Letters

Royals Flushed

Bat boy: In response to Greg Hall’s article “Flogging the Royals” (March 29), I would like to voice my support for the baseball opinions of Mr. Joe Posnanski.

In his column, Hall calls Mr. Posnanski “unprofessional.” This is a serious charge for one “journalist” to make against another. After reading Hall’s article, I re-read Mr. Posnanski’s with Hall’s words in mind. Although possibly due to my own notorious ineptitude, I could find nothing “unprofessional” about Mr. Posnanski’s article in tone or content. The fact that Mr. Posnanski answered Hall’s questions about Posnanski’s credibility demonstrates his professionalism. This stands in contrast to Hall himself, who begins and ends his piece by comparing Mr. Posnanski to a jackass.

Hall also questions Posnanski’s credibility. I fail to understand how predictions for a great season, when based on statistics about the Royals’ offense, could badly reflect on the writer’s credibility, much less when read in the context of an article that repeatedly uses the words “wish,” “dream” and “hope.”

I am not the only one who thinks Mr. Posnanski may be onto something. At ESPN.com (March 30), Peter Gammons lists the Royals as a “surprise team,” and Mike MacFarlane picks them to win the AL Wild Card.

I have my own suspicions about Hall. Either a) Hall is stupid and has misunderstood Joe Posnanski, Royals baseball and by extension, the entire world, or b) he is invoking and trashing Posnanski’s name in order to get a little attention.

Go Royals!

Josh Ostergaard

Chicago

Cast Away

Slipped a Mickey: I am writing in regards to Casey Logan’s article “Cast System” (March 29), about the Walt Disney catalog call center.

Mere words cannot express my outrage that an employer expects employees to treat customers politely, to be enthusiastic about the company and to deal with the occasional stupid question. That’s almost like implying that the customers are the profit and employees are the overhead! What is this world coming to?

Sarcasm aside, whoopee-freaking-do. Why are you wasting print space on the big news flash that working for a telemarketing center is sometimes tedious, sometimes corny and frequently nothing more or less than any other job? Disney, Citibank, Sprint or any other corporate call center is just a job. Employers are not required to make work exciting. If the whiny brats from the article don’t like their jobs, I’m sure Disney would be glad to see them leave. Disney sells an image of family fun, and anyone who goes to work for them expecting something different is a fool.

What’s the big story here? A local call center is enacting schedule changes based on production goals? A local call center gets non-business-related phone calls? A local call center has disgruntled employees? Yeah, better stop the presses for this earth-shattering article. What’s next? Are we going to see a Pitch undercover exposé about how your local grocery store clerk doesn’t really give a damn about the entire “paper or plastic” question? I’m breathless with anticipation.

Raye Koger

Lenexa

Cover Up

In the nudes: I guess you could say that I’m fairly disappointed with your newspaper — in particular, the March 29 issue. For starters, having a pretty much naked lady gracing the cover of your newspaper distributed all across Kansas City for everyone to see, including kids, is unacceptable. Then, to open up the pages and to find obscene words and a picture of three completely naked men was also unacceptable. To turn to the back pages and to see the ads for phone sex, escort services (prostitution) and other things of this kind are also unacceptable.

People wonder why our society is going downhill. It is because things like this are now deemed to be acceptable and are pretty much encouraged by institutions like the Pitch. This is what our children are growing up with. And why publish an article that basically demoralizes an institution that is trying to promote good morals?

Do you wonder why the jails are full? Do you wonder why kids are killing kids in school, or why there are so many dysfunctional families all across this country? It all starts here with the idea that stuff like this is okay. I want to encourage you to change the way you do things at the Pitch. Your voice can be such a positive one for the community.

Jason Neland

Overland Park

Character Studies

Ruling class: There are many different subjects that Casey Logan dealt with (“Where Would Jesus Dance?” March 29). I appreciated the many issues that were brought to life in the article. I am a student here at MidAmerica Nazarene University, so I will focus on the subject of the university disciplinary policy. In the simplest of terms, it’s overkill.

The MidAmerica Nazarene University policy is a very strict set of rules and regulations that are given to students based on the institution’s views as to what constitutes a Christ-like life. One major problem I have with this is that the campus regulations are EVEN MORE detailed and strict then the manual for THE CHURCH OF THE NAZARENE. I believe this is a serious problem. The relationship I have with Christ is not one that this college can define. I believe they are wrong in much of their ideology. It is true that there is a great focus on God here, and that is awesome. But this relationship is NOT based on their behavior policy. My life and behavior should be between me and God, but the campus administration refuses to be left out.

J.J. Cantrell

Olathe

Kids in the hall: As a teenager who had the misfortune of growing up in Olathe, the “Town of Character” thing seems an absolute joke to me. Perhaps this whole little plan to “build character” will be a good thing for a town so totally lacking in personality, integrity or basic human kindness.

After reading Casey Logan’s article, I have never felt more relieved to have escaped that hideous town. I used to think that Olathe had already reached its low, but if anything, it seems five times worse. Perhaps the school system could stand as an example to the “moral” character of the community. I have never seen such mean-spirited, vile and hateful children as the children in the Olathe school system. I feel fortunate that I was able to emerge a well-adjusted person, considering many of the more individually minded kids were subjected to the cruel pecking order by all those model children of Olathe, while all the bland Olathean parents and teachers stood by. The gay-bashings, sexual assaults, molestations and basic degrading acts I have seen over the years could fill a book.

Gee Coffee (now, unfortunately, Studio 2000) was an oasis. It did its best to stand up as a place for teens who didn’t have any place else to go. It bravely withstood random drug searches by the bloated Olathe police, bottles being thrown at its patrons by drunken rednecks, and ridiculous legal (“legal” in the Olathe standards being synonymous with “unconstitutional”) barriers by “concerned parents.” Not once did I see a single act of violence inside Gee Coffee.

I’m very happy the Pitch finally covered the tyranny and hypocrisy that governs the “safest town in the metro area” and reported what Olathe residents have known for years: that the people with power in the community are members of the evangelical right. Most important, Logan showed us what Olathe’s real problem is: itself.

Name Withheld Upon Request

Lawrence

The write stuff: With all the time Casey Logan spent investigating MidAmerica Nazarene University, it is really too bad that he did not check out the Intro to Journalism courses the school offers. He could have learned a lot.

Paul Freeburg (MNU 1999)

Kansas City, Missouri