Mount Si Students Plan To Keep Printing Alternative Newspaper

SNOQUALMIE - A suicide letter convinced Ryan Cox another newspaper was needed at Mount Si High School.

The official school paper, Cat Tales, had rejected the letter three times. The author came to Cox, an 18-year-old senior, and last fall he and some classmates went underground and clandestinely printed and distributed Pravda.

Pravda means truth in Russian, and they filled it with the truth they saw missing from the school newspaper - emotion. They wrote poems, essays, drawings, letters and profanity about sexuality, sexism, racism, drugs and politics.

Such is the idealism of journalism. The realism is libel, liability, responsibility, finances. After two issues of the bimonthly were printed on school property, Principal David Humphrey traced the students through the post-office box they listed and explained why the Snoqualmie Valley School District could not condone the opinions or profanity.

Yesterday, the two groups of student journalists met to talk about the distinctions and responsibilities of their separate media.

Instead of just shutting the renegade paper down, Humphrey presented its staff with alternatives. If they toned down the language, he would set up a literary magazine with their own adviser. If not, they had the right to publish and distribute the newspaper off school property. The group chose to remain underground.

"I didn't see it as my right to say they cannot print it," Humphrey said. "If I took that approach, I thought we would have an unpleasant reaction. I didn't want to shut down their creative energy."

Humphrey said he was in high school and college in the 1960s. He understood the thrill of struggling underground.

"Much of the underground newspaper had very good and very printable literature," Humphrey said. "I know many kids are thinking those same thoughts."

Cat Tales editor Kathy McKinney, 17, said she doesn't view Pravda as competition. Cat Tales covers the facts; Pravda publishes opinion.

"When I first read it, I thought they were trying to cover issues based on opinions," McKinney said. "I liked the concept, but some of the stuff was offensive. The biggest thing I was concerned about was liability."

The official school newspaper is reviewed before publication by the journalism adviser, Josh Joslin, who screens it for libelous and inappropriate material. Pravda students rejected that as censorship.

"There are lines you cannot cross in school newspapers," said junior Amy Goodman, 16. "We couldn't express issues the way we wanted, political ideas, getting down on the administration."

"We tried to print anything," added junior Darren Williams, 16. "If people (swore), we were not going to censor that."

The Pravda students said they appreciated Humphrey's approach. The discussion brought their issues to light. They see emotion at the core of issues from sexuality to the ozone but said emotion is often left behind in the mainstream press' pursuit of objectivity.

McKinney, who has worked on the school newspaper for three years, said the staff has tried to explore more relevant issues this year. They have showcased the debate over distributing condoms in schools, focused on educational restructuring and plan to discuss child abuse in an upcoming issue. She said the paper balances issues coverage with its obligation to cover school events and sports competitions.

"I knew a lot of people had opinions and wanted to express them but didn't have the resources to do it," McKinney said. "I wasn't surprised, but I know a lot of people were shocked anyone had the guts to do it."

The Pravda students no longer have a means of production - they are seeking a desktop-publishing program - but they know there's a demand for their message.

"There are tons of these underground newspapers around," said senior Andrei Trostel, 17. "Young people and teenagers are looking for something else. Your basic newspaper is just news. Underground news is on a different level, more emotional."