To the Editor:
I first met Phil Hersey when I was effectively living at the
building at 92 Bedford Street during my tenure in various editorial
capacities at The Free Press. So many people come and go but
you remember and acquaint yourself with the regulars.
Phil lost his dog not long ago, but he still kept snausages
on hand for visiting pups. On the way up to The Free Press to
visit, my dog would always stop and sniff at the WMPG door in
hopes of finding Phil on the other side, eager to dispense treats.
I remember when Extendo-Ride was on Local Motives, and I went
downstairs to see them play. Phil was engineering the show, of
course, and getting flustered over the band’s constant shuffling
of instruments, mics, and their penchant for snapping strings.
Then, at the WMPG 30th birthday party I was going through
decades of photo albums, and I noted that there is no such thing
as a bad picture of Phil. So I went and told him so. I so
loved telling Phil nice things because he was so understated,
and I was pretty sure his smiles were far larger than his head should allow.
My favorite picture of Phil, though, was taken by Maria Kardash
for The Free Press. Phil is in the right side of the photo wearing
headphones and looking as perfect as his heart.
Everyone who came in contact with Phil, from little dogs
to bands to the entire WMPG family has lost someone very precious
this week. I hope that MPG has the most rocking party possible
in honor of how much Phil kicked ass.
Elise Adams
sophomore
Business and Media Studies
Deactivate Voice activated
To the Editor:
While USM attempts to bring itself up to the 21st Century with regards
to the community it serves, it failed with its newest device–the voice response system. That is correct. When someone calls
USM, instead of being greeted by a live operator, there is a respectable
sounding robot who issues directions to the caller to speak the name of
the person whom the caller wishes to address.
The problem is that the system has trouble recognizing anyone other than
white persons with regional accents. To say that this is an insult to
those who are blessed with anything other than a Midwest vocal pattern,
or who have a speaking disability like stuttering or neurological impairments, stroke, and cerebral palsy which may impair speech is putting it mildly.
With all the cost cutting and freeze on hiring that we have been hearing
about over the past several months, this newest brain child seems not
only to be a waste of money, and time (unless not having operators saves
money), but also an inexcusable insensitivity to the students and the
community that it serves.
This may have seemed like a good idea on the surface, and if USM was a
collection agency, it might have been; however, It is an embarrassment for all of us who claim to be part of a school system that purports being “aware.”
It is bad enough that our society has become one of cables, numbers, and
menus rather than people, but to add this newest disregard for our being
human beings and social animals is reprehensible. The University of
Southern Maine needs to stop talking about being part of the paradigm
shift and start acting as such. Getting rid of this newest frustrating
device would be a start.
Even the Jetsons would turn thumbs down on this one.
E. Giammarco
Graduate Student
Leadership board to promote student involvement
Dear Editor,
I attended a wonderful discussion at the USM Student Senate Meeting on the Gorham campus about creating a Student Leadership Board (Proposal 32-39). This committee would be charged with building leadership capacity at USM. One of the primary purposes of a student government is to encourage and provide opportunities for leadership. I have observed a huge disconnection between the great work that many high school students do before university and what they feel capable and qualified to do here at USM. I think some of this gap can be attributed to moving from a small community in rural Maine to Portland and moving from High School aged students into a more mature average age. However, I have many times heard from students how daunting the proposition seems to become involved. Meanwhile, many of our groups and organizations are starved for involvement and leaders. I hope you agree that the idea of a stimulating and concerted effort to provide orientation and training for students who are interested in leadership at some level as a safe place to ask questions and learn the process seems highly timely as our student body grows in the wake of declining funding. The creative effort that our Student Senate is using in finding ways to leverage our limited student activity funds to get more involvement and increasing the awareness of opportunities for all students to become better leaders is indeed noble. Leadership is part of the education which the University hopes to offer and many students hope to obtain here at USM. We, the student body, would benefit in encouraging and supporting our student government as they strive to make our educational experience here at USM more fulfilling and arm us with the tools to make a difference in our communities.
Johnathan Williams
Accounting
Democrat dealings shady too
To the Editor:
While I have enjoyed the ‘real’ news stories, I find that the Free Press has become a baby begging for a bottle. Opinion columns by Liberals and other America Haters seem to have dominated the Free Press since the current Editor. Your opinion columnists need to take some classes in journalism. Ever hear of ‘Objective Reporting?’ I think not. Instead we have this ‘chuck’ mentality that has the stench of high school grade material. We not only have Dan spreading misinformation but now Craig too. “While George Bush was AWOL from the National Guard spending his daddy’s Saudi currency at Birmingham strip clubs, John Kerry was fighting for his country. I think voters in the South will recognize the disparity.” To all those kiddies out there this is slander or defamation. The fact is, Bush wasn’t AWOL, and I base this off of currently released military records.
If you want to talk scandal we should be discussing the corruption among the Democrats. Umm memos asking Democrats to hold up proceedings for the Justice appointments because they wanted to make sure that Southern minorities got their donations in to the party. If a Republican President was able to get a minority into one of those spots, the Democrats would lose money. That came from John Edwards himself. (as discussed on Fox News). How about the Democrats that called Bush a Nazi along with two of his nominees. (Fox News) One of them was Hispanic. Shall we go onto John Kerry? War hero. That’s about all he’s good for. Since Dean has already begun a pissing contest with Kerry, we won’t need to worry about the Republicans digging up the dirt. The sore loser bracket will do it for us. Did you hear about how Kerry took money from a senator who left office after shady campaign finance deals? Also the TV ads that came with it?
I guess the only way to deal with this would be to either boycott the Free Press, to start a new campus paper or get some new staff. Something with a decent balance of opinions is needed. I am sick of writing these responses. I’m not even a staff member and with all the material I have written I should be.
Jason Libby
English Major (Burnt out)
Senior