Dear Marina Blitshteyn,
In response to your Edit Note published in Issue 13 (2/6/07), UB Anti-War Action would like to clear up a few misconceptions.
Due to the participation of Jewish students in our group and events, we found it extremely shocking to hear that we made you and other “Jewish kids who want a better America” feel uncomfortable. With membership stemming from students with Palestinian background to students that are active members of Hillel, we encourage diversity as a way of forming well-rounded group opinions.
As a newly-formed action group, our first semester here was a difficult one. We took pride in our ability to even organize a rally, and overall we’re pleased with the student response. Having to sift through countless issues and decide on what our main focus should be was an arduous yet rewarding task.
The reason we do not focus solely on the War in Iraq is because we strongly oppose all wars of aggression and imperialism as well as military tactics declared unjust by UN regulation. As an anti-war group, it would be a cop-out to ignore other issues in which human rights are violated; however, we understand that it is not a realistic goal to try and create peace throughout the world. For this reason, we have focused our demands to address issues that can be dealt with directly within our university.
We agree with you that an informed populous is key in affecting change within our community and beyond. We are working on spreading this important information through holding and publicizing teach-ins, movie screenings, and weekly meetings. However, if students choose not to participate, we cannot reach them. You are right—the apathy among college students is appalling. However, we are optimistic in that every week more students are getting involved in the anti-war cause. Jewish or Muslim, soldier or citizen, every student should feel uncomfortable with war in general.
We want to thank you for coming to our rally and we encourage you to come to our meetings every Monday and Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. in Clemens 107 and 108, respectively.
Sincerely,
UB Anti-War Action
To the Editor
When I first came to Buffalo, I was told the Generation was the best magazine for college students because it contained all sorts of issues relating to college life. It was the magazine of choice because it contained that raw offensive humor that most college students are entertained by.
I’m right you’re wrong section was the best at this. The features section wasn’t bad as well.
Now it seems you guys have morphed into a typical college magazine talking about boring and obvious issues everyone is aware of, or boring topics no one cares about such as: caffinated drinks and Women’s film festival, and couch surfing. I don’t even want to start talking about literary section, which no one reads.
Seriously what the fuck is this? You guys are becoming the next visions magazine or time magazine. Its not that the topics are boring, its just that they contain no humor what so ever. I can’t read more than a paragraph of any of your stories, because they are nothing more than a bunch of quotes with a thesis statement. i feel like im reading something from the fucking Associated Press.
You guys need to either find new writers that have a sense of humor, or make some necessary changes because if you keep publishing the type of boring crap you guys been putting out lately, you will be left without a fanbase.
Concerned Student
