Dear Talon Marks,

The Cerritos College campus newspaper supposedly represents the student body of Cerritos College, but how can that be when the articles are so ineffectual?

It is not enough to merely choose a topic of controversy and write superficially about it. An effective article must be well thought out and, more importantly, thoroughly edited.

Errors in the text of Talon Mark’s articles take away from their impact. Where are the necessary facts backing accusations of wrongdoing? Where are the grammar checkers and proofreaders?

I admit that our campus paper should not be held to the standards of a larger organization, such as the Times or the Tribune, but is it too much to ask for a little professional integrity?

It may be true that good writers are hard to find, but quality control is the issue here. Even the worst writing can be transformed into an engaging article by a seasoned editor. Unfortunately it seems that good editors are in short supply as well. I’m not arrogant enough to attack the positions of the ‘editors’ that write for Talon Marks, their opinions are their own. What I want to know is why, if they are writing for a college newspaper, can’t they write at the college level?

Subject-verb disagreements, fragmented sentences, and misused words seem to be the modi operandi of Talon Marks.

Some articles even dissolve into what can best be described as streams-of-consciousness. Sentences that are nearly incomprehensible and grammatically incorrect abound, such as these from the March 21st issue.

In the article “Race issue returns to schools”, the reader is instructed to “Ask yourself if you would tolerate being in a room with the people of the same race. I don’t think so.”

The writer of “Male feminists unmask their strong side” makes many points, including this one; “In another point, masculinity is also something that patriarchy has a narrow point of view.”

Gleaning context from these ramblings is possible, but some sentences push the boundaries of logic, such as this excerpt from “Abortion talks rally up student opinions.” The author states that “It was either one or none of both for her.” I’m not even sure what that means.

I might be coming down too hard on the campus paper, but if I say nothing I feel that no one will. This isn’t intended to insult anyone on the staff of Talon Marks; I have respect for anyone who writes for fun or for a living.

Simply having the willingness to submit writing to the paper takes some guts, and the campus newspaper staff seems to have that in spades.

So kudos to you, writers of Cerritos College’s newspaper, I applaud your willingness to write in the public forum about subjects that many people won’t even think about. I hope you continue writing for many years to come, but would you perhaps consider taking a few English classes first? Sakka Fuushi sfuushi@yahoo.com