In One; Out The Other

Similar to most collegiate campuses across the globe, SHSU has a student-run newspaper, The Houstonian. When I first came to Sam I was excited at the prospect of having a student paper on campus. In high-school I wanted to start a student paper, but there was no support for it, and even less writing talent. With past aspirations still fresh on my mind I decided to join the newspaper team. I went to the office to ask about editing positions, where a Brad Basker took my name and phone number to pass along to the people in charge. I never received even a courtesy phone call. As my time at Sam has progressed I’ve seen the dark side of student reporting and copy. Often times there are typos and blatant spelling errors, bad or wrong facts, misrepresented data, opinion pieces from the same people almost every time and horrid copy design. An example from today’s print:

The ties run deep between Sam Houston & Texas Department State University of Criminal Justice

I know this isn’t what the headline actually says, but headlines should not be that difficult to interpret. News copy is meant to be written for all lay people to understand.

Today there is an opinion piece by Mad Brad Basker, this isn’t out of the ordinary, his pieces are printed almost every week. When I first started reading his pieces were pretty well written, and stuck to the humorous side. Lately however, his pieces have become a bit more editorial. I normally make my comments on the paper’s Web site, but today they may be taken especially rough so I decided to put them up where I was in control of the content.

Basker’s article today is meant to show his support for Texas secession from the Union. He begins by telling fanciful stories about brave Texans fighting in the Texas Revolutionary War of the 1830s.

Then, in 1845, some scoundrels decided that it would be better if we were annexed by the United States…

These scoundrels that Basker writes on, saved Texas by becoming part of the United States. In the 10 years of sovereignty Texas was only successful at deepening their debts to the US and other countries. People think the economic trouble we’re facing today is awful; they should try living in a country where the money is literally worth less than the paper it was printed on.

I would stay behind my massive hand-built log cabin, with a hairy chest, a
heart full of fire, George Strait on my jukebox, hoisting an axe with my glistening biceps. The coffee I drank would be strong and black like the buffalo that roamed the plains and my countenance would be hidden behind the fiercest man-beard The South had ever seen. I would smoke a pipe while running with
a pack of wolves, eat beef jerky for breakfast and strangle snakes to make my boots.

This next section is why I decided to post my remarks on my own page instead of theirs. Mr. Basker is an African American student at Sam Houston State University, and as much as I don’t like his articles mostly, he’s a pretty well spoken individual with a good head on his shoulders. I’m actually really excited that this did not come up in his article, it really shows that we are moving on as a society from an atrocious past, but sadly the past does exist. If Brad Basker had been in Texas 145 years ago, chances are he would not have many of the aforementioned freedoms, since he is not a W.A.S.P.

I believe I wrote that in much more considerate way that what could have originally been achieved in the heat of the moment.

Basker then blames the annexation of Texas on his rather cultured life style. If you want to drink black coffee, drink it. If you want a full beard, grow it. If you’re unhappy with your pretty man feet, wear boots and work outdoors for a few days.