There is a saying that “crisis creates opportunity.” The negative reaction provoked in many who saw the graphic accompanying the article on “The Vagina Monologues” in Thursday’s High Note can be an opportunity for people to understand how one person’s idea of innocent horseplay can be another person’s idea of a profound insult. While it might be argued the drawing was merely an attempt to draw attention to the play, this position is deeply naive and highly insulting. The drawing succeeded in denigrating one of the main points of the play: women giving voice to their stories rather than being presented as objects in an ignorant and juvenile picture with all the artistic merit and symbolic value of bathroom graffiti. Perhaps the appalling drawing can be used as a chance for people to reflect on the power of the media. At best, the media has the power to enlighten difficult and controversial issues and to challenge bigotry, whether it comes in the form of sexism, racism or homophobia. At worst, the media mirrors ignorance and instead of enlightening people, it tells them to lighten up. To those who fail to see the offensive nature of the drawing, perhaps it is true, even in the media, that (to reverse a popular cliche) “One person’s treasure is another person’s trash.” Jane Davis

Assistant professor

English Shirley Basfield Dunlap

Associate professor

MusicM. Evelina Galang

Assistant professor

English