Unfettered Letters

Why it’s called the boob tube ...

There was a picture in The Star (6/25, A-5, “Bring back my Spongebob”) of two young girls holding signs protesting high gas prices, prices so high that their mother had to cut off the cable television to pay for gasoline.

Yes, we are all feeling the pinch of higher energy costs. But every cloud has a silver lining. Perhaps the two girls will be able to use the time ordinarily spent watching cartoons on television to study their spelling lessons in school.

If you look closely at each sign, one has the word “money” misspelled (“monny”) while the other sign has “cable” spelled as “cabel.” Sheesh!

Timothy Earl Osburn
Parkville

KC is p-r-o-u-d of Kavya

Kavya Shivashankar did a better job than the media has indicated. The press reports all say that she missed a word in the 11th round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee (5/31, A-1, “Lots of success, but then tears; Olathe girl advances into final evening of the National Spelling Bee, but an Indiana boy wins”). This does not give an accurate picture of how well Kavya did. Out of millions of spellers from many different countries, Kavya tied for fourth place — what an outstanding achievement.

She was impressive to watch as she asked the judges questions about the roots of words that the judges couldn’t answer. Her knowledge of English, Latin, Greek and French was truly amazing. Even the word she missed, ecrase, she spelled correctly right up to the last letter. Not knowing the word, she gave a highly educated guess because that ending sound in French has two possible spellings. She correctly gave one of the two. It was a 50-50 shot, and she simply guessed wrong.

To make her achievement even more impressive, Kavya is only 12. She did an outstanding job and has done her hometown proud.

Steve Crawford
Fairway

Cheers to Morgan Brown

Three cheers for Morgan Brown, the seventh-grader who almost lost a chance at the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

I was very impressed with the mature, balanced way she carried herself when faced with the possibility of not competing.

Rather than throwing a fit (or calling a lawyer), she acted maturely, stayed optimistic and was ultimately rewarded with a shot at her dream.

It sure is good to know some young people are still being raised in the right way.

Bravo to Morgan and her parents!

Steven Go
Overland Park

T-H-A-N-K-S

We would like to express our thanks to your newspaper for reporting the facts about the ineligibility confusion surrounding our daughter’s enrollment in the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Your reporter, Karen Dillon, did a great job of holding Scripps accountable and helping everyone understand the issue.

We would also like to thank the North Platte School District, The St. Joseph News Press, and the entire community for standing with us.

Morgan is looking forward to the trip to Washington, D.C., and will be working extra hard to make everyone who supported her proud.

Jim and Susan Brown
Dearborn, Mo.

U-N-D-O the damage

It appears that North Platte R-1 student Morgan Brown (3/24 A-1, “Spelling Bee Let Others Re-Apply; But the Lack of One Word on District’s Paperwork Keeps Morgan Brown out of National Competition”) is a casualty of bureaucratic incompetence that has become commonplace in our culture.

During my career I observed similar scenarios while in both private sector and federal government positions.

To make it fair for the upcoming generation (including Morgan), this is the time for school and spelling bee executives to set aside their differences and undo the wrongs that were made.

What’s at stake is the reputation of the spelling bee, its sponsors and directors, and the education establishment.

John Hartung
Belton

Spelling bee stars

It is with great pleasure and pride that I read about our city’s top spellers who went to Washington, D.C., to compete for the champion title (6/1, A-1, “‘C’ words trip up A-list spellers”). In my mind, both of our area representatives are indeed champions.
In particular, I cheer for Connor Spencer, whom I have known his entire academic career, from pre-kindergarten to the current year.
Up until last year, I was his assistant principal. I have the honor to know his family, and I know that Connor is not only a champion speller, but he is also a genuine and very good example to other people his age. He is a true young gentleman, through and through.
I am so proud that he represented Kansas City, but also that he represented St. Vincent de Paul Academy, where I spent many years as an educator. It is a small, Catholic academy with a powerful ability to form truly good Catholics and achievers. Congratulations, Connor!
Heather Nicole Hamtil
Leawood

Spelling bee kudos

Congratulations to the two young Kansas City area National Spelling Bee finalists, Kavya Shivashankar (Olathe) and Connor Spencer (Farley, Mo.) (6/1, A-1, “‘C’ words trip up A-list spellers; KC area’s two finalists fall on “cilice” and “cachalot” at the National Spelling Bee”). Thanks to both of them for representing our city. They and their families should be extremely proud of their accomplishments.

And kudos to ABC for broadcasting the Scripps Spelling Bee finals during prime time on Thursday evening. It’s not often enough that academic competitions are spotlighted on television.

At this age, kids often get the message that being athletic is the only way to be great, when in reality, academic achievement is what builds the strongest basis for a successful life. Thanks to ABC for promoting that message by broadcasting the event.

Colleen Hunter
Olathe

If it were that easy...

Referencing the July 6 article (A-2, "Attempts at spelling reform") that suggests spelling words phonetically would lower illiteracy rates: What a terrific idea! Here's another one: Let's lower the poverty line to a wage of, say $50 a year per family. Voila! No more poor people!

Paul Benlon
Merriam

Spelling disasters

In this day of instant correspondence, has anyone else noticed how many adults lack the ability to spell? E-mails from well-educated people containing misspelled versions of words as basic as “definitely” amaze me. These are some recent examples of misspelled words I have received in e-mails from college graduates: “appriciate,” “oppinion,” “accomodated” and “definately.”

The e-mails that baffle me the most are the ones in which the writer wants to make an important point or argument. I want to respond and say their point would carry more weight had they simply turned on their spell-checker. Of course, there are some that even spell-check software couldn’t help: It’s “misunderstood,” not “miss understood.” And you don’t “ware” clothes; you “wear” them.

(God help me if I get caught misspelling “definitely” this week.)

Lori Potts
Overland Park