I am delighted to report that Cabrini’s basketball team did spectacularly in the NCAA tournament and won the PAC. I am equally delighted to report that Cabrini’s theater production of “Two Gentlemen of Verona” was a smash, packing the atrium to the walls, making it one of the most popular productions in the College’s history. But this article isn’t about that. It is about the fact that Loquitur was unaware that all of this was going on. That is a fiasco for the campus newspaper.
I mention our successes only so that we cannot be accused of artistic failure or “sour grapes.” The team succeeded without Loquitur coverage and so did the musical. You say the fine arts are irrelevant to our society? We are not irrelevant, Loquitur-you are.
Why do I care enough to write this, especially since I have no need of your publicity? Because Cabrini College is a community in which we work together to perform service. I (and most of the college’s faculty and staff) could earn far more money and acclaim by professionally performing the skills we teach our students. But we stay because we believe that the Cabrini student is the key to tomorrow’s future.
Cabrini graduates not only enter the job market with the outstanding professional skills needed to make a fine living, but with the knowledge and the duty to use those skills to make the world a better place. It’s a promise we made to Mother Cabrini when we signed on, and we must demand the best of everyone. That includes the Loquitur.
What did the Loquitur readers, students, administrators, alums, and online visitors, get instead of a preview article of our unusual Shakespeare musical and a well thought out critical review? A very long article, with photos, on the band U2, an overview of the Ozzie Osborne television show and a press release about (insult to injury?) a Shakespeare play produced miles away in Center City. The quality of these articles is not in question. I enjoy reading all arts news, but when I want that kind of reading, I turn to Rolling Stone and TV Guide. They do it better. And why not?
Their reporters are on the scene attacking the news before and as it happens. They go to Ozzie’s house and bother him. It’s their beat. And do you know what? When Loquitur is on the scene covering its beat, nobody does it better. A quick examination of the issues of semesters past reveals an exciting, passionate journalistic service to our community. This is a far cry from our current throwaway magazine.
As for the editorial praising the basketball team after an alumni complaint? Shame on you. You make our newspaper an “OLDSpaper.”
Loquitur has power. Many times I hear from students who attended the play because the preview article make it sound interesting. They tell me that the experience opened whole new, unexpected worlds to them. You can reach the disaffected Cabrini student.
I look ahead. Soon the newspaper will choose a new staff. I hope the selection process will return Loquitur to its former position of fine community service. To the new staff: See you at the game. Or the play. Or where the next exciting thing is happening. Be proud to be here.
Neal Newman
theater director
