Dear Editor,
I was quite aggrieved and disappointed by the mistakes in the
last issue of The Weekly, so much that I am now quite
cautious about trusting any of the information that was given in
your publication.
Among the misinformation or wrong impressions given in this
issue is that the photograph of Shirley Weishaar included with the
article “Shirley Weishaar takes a leave of absence from Mills” is
so old as to be irrelevent to the experiences that most Mills
students have had with Shirley. If this photograph is on the Mills
website, perhaps the website needs to be updated.
In addition the photograph of a tunic and skirt included with
the article on Stephan Jost was labeled an “Authentic Japanese
kimono.” The garments depicted are, as would be indicated by the
title of the show they appear in “The Bat of Happiness and the Five
Clawed Dragon: Status and Symbolism in Chinese Wearable Textiles”:
of Chinese origin, and a quick read of the label that accompanied
them would have given the information that they are 19th century
Han garments for a woman. Mislabeling this photograph is a mark of
both shoddy journalism and deplorable cultural insensitivity. I
find this particularly ironic considering that the article on Lisa
McRipley’s leaving focused on the lack of diversity and awareness
on campus and what could be done about that.
Also, the title to Lia Cook’s art exhibit was truncated in the
caption accompanying the photographs of her weavings, changing the
meaning of her title.
I understand that the staff of The Weekly, like myself,
are all overworked Mills students, but I do believe that even under
stress certain standards of journalism must be maintained. I
sincerely hope that further issues of The Weekly will not only
present us with interesting and thought provoking articles (as some
of this weeks offerings most certainly were), but also writing that
we can trust the veracity of.
With respect,
C. Leimomi Gorsich
Class of 2005
