Sorority girls just showing off money

This letter is in response to the current topic of big sunglasses. Has anyone noticed that the large majority of girls wearing these sunglasses are sorority girls? It's just another opportunity for them to try and make sure everyone knows, "I have money! I'm in a sorority! I drive a 2005 BMW!" Brigid Blazek states that maybe "she knows they are the latest fashion." According to who? Paris Hilton? The one who inherited daddy's money and fame, thus making her the idol of sorority girls everywhere? Why shouldn't the opinions of guys and other girls here at the UA matter? Most people I talk to agree that the huge glasses make girls look cheesy and dumb. I am also shocked to hear that protecting your eyes is a top concern. I'm sure that's your first concern when you walk up to the Gucci counter. I think these sunglasses are not a sign of girls expressing themselves, but simply a sign they will follow whatever trends they are told, like the sheep they are.

Zach Sonnenberg
finance junior

Comic funny, cat still alive in pie

In response to Joan Bundy's letter on Friday, I must say that I found the cat in the microwave to be quite humorous. In fact, what was even funnier was reading your letter. It was a comic; it is not to be taken seriously. No one actually tried to cook a kitten, and as you can see, it's still alive while in the pie. People need to learn to get over being offended all the time. Not to mention you didn't manage to explain exactly how that comic was inciting violence. If you were saying that reading that comic would cause someone to start killing animals and turn into a serial killer, then I must say the chances of that happening are slim to none.

Grow up. Kitten in the microwave and stuck in a pie is a laughing matter.

Anthony Ciaravella
computer engineer sophomore

Column typified Minuteman project

As a long-suffering reader of the Opinions section, I was pleasantly surprised to see Rui Wang's apparent change of heart. Her recent column contained the following:

"Thanks to the Minuteman Project, with its unrealistic goal of sealing the borders, southern Arizona has acquired a negative perception around the world as a staging ground for right-wing extremist groups - whether or not the local community reflects those views."

I grew up in Tombstone, and I'm certainly no fan of the Minuteman Project, primarily because I don't feel that the community does reflect the views currently being projected onto it. But it's more than a little disingenuous to exonerate the hordes of media from any responsibility in turning Tombstone into a carnival this past week. I was also at the meeting/protest on Friday; I saw satellite trucks lining both sides of the street, and a horde of reporters and photographers that easily outnumbered the actual participants.

It's also hypocritical of Wang to absolve herself when just a month ago she wrote a column that contained the following breathless sensationalism:

"What goes better with vigilante 'justice' than Tombstone, Arizona? Lawlessness virtually runs through the (silver) veins in this part of Cochise County."

But I suppose I should give Wang some credit. At least this time, while discussing the racism of others, she herself acknowledged the possibility that not every single borderland resident is Mexican or Latino, nor does immigration only affect the Mexican-American population. It appears that, this time around, she even took the time to visit Tombstone and talk to its residents (one, to be precise, but it's a start). That experience has obviously tempered her rhetoric.

I'd suggest that more media-addled academics do the same rather than buying into the rampant labeling and generalization typified by recent coverage of the Minuteman Project. Southern Arizona is not a hotbed for racists and extremists.

It is, however, a place where the residents see and feel the effects of illegal immigration rather than reading and writing about them.

Justin St. Germain
creative writing graduate student