Editor’s note: In the past few weeks, Random Lengths News received a group of Letters to the Editor from the students of San Pedro High School English teacher Michael Kurdyla. Students commented on recent stories published in RLN. Reading through the letters, the students did an admirable job following their teacher’s instruction to read and critique stories that piqued their interest. In the interest of space, we will select a few of the letters for print, while posting the remainder online.
Frustrated With Los Angeles
The reason I am writing to you today is to write about the frustrations I currently have with the city I call home. To start off with, I am one of those people who constantly feels unsafe in this city. For a city known for its glitz and glamor behind those Hollywood, cameras are rampant crime, homeless and poverty. It infuriates me that in a city with the same GDP as Seoul (1 trillion) we are so behind them with our quality of life. It infuriates me that unlike Seoul our streets and freeways are cracked and old. It infuriates me that so many homeless are around the city and help is not easily available to these people. For the amount we are paying to live here and the absurd amount of tax paid so many of us have lived here looking over our shoulder constantly. It seems untrue, almost laughable, that we have the same Gdp as Seoul, not to mention that this city is also the third richest in the entire world. Where does all our money go too? Why hasn’t the government spent this money for the betterment of our city? So many have left Los Angeles already and until our politicians finally wake up and create change many more will continue to in larger numbers taking our future with them.
Carlos Esparza, San Pedro High School
Re: A Veterans Day Story
I read your article about Brian Thomas, the Man on the Bridge and I’d like to discuss what I thought of your article. To me, it did not get into the real story as to why Brian Thomas really was up on the bridge. For example, in the article, you did not do an in-depth interview about his veteran benefits and what they should be. Another point is that you did not do a good investigative report of what actually happened as to why Brian Thomas was up on the bridge. For example, in the article, you did not further look into Brian Thomas’ claims of what actually happened to him. In the article, you had a little bit of selfishness because it felt to me like you were doing the interview so that the bridge can open and you can get over to Long Beach. My final thoughts about the article were that you and Mrs. Cobos were sometimes mocking Brian Thomas in the article because it was mentioned that he just wanted hot wings, Gatorade, and a hotel room but he wanted something much more valuable than that which are his lifelong veteran benefits.
Alex Diller, San Pedro HS
Re: Normalized Censorship
The article, ¨The New Normal Is Normalized Censorship¨ by Paul Rosenberg, lacks many things but I would like to focus on the lack of evidence for the claims and the misleading title. There are five sections in this specific article but in the articles, there are statements, claims, and references made from other articles, papers, or people. There is inconsistent evidence and some paragraphs that don’t have clear sources. For example in the first section, article 1 ¨Prescription Drug Costs set to Become a Leading Cause of Death For Elderly Americans¨ talks about a relevant topic but doesn’t have constant support for the claims. Censorship is a large topic that has been a present issue primarily found in cover-ups and political issues.
The second article talks about threats toward journalists but doesn’t provide evidence about how journalists are threatened. Also, the author references the ¨Panama Papers in 2016¨ and the ¨FinSen Papers in 2020.” There is no further information providing evidence of these sources being credible or even believable. Without credibility from the author, it makes the message weaker and makes me (as the reader) wary about what I’m being told. There are multiple times where the writer adds ¨We noted¨ which isn’t an unbiased use of evidence because it limits the facts and only shows what that writer decided was important.
I fear that readers are being misled with possibly false information due to the lack of evidence. Readers should consider the legitimacy of the articles they read. If no one questions the things they read, then censorship will become necessary to stop the public from viewing the wrong things.
As a 14-year-old who will see the effects of misinformation, I encourage readers to take note and challenge questionable writing like this article.
Salvador Ramirez, San Pedro HS
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Dear Mr. Ramirez,
We appreciate the vigor through which you read Senior Editor Paul Rosenberg’s story. There appears to be a part of the story you failed to notice–the subhead to the headline: Prescription Drug Costs, Wildcat Strikes, Google’s Union-Busting and Racism in Forced Sterilization Project Censored’s Top 10 Stories Show Old Patterns Alive and Well. Rosenberg’s story was a summation of recently published book called Project Censored, which documents deserving stories that have received little exposure in the mainstream media. If you’d like a copy of the book is available for purchase at the our office at 1300 S. Pacific Ave.
Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor