strongly evocative of the USSR under Lenin and Stalin, where the government insisted that all artistic products somehow further the cause of the glorious Communist Revolution.

Needless to say, artists who didn’t go along with the program tended to have very short life expectancies. I am aware that Jennifer Zachary-Higgins is not really calling for anyone’s execution. In fact, she’s not even calling for any actual censorship. Still, her letter presents a narrow-minded, ideologically-driven conception of something (art) that should, on the contrary, expand the mind. Sure, there has been plenty of great art that also had a political message. However, the real objective of art is to entertain people in a clever, well-conceived way. Whether any specific piece of art succeeds in this matter is very much a matter of personal opinion.

That’s my take on things. Long live The Last Word!

Sincerely,

Jeph Gord HC ‘04

[wardaddy]

Boy.....the bleary-eyed blind idealism and do-goodery of lazy college youth with no responsibilites(or experience in life) to speak of and entirely too much time on their hands.......reminds me of myself at that age sadly.

I hope she "wakes up" ....some never do.

[aruanan]

Yet, the Last Word is concerned with none of these things. Instead, it merely makes a mockery of all those people, especially myself, who try to correct those problems, by trying (unsuccessfully) to make us laugh and distract us from our important work.

Yes, Jennifer, especially you.

Until everyone in the world is born into a loving family that will nurture them and teach them to live and love and celebrate the unique personhood of everyone else, then no one should because to do otherwise would be to tell the teeming masses living in filth and degradation that their lives aren't any more important than cockroaches.

Until everyone in the world is well-fed, no one should be well-nourished because that's just the same as spitting into the face of the starving masses and telling them to just eat cake.

Unless we brought enough sugar cookies for everyone, no one should have any because that wouldn't be fair, at least according to the American Association of Kindergarten Teachers, that august body that has started you on the particular road to learning that has led you directly to Haverford-Bryn Mawr.

Until everyone in the world can be happy, no one should be happy, and if they do happen to be so in spite of the horror that is existence, they should be made to feel very, very guilty about it--by someone just like you.

[LiteKeeper]

bump

[dfwgator]

Some, like those in Yugoslavia and Iraq, suffer not from natural disasters but from unjustifiable intervention by the United States.

Well at least she was right on one thing, the intervention in Yugoslavia was unjustified.

[LiteKeeper]

bump for anytime I need a good laugh

[Sender]

Go to the site and click on the "Last Word" page for humorous rebuttals to this person. Example:

Interview #1 (with Mookers the staff monkey)

Mookers: Do you find the Last Word offensive and an attack on your right to feed Afghani children?

Cindy Williams: Aww..how cute! A newspaper monkey that talks! Want a banana?

Mookers: (smacking the banana away) Don’t degrade me. Answer the question, bitch.

Cindy: How dare you? You’re just as classless as The Last Word and that sorry excuse for a newspaper.

Editor’s Note: The interview ended when Mookers attacked Cindy Williams and bit off a piece of her face.

[Intimidator]

Jennifer Zachary-Higgins, BMC ‘05

The name clued me in. 99.9% of all people with a double last name are liberals

[GSWarrior]

No doubt a journalism major.

[section9]

At first, I thought that this had to be from The Onion.

But no, it's really true.

And what it reveals is a great and wonderful thing. The parties have switched positions since the 1920's, to the extent that H.L. Mencken's description of Republicans now hold's true for the Democratic Party: "...they live in constant fear that someone, somewhere, might be having a good time."

Be Seeing You,

Chris

[Junior]

Post this in the column's place. The student body could use a good laugh and maybe the writer will learn a valuable lesson on how to lighten up.

[JoeSixPack1]

.........., you would find I am part of a silent majority.

Hmmmmmmmm......does little "me too person" feel all small and alone?

A controlled mind showing initiative means the control has taken root and the program is a success. Have pity. :-)

[justsomedude]

Right now, across the world, there are literally millions, if not billions, of people out there who struggle each day just to survive. Many nations of the world are constantly suffering from famines, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, and other natural disasters

LET'S see: famine, pestilence, war, earthquakes in diverse places...

Last Word?

Indeed.

[weikel]

Life is overwhelmingly miserable but for humour.

[Hobsonphile]

Leftism on Campus ping!

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Regards...