Malia Hu wrote a letter to the News-Leader on Sunday about the plight of the Central High School drama team and what a horrific injustice that the News-Leader ran a story on the Kickapoo Drama Team that beat Central in the district competition.
Among things Ms. Hu wrote:
“It’s clear that Central deserved just as much attention in the article as Kickapoo did — the article also failed to mention that Central has qualified to state competition for the third year in a row, and that for the past two years Central has managed to raise enough money to take many students to state competition.”
“Not only did Central’s one-act tie with Kickapoo’s one-act in the district tournament (the end result only was determined by judge’s preference), the article failed to mention anything regarding Central theater except for some sentences here and there.”
“This article was an insult to the integrity and talent that the Central theater department possesses. I hope you see to it that this does not occur again.”
OK, Ms. Hu, let me explain to you very clearly why Kickapoo was given the attention they were given in the article.
THEY WON THE COMPETITION.
It’s not an insult to Central. It’s not impugning the integrity of the theatre department. It’s an article about the high school that won the competition being in need for funds to go to the state competition after they WON the district title. It may have been tied in points and went to a “judge’s decision” but that doesn’t mean Kickapoo wasn’t the champion.
I’m sorry if that hurts you to see that put out in black and white but the reason Central wasn’t mentioned in the article was because the article was about the district champions.
Central did not deserve as much attention as Kickapoo this time. You didn’t win the district title.
Now, all that said, I don’t think it should have gone completely unmentioned in the News-Leader. Did the Central drama department send out a press release to the News-Leader about the need? Did they contact the News-Leader about the situation? If so, shame on the News-Leader for not doing that story as well. If they didn’t then you can’t reasonably say the News-Leader is doing anything to insult Central high school’s drama team.
Even then, it’s a real stretch to try and back up the things you claimed in your letter to the newspaper.
Obviously, the Central drama team should be given congratulations for their efforts and their runner-up showing at the competition. If citizens of the community can help contribute to their expenses they should do so. Just don’t run to the “you’re insulting us” card just because the team that won the District title was given a news article and your school was not given it.
Jason,
I fully understand what you wrote about the article published by Ms. Hu regarding Central and Kickapoo theatre and the district competition. However, if you think about it from a Central student’s point of view - don’t these mentioned views have at least some merit? I know from personal sources both at Central and Kickapoo that theatre members on both ends are upset with the article. It indeed holds true that Central and Kickapoo tied in the district competition, and that the deciding factor for who claimed the “champion” title of the competition was a mere vote of judge’s preference. The two schools DID tie, and technically are both the champions of the competition.
Furthermore, I think it’s important to note that Central was contacted by the News-Leader and that the News-Leader was aware of Central’s previous wins and need for district support (which was ignored) and the fact that Central would have really appreciated being fully recognized in the article and would also have appreciated any mention of ways to help out the Central theatre department - however, none of these things happened.
Even Kickapoo students and the theatre coach admitted that the article was too biased and furthermore, the article had not been approved by the head of the Kickapoo theatre department. While Central may not necessarily have merited just as much recognition as Kickapoo did in the article, their accomplishments were basically ignored and many students on both ends are upset.
All in all? I understand your points. However, I think you’re coming on too strong and arguing too harshly about a simple district competition, especially when the writer of the article was only a high schooler who was standing up for their school’s accomplishments.