Skiff columnists included in op-ed text

Fort Worth, TX

9/12/2011

The work of two newspaper columnists from the TCU Daily Skiff is being included in an upcoming McGraw-Hill college textbook on editorial writing.

The 2nd edition of ARGUMENT! by authors Erica Messenger and John Gooch is slated to include the essays of Jessica Peterson and Wyatt Kanyer, who expressed their opposing views on the controversy surrounding the revisionist version of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, published by NewSouth Books of Birmingham, Ala., earlier this year. The revised version excludes the use of the now-inflammatory terms that refer to African Americans and Native Americans in the publisher’s stated attempt to make the literary work more accessible to readers who might be offended or distracted by use of the controversial terms.

The textbook is scheduled for publication in January 2012.

Peterson, a criminal justice and psychology major from Canton, Texas, argues that the removal of the potentially offensive terms offers parents and students the opportunity to explore the literature without the potential distractions. She concludes: “Keeping literature alive in various communities is an important objective, and contemporary revisions such as this can help achieve that goal. If literature continues to play an active role in society, education and the spread of knowledge will prevail.”

Kanyer, a journalism major from Yakima, Wash., and managing editor of Image magazine, opposes the changes to the original text and argues that the historical terms are part and parcel to a full understanding and appreciation of what many consider the Great American Novel. Kanyer concludes: “Stretching our understanding of each other should not include eliminating the realities of history, no matter how gruesome those realities may be.”

The column package conceived by opinion editor Marshall Doig and illustrated by design editor Akmal Marikar, a 2011 graduate in engineering.

The pro/con package was conceived by former Daily Skiff opinion editor Marshall Doig, a journalism major from Fort Worth, and illustrated by Akmal Marikar, a 2011 graduate in engineering..

To read more of Peterson’s and Kanyer’s columns, visit these links at TCU360.com:

http://www.tcu360.com/dailyskiffcom-archive/2011/01/7839.huckleberry-finn-revision-pro
http://www.tcu360.com/dailyskiffcom-archive/2011/01/9150.huckleberry-finn-revision-con