Dear Editor,
I was disturbed reading the feature on my fellow sorority sister Maisha Pryor in this issue of Campus Times [“Pryor finds inspirations from soul,” March 31]. The article had misinformation about the international sorority, Delta Sigma Theta. It was not chartered in 1979 at Cal Poly Pomona as core chapter to the Claremont Colleges and ULV. The organization was founded in 1913 at Howard University. Our chapter XI XI was chartered in 1979 as a core chapter with Cal Poly Pomona, ULV, and Claremont Colleges. Delta Sigma Theta did not die out in 1995, XI XI chapter went inactive in 1995. Delta Sigma Theta is an international organization, who main purpose is public service.
I will like to note that this is the second article that the Campus Times has managed to misprint something about my sorority.
Ayana S. Brown
Senior
via Internet
Dear Editor,
In response to Jazmine Ponce’s column, “No guilt in embracing these pleasures” [March 31], I would like to “honestly admit” that I love the New Kids on the Block. I agree that everyone should “embrace that corny, silly part of yourself” and stay young, as long as possible, but I strongly disagree with the attack on one of the most famous groups in music history.
In reality it was not 10 years ago that NKOTB graced the Billboard charts, it was in 1994 with the single “Dirty Dawg” from their final group album “Face the Music” and in 1999 with the Greatest Hits Album, that went gold in less than a week. The group was together for over 10 years. I feel no guilt in my pleasure, I actually find a lot of happiness. There are many others who agree with me, as evident by the internet fan club, with over one million members.
On Sept. 9, 1989, the album “Hangin’ Tough” and its title single, took over the No. 1 positions on the Billboards Top Pop albums and Hot 100 singles charts. They were the first “teen” group to ever have four Top 10 hits from one album. The song “Hangin’ Tough” spent 132 weeks on the Billboard charts (over two and a half years). The group performed to crowds of over two million people over 250 times a year. Video sales surpassed 3.5 million, 70 times platinum.
The success not only changed the music business but also stood apart from the loud, phallic, violent, and hate music that was becoming popular. NKOTB were a positive influence on their fans, emphasizing philanthropy work and anti-drug messages. They were the forerunners in “teen” boy groups, but many do not know that they wrote, produced and played their own music.
The year is 2000, I have posters on my walls, the bedspread on my bed, all 10 dolls in their cases, continue to wear their shirts and love the music as much as I did when it first came out. I will never “get over it.” I do not believe that you have to forget simple pleasures and leave your past behind. Are all students at ULV so worried about everyone else that they cannot enjoy what they like? I invite others to remember their past and enjoy it. Stop feeling guilty about who you are and what you like. Feel the way you want, just have caution in oversimplifying and generalizing others because it is obvious that NKOTB had the right stuff and their success (and talent) will continue forever.
Toni Dreier
Junior
President, Santa Cruz/La Verne NKOTB Fan Club
Ayana S. Brown