Comments for Clarion

Comment on LETTER TO THE EDITOR: A rebuttal by Kristin Tomecek by dmancoff

dmancoff — Fri, 18 May 2012 12:06:59 +0000

SPONSOR’S NOTE:
At my discretion, I am closing commentary on this article and its companion piece. -D. Mancoff

Comment on Don’t let stunt speeches sink the impact of SA by dmancoff

dmancoff — Fri, 18 May 2012 12:06:27 +0000

SPONSOR’S NOTE:
At my discretion, I am closing further commentary on this article and its companion piece. -D. Mancoff

Comment on Don’t let stunt speeches sink the impact of SA by An Onion piece

An Onion piece — Thu, 17 May 2012 15:27:15 +0000

The article’s title and its content did not mesh with each other. A title that more accurately reflects the article’s content taken in whole would be something like,

‘Thunderous applause for SA speech betrays basic apathy of RB student body’.

If this sounds like nonsense, like something from ‘The Onion’, that is what I felt about his piece, too. This piece would be laughable except for the personal attacks to the one who gave that SA speech.

Comment on Don’t let stunt speeches sink the impact of SA by Disappointed Alum

Disappointed Alum — Sun, 13 May 2012 21:53:45 +0000

First of all, it is COMPLETELY inappropriate that the sophomore speech-giver’s name was used in this inflammatory opinion column. It is also highly contentious that the Clarion chose to print it at all.

As an RBHS alum, I have witnessed four years of what Cameron Kritikos has dubbed “stunt speeches” and I completely disagree with his assessment that such speeches somehow taint the offices of Student Association. If nothing else, such creative and enthusiastic speeches are the key to getting students interested and engaged in the elections. Apathy about SA has always been a problem at RB and the overly serious speeches are often laughed off by students. In my experience, the best class officers have been those who have brought a real spark to the office and, with great charisma, are able to ignite a fire in the hearts and minds of the rest of the students. The arguments presented by the author are completely off base. Although I was not present for Ms. Tomecek’s speech, it seems like she is full of more life and vigor than any of the other students’ more orthodox speeches. Cameron, you said it right there in your column: Kristin’s speech “seemed to get the attention of the audience.” That’s it–BINGO! Kristin succeeded in portraying a genuine enthusiasm for an officer position and she had a captive audience. There is absolutely no mutual exclusivity with a creative speech and being serious about SA! Rather, such creative speeches instead exhibit real enthusiasm for the position. Kristin must have put a lot of thought and effort into such a speech, probably more than any of the other candidates, which demonstrates that she must care deeply about the duties of SA.

Who I really feel sorry for is you, Cameron. It is disappointing that you were so wrapped up in your “anger” that a student chose to deliver an unconventional speech that you completely missed its message. Perhaps the real problem at RB is judgmental people like you. Lighten up and have some school spirit!

Comment on Don’t let stunt speeches sink the impact of SA by need spirit to solve it

need spirit to solve it — Fri, 11 May 2012 23:07:11 +0000

Yes, absolutely, WORK, ‘blood , sweat and tears’ are essential. But the raw ingredient of WORK, blood , sweat and tears = SPIRIT. That girl got it. She got spirit, which is the elemental energy needed for solving problems and positive changes at RB. It means risk taking, guts, willing to think and work differently and , obviously, caring. That was what the speech was about and it showed these raw ingredients for an effective leader at RB.

Comment on Don’t let stunt speeches sink the impact of SA by John M

John M — Fri, 11 May 2012 00:21:00 +0000

Cameron misstated some things in his story. One was that she sang the lyrics of the Titanic song- with the suggestion that she was trying to do some sort of loose cannon ‘american idol’ scenario. No, Cameron. She artfully changed the words to apply to the message on which she was running for Secretary of the exec board – that she would never let go of caring about RB.Her point was tht she would put some spirit in RB.

He also suggested that others were confused as to what the speech was getting across when it was he himself who was confused.Everyone I spoke with got it.

Comment on Don’t let stunt speeches sink the impact of SA by solve this

solve this — Thu, 10 May 2012 22:02:22 +0000

We dont need school spirit, we don’t need caring representatives. We need someone who WILL WORK blood sweat and tears with a solution already in mind.

Comment on Don’t let stunt speeches sink the impact of SA by Sue S

Sue S — Thu, 10 May 2012 20:40:09 +0000

“probably like most of you, I left there a little confused as to what was going on. ”

Please don’t speak for me, Cameron. You speak for yourself only. I was very clear about what …was trying to get across – we have some trying times at RB now and we need a dose of school spirit and creativity to help address this. I witnessed lots of people coming up to … and acknowledging what she was trying to say. They got it, too.

We need MORE of this and not less at RB.

Comment on Don’t let stunt speeches sink the impact of SA by GS Benn

GS Benn — Thu, 10 May 2012 19:06:52 +0000

It is supremely ironic that Cameron Kristikos’s big discovery of the source of his anger is the apathy of the student body, but then he trounces a student who had the guts to step up and try to do something about that very thing.

Comment on Don’t let stunt speeches sink the impact of SA by IS Sol

IS Sol — Thu, 10 May 2012 16:39:04 +0000

Cameron Kritikos, you are unfairly critical of Kristin Tomecek’s speech for SA secretary. If you actually listened to what she was saying, and actually take in the whole of her speech, the point that she was trying to get across with her speech, was that if elected she would inject school SPIRIT into the exec board, and then into the school. The delivery of the speech then carried her theme.

What a great way way to get this across than doing creative cliche busting expression. Did you want more ‘something something something’ in the speech? You missed the point apparently. But you did note in your piece here the apathy of the student body, which Kristin was trying to address..

RB needs to think differently to get by these times.Kristin actually obviously cares about RB and cleverly got this across.