<strong>Insert biased and unacceptable for a student newspaper</strong>

As a long-time reader of The UTD Mercury, I was shocked and appalled at the last issue – rather at what was in it. At first thinking the insert was an ad for clothing I nearly threw it away, but then I took a closer look and discovered it was anti-choice propaganda cleverly disguised as a positive, upbeat publication.

The messages it professed did not offend me, because much of it was misconstrued and none of it was new. However, how dare The UTD Mercury, a school-sponsored publication of a state-supported school take such an extreme position on this personal issue. This is not Baylor! I don’t know who was responsible for this breech of journalistic propriety, but I would hope that a little more caution will be exercised in the future.

If a publication is going to take sides in a political debate, a good editor will see that the other side of the story is also fairly represented. I saw none of that here. What I saw was a way for The UTD Mercury to take sides on an issue but abdicate journalistic responsibility of fair representation by including someone else’s publication.

And for the record, I would have been just as appalled by a pro-choice leaflet. Without fair representation, neither variety of propaganda belongs in a school newspaper.

-Leigh Berggren

Art & Performance, senior

<strong>M Project dance performance inappropriate modern dance</strong>

Those who attended the Spring Festival of performing arts classes witnessed a wide variety of both talent and pure raunchiness. As a modern dancer in the show, I felt great about performing our class’s piece. For a group of girls, some of which had never taken a formal dance class before, we had all come a long way in improving both our technique and showmanship. However, I was shocked and disappointed at a few dancers in the other classes. They performed dances consisting almost entirely of lewd gestures, sexual innuendos, dry humping and suggestive costumes. All performed appropriately to songs such as “Dirrty” by Christina Aguilera. The festival was professional enough to have a lighting director and stage hands, yet these girls didn’t bother to create anything original or tasteful for the audience to enjoy. It also makes me wonder about the quality of the dance teacher Mrs. Saba to encourage such talentless exotic dancing from her students. I have seen and performed in countless dances and I would like to ensure the audience that the dances these girls did belonged in a venue containing a pole on stage, not a respected school’s theater. Their choice to present themselves that way really cheapened the quality of the show as a whole. Hopefully, these ladies will open their eyes and realize that poor dance technique cannot be covered up by all the pelvic thrusts, crotch grabbing and cleavage licking in the world. Do yourself a favor girls and keep your dancing confined to a nightclub!

-Molly Commins

<strong>Editorial interesting but biased</strong>

Mr. Skoyles opinion of the SGA elections was informative, but has some serious flaws with it. The Senate started in the fall with a full 56 people (54 senators). Through the year, a gradual apathy descended to the point where people just stop showing up. His claim that SGA needs to do more to get people interested is invalidated by the kickoff event that featured free food, chips and drinks with a serving of elections information.

The Senate has moved quickly on several issues. I question Mr. Skoyles knowledge of how the meetings run considering that I have not seen him at a single meeting. There are two types of senators in SGA, those who give a damn and those who are just along for the ride. Only those who have an issue to fight for or those who actually care about the campus run for senate. Remaining in senate is as easy as attending the general meeting (once every 2 weeks), the committee meetings (once every 2 weeks), working on the projects of your committee and participating in certain senate events. It’s apathy that prevents senate from being full and totally effective. It’s apathy that causes only a few people to file for elections. Until you’ve been to a meeting please keep the implications of idleness in senate to yourself.

-Stephen Lecheler

Computer Science, Junior

<strong>M Project review unfounded and has shallow understanding</strong>

I was disappointed with the review of the recent M Project show here at UTD. While I can respect a dissenting opinion, I cannot respect faulty facts, improper ethics and a shallow understanding of an art form which serves as the basis of that dissenting opinion. I expected more from a newspaper that touts on its front page, no less, the recent awards it has garnered. Part of the beauty, genius and, in fact, art of modern dance is that it is not constrained by the traditional focus on “flow and movement” of most other dance forms. That’s part of the reason why the style is called Modern. Perhaps if the reviewer had done more of her homework and gone to see the recent MOMIX production “Opus Cactus” (March 19-20, 2004) she would have realized that a “graceless and gimmicky” style as well as comedy, drama and many more “un-danceworthy” aspects were blended together to create something of refreshing and unconventional beauty – which is also world-renowned.

Perhaps the facts in the article would have been a little less tautological, or in some cases outright inaccurate, if the reviewer would have notified the M Project of her presence at the performance. One example: There are only two dance instructors at UTD total. They are simultaneously the faculty that established and heads M Project, not the two separate entities as stated in the article.

The reviewer is just taking dance too (ignorantly) seriously and journalism too lightly. Hey, no one likes a snob.

-Emily Frisch

Undeclared, Sophomore