‘We Must Do Better’ (Top Comments of the Week)

By Rose Cahalan in Letters, Special on September 16, 2011 at 4:00 pm | 1 Comment

We were heartened by the positive response to our story on the Co-op’s t-shirt fundraiser for Bastrop fire relief. On Facebook, Matt Seplak echoed our feelings: I plan to buy one—will you?

Noel Busch-Armendariz, associate professor at the UT School of Social Work and the director of the Institute on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, objected to the title of “My Old Flame, and Why I Stopped Beating Her,” a story about the Big Bertha drum in the Longhorn Band. Busch-Armendariz rightly pointed out that the pun on “beating” may not be funny to all our readers:

While the title is catchy, it minimizes a serious and devastating social problem happening in Texas … Overall, more than 5.3 million Texas have experienced intimate partner violence in their lifetime. For women this means 37.7% of Texas women. … Your catchy title minimizes the scope and seriousness of this social problem, not to mention the pain and suffering of victims. (See full comment below.)

We saw US News & World Report’s ranking of UT as #45 in the nation and #13 among public schools as cause for celebration. But Christopher Paul Van Slyke reminded us that rankings are also a reason to strive to do our best: UT is the flagship university of one the wealthiest most populous states in the union. Think UC Berkeley. We must do better.

Thursday was the 128th birthday of the University of Texas. On Facebook, we asked readers how they were celebrating. Dennis Schneider replied, Going to the Hyde Park Bar and Grill and hanging my new Texas Exes Life Member certificate in my office!

Student body president Natalie Butler gave us a Twitter shout-out for our response to President Power’s State of the University Speech: Great piece from @TheAlcalde!

Joseph Caruthers may need to brush up on his biology, but his comment on our story about UT’s large algae lab made us laugh: From my days as one of the “Men of Ten” at Jester, I gotta think the tenth floor had the world’s largest collection of fungus. Alas, we were not the tidiest bunch of lads…

Simcha McIntosh got a nice surprise in the mail: Came home from my trip to find my very first issue of @TheAlcalde waiting for me! Hook em!

Vee liked our Mack Brown story: Just finished reading an article on Mack Brown in the @TheAlcalde. It’s coaches like him that inspire me. #hookem

As now happens with any story on the Longhorn Network, our Facebook post on the network’s men’s basketball lineup instigated a long comment chain of frustrated fans who can’t get the network. Paul L. Smith said: You know why the LHN picked Matthew McConaughey as their spokesperson? Because of his experience acting in the film Failure to Launch.

We asked readers to tell us what you thought about Joe Klein’s proclamation that young Americans are the new Greatest Generation. G. Hermes Hever said she disagreed with Klein’s title: I think that the new generation doesn’t have the integrity that the old generation did. Also, the old veterans fought because they believed in the cause. I know plenty of veterans now who challenge the reasons behind their involvement in both of those missions.

Brian Dollinger was one of many Exes who responded to our story on the three UT alumni who died in 9/11. He says eloquently: On one hand, these stories are sad the we no longer have these fellow alumni with us. However, the inspiring ways their loved ones have gone on without them is truly profound.

Flickr Creative Commons Photo of the Bastrop fire by loudtiger

Tags: 9/11, algae biofuel, bastrop fire, comments, domestic violence, my old flame