While I’m all for an opinion column in a newspaper (free speech and all that jazz), the article “Suppress your basic bitchness this Halloween” was appalling. I cannot, for the life of me, fathom why anyone on The Shield staff thought this was an acceptable addition to your paper . You’ve taken a space that could have been used to support a good cause or draw attention to questionable campus policy and instead, threw a blanket of generalization over half of USI’s student population. My choice of shoes or preference for “pumpkin flavored coffee drinks” does not define me – or anyone – as being a basic bitch. Rather, I’m someone that enjoys having warm feet and flavors that remind me of home when it’s a long way off. As for my Halloween costume choices, I first of all can’t figure out why the author would possibly care, but I’d secondly like to remind you that it’s just for fun, and it’s also my body, not yours. If I want to walk around wearing nothing but body paint and call myself a work of art, that is my choice to make. The author is entitled to his own opinion, but he should note that having an attitude like the one portrayed in his article won’t make him any friends. In fact, it makes him look pretentious and condescending – so if that’s what he was going for, bravo, he succeeded. With all of this being said, I’ll now direct my attention to the editor-in-chief: having control of a campus-wide publication is a privilege that you’ve earned and puts you in a position of power that you generally wield quite well. This was an oversight that I found to not only be insulting, but disappointing. I hope for the sake of USI’s students – and The Shield’s reputation – that you all make better decisions in the future.

Sincerely,

Basic Bitch #473

(Jenna Johnson)