Not enough sports
Re: Sports Section
Excalibur» March 30, 2011
I am a second-year student who works with York University Athletics. Whenever I read Excalibur I’m disappointed with the lack of focus on York sports. This is supposed to be a community newspaper, right? Then why does it barely talk about our teams? If I want to read articles about the Leafs or Raptors, I can do that through other newspapers. It saddened me how the year in review for the sports teams was compressed into 1.5 pages.
There is a reason why people believe York has such terrible school spirit. I believe this is strongly correlated to the exposure our school’s teams get (which is very little). It’s embarrassing how few people come out to our football games, which are supposed to be prime university events. Sure football gets coverage in Excalibur, but what about the other sports? The other sports are barely mentioned, and if they are, it’s just a small blurb on the side. It’s clear that only a small percentage of people care about sports on this campus. Maybe you could do a little more to help promote our teams, considering this is a York newspaper.
Hassan Valiji
A very important milestone
Re: “Don’t go to convocation”
Editorial, March 30, 2011.
As tempted as one is to respond to some Excalibur editorials, I have never given in to that temptation until I read Nicholas Maronese’s “Don’t go to convocation” in last week’s edition. Mr. Maronese admits he has never been to a university convocation. Hopefully he will attend one this year so he knows firsthand what a great experience it is for graduand, their families and the faculty and staff of the university to participate in celebrating the achievements of our graduating class.
Since becoming university secretary in 1988, I estimate that I have been to 75 of York’s convocations: in gyms, in tents, and now in the Rexall Centre. I have the honour of sharing the platform marshall role with the Chair of the senate, so we take turns serving as MC and get to lead the academic procession onto the site. I never fail to get goosebumps and a lump in my throat when I see the expectant faces of the graduands on stage, and the smiles of the families in the audience. Seeing the nervousness and the happiness of each and every one of the students as they cross the stage makes me feel proud to be working at a job that is about something meaningful.
Yes, the ceremony is sometimes too long and the venue too hot and the speeches given by the honorary graduands aren’t always riveting or inspiring (though there have been some wonderful surprises in store from some of them), but convocation is an event that marks a very important milestone in the lives of our students and their families. To see it called “degrading” is a shock and a statement that doesn’t take in to account the experience of what I would suggest is the vast majority of those attending.
So Mr. Maronese, I challenge you to attend your own graduation, to be inspired by the sense of occasion, the pageantry, the hugs and congratulations of your professors, the pride of your family and the pride of everyone else’s family when they hoot and holler as your name is called as you cross the stage, shake hands and head out to the world that awaits. See you there.
Harriet Lewis
Uninformed and insensitive
Re: “The way cultures see the word ‘obese’”
Health» March 30, 2011
As an African, I found this article not only uninformed and insensitive, but also insulting.
The article hurls generalizations and misconceptions about African views on body image as if they were fact. While it is true that body image is viewed very differently from the way it is in North America, who is to say that different means these are “perils occurring not that far away”?
Not only does the US have the highest obesity rate in the world, it also has some of the biggest body image problems associated with the emphasis on “skinny is sexy”.
Quotations such as “African countries still lag behind” and “widespread poverty across the continent” simply show the author’s obvious bias. Although the “ideal” African body is more curvaceous than the North American stereotype, most African cultures (and in no way do I presume to speak for an entire continent as the author seems to) certainly do not encourage excess weight, let alone “obesity” as the word is carelessly strewn throughout the article. Definitions of obesity itself are widespread and disputed even today in the medical community.
Before we start declaring other cultures as “behind” let’s first re-evaluate our own North American preconceptions about beauty and self-image, and attempt to refrain from saving the Africans from another cultural practice that is bad for them.
Eve Kachaje
