We invite you to read and respond to The Paly Voice’s ongoing staff blog, where we talk informally about the Voice, campus life, and other things on our minds. Enjoy — and click on the feedback link on the bottom if you want to participate by adding your own comment.

Being a Vegetarian (Sept. 29, 2005)

Being a vegetarian and living in California is not difficult. This was not the case, however, at Paly during Club Day.

For some poorly explained reason, there was no vegetarian main course available at Club Day. For one and half hours, nearly thirty students patiently waited for vegetarian burritos that arrived after lunch was over. I am not angry or upset, and I do not blame Paly or the restaurant that provided the food; however, I am dumbstruck.

In Palo Alto, our lovely liberal town, our school could not provide for a handful of vegetarian students. I couldn’t help but wonder, why?

There was a mix up with the food order, explained the adults in charge.

To me, that was quite apparent.

Even worse than having to wait for food, vegetarian students were unable to enjoy Club Day.

"I think [Club Day] is really cool," Roxana Moussavian, junior, said. "But I haven’t been able to experience it because I have been waiting for my burrito. What does it say if the tables are full of pork and chicken, but the school can’t provide the basic, beans and rice?"

I felt the same as Roxy at the time, but now my views have changed. Looking back, I realize that my empty stomach was the only reason for this sort of sentiment.

Though vegetarians had to wait for food, we did receive it during fifth period. I honestly appreciate that our school provides food for students at no charge. As I said before, I am not angry or upset, but I am dumbstruck.

-Siddhartha Oza

Shut the &*#% up! (Sept. 22, 2005)

Here at the Paly Voice, we receive all sorts of interesting and sometimes hilarious feedback. What you visitors see are only the most coherent and relevant pieces. I’ve always felt that the feedback we don’t enable has immense value as entertainment.

What follows is a very small selection of this wonderful content.

For instance, Lee Bowers, 13, writes to tell us that "led rule and as 4 da message i do believe in it come on !!!!!!!!!!! ps saten rules."

Good show, sir, although I have no clue what you are talking about.

A "Mr. Meiji" sent in the next piece, entitled "nas ur the man." What follows is pure, unadulterated feedback: "nas ur the man, you my favorite rapper u rap the truth."

The next piece is perhaps the best, although I was forced to heavily censor it.

".ur a f***n gay f**k who doesnt know s**t all bout music let alone about sum 41..keep ur false and bulls**t comments to urslef…ur another 1 of these c**ts who has an opinion on a band just cauz u dont listen to that style of music…what are ur fav bands fa**ot i will f*k them up all day long.u hvae f*k all good to say bout them…u say s**t bout every song jesus how can 2 completely different songs both be s**t….oh …according to u , they can be….cant make u happy can we!!….i bet u neva even listened to the album nor have u listend to doest his look infected…wtf r u on bout with cant understanding lyrics…u must be fu*in deaf…some say isnt a f**in hard rock song u dumb f**k!u dont know f*k all."

"Mr. Curtis" has a few valid points but overall, I feel that he may be mentally imbalanced.

From Nigerian scammers, angry 13-year-olds, and enraged fans, Voice receives a lot of crazy feedback. While we at the Voice are bound by duty to wade through this garbage… you should be glad you don’t get to see it. We also don’t tend to print foul language, as a matter of policy, but as social scientists we felt that a small taste of our feedback system’s dregs would provide an intriguing insight into the world of Voice.

– Eric Meltzer

Previous staff blogs can be found at the following addresses:

http://voice.paly.net/view_story.php?id=3106

http://voice.paly.net/view_story.php?id=2989

http://voice.paly.net/view_story.php?id=2520

http://voice.paly.net/view_story.php?id=2204