The saga of The Spokesperson-- the truth unvarnished:
Volume 1, no. 1: we go to press with the first issue
of The Spokesperson
How did all these troubles begin? We weren’t
looking for them. Really, we wouldn't have gotten into this mess
if we hadn't taken our responsibilities very seriously. Well, if
Arney hadn't. He was determined that Fictional Sociology should cause
no harm to student self-esteem -- difficult, but all very much in line
with College policy. In the first week, Rideout showed a video,
"In the Temple of the Fetus," about letting experts in reproduction have
their way with those not making it on their own. Naturally, we didn't
want students thinking we were all theory and no practice (see what "We
Believe" on the College homepage).
So Arney distributed a letter he had gotten two years ago from the Foundation
for the Continuity of Mankind soliciting his donation to their cryo-bank,
which this group had established as a small gene pool of excellence, a
little "backwater" that might otherwise be lost in the flood of mediocrity
evident even then. This was a flattering request from such a visionary
group, and because he didn't want our students, none of whom had been similary
solicited, feeling somehow dis-esteemed, Arney circulated an appropriate
"Immunizing Document."
College concern for student self-esteem has brought
any number of new, helpful services and personnel to our campus.
We thought a wider audience should know that some of us in Academics were
fully compliant with policies directed towards protecting and nurturing
low self-esteemers, so we wrote an article and sought publication in the
most widely circulated public organ on campus (so far as we know), The
Cooper Point Journal. We submitted our manuscript to the CPJ,
and they refused to publish it. Even now, weeks and weeks later,
we don't know why. The editorial staff said they had "concerns."
Perhaps they wanted to pre-empt us in protecting student self-esteem.
We were left to guess.
We saw no choice but to go public with our own
organ, The Spokesperson, and we did. The premier issue was
soon on the street, but only briefly.