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Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Thursday is now Tuesday

Apparently to The Universe Thursday is now Tuesday. Don't ask me why this is, it just is.




Last week on Friday I was feeling a little miffed about the Daily Universe's treatment of the womens basketball team. So I naturally wrote a blogpost about it. (The Daily Universe: A Rant)

Then over the weekend I was offered the brilliant idea of sending that post to the Daily Universe as a letter to the editor. Recognizing good advice when I get it Monday afternoon I sent the post in online. About an hour later I received this very nice email from the editor.
Thank you for your letter. I can see this is a subject you're very passionate about, and I'm sorry you are so frustrated. However, your letter is way too long to publish in the paper as is. The word limit is 250 words, and yours is more than 600. It's not something I'm interested in running an entire viewpoint about. Usually if letters are over the limit I just cut them down, but yours is so long I thought I would give you the option of revising it yourself. If you just meant it as a letter to The Daily Universe, and not the rest of the BYU community, I have passed it on to the rest of the staff. Otherwise, I will wait for your revision and probably publish your letter on Thursday's page.
So I cut down my words to this.
A long, long time ago, (in a galaxy far, far away...) it was decided that men and women are equal. So why can't a nice university, BYU, and a nice paper, the Daily Universe, treat us as such?
This past week BYU and Univ. of Utah faced off on the basketball court. The men's and women's teams both played and both won their games, but I find everything about these two matches sexually discriminating against the women's team.
First, the men played Tuesday which meant they got press coverage Monday through Wednesday. Not wanting the women competing for page space, they were forgotten until Thursday.
Then the women were only given 3 inches! One single basketball player received twice the space! I find this appalling. At the very least the Universe could have given the campus notice in Wednesday's paper that the women were playing that night!
Second, the women's team has five seniors and a starting freshman that deserve recognition for their hard work, effort, and kick-butt skills! These ladies give a 100% effort every single game, and only end up disappointed because theirown campuscan't even recognise that effort! Why?!?
No one pays for the paper so why not give the women an equal chance? It would even help the school to have more students come to watch the women play. So why not advertise?
I look forward to a great show this Wednesday against TCU at Texas, and on Saturday against Colorado State at home. 
Then Tuesday morning I picked up my usual daily paper and found this.

Now I have to rant about censorship. =)

First of all clearly the article in the paper lacks some of my more passionate diction.
Second when on earth did Tuesday become Thursday?
Finally all I really have to say is that I hope that the writers at the Daily Universe take this article to heart and we see some more equality in the future. So far the holiday weekend has blissfully cut down the number of times we have to hear about the men playing. Although they did get an article today about how well they will play against TCU.

Ok done with censorship.

Side Note: Just for the record I did walk out of dinner with a friend's friend who told me my opinion was useless because it wouldn't change anything. Then my visiting teachers told me that every person can make a difference.

2 comments:

  1. I still like the article even though they cut it down so much. It was a good point, well stated, and I'm glad you posted it. Don't be surprised to you find out some day that you made a difference in someone's thinking and doing because you wrote this; even if it isn't in the world of sports. This issue extends far beyond the world of sports.

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  2. I hope to see a difference soon...

    ReplyDelete