A throwaway joke in a column last week upset at least one reader, but both sides of the issue are worth exploring. Separately, my own curiosities illuminate what I thought was an errant omission in Red Letter Daze.

In the April 1 edition of Straight No Chaser, columnist Daniel Eichberg ’11 vented his irritation over self-important Internet pseudo-celebrities. In setting the scene, he used the following line: “When I arrived home, I decided to make my famous Bathtub Toast to help ease the pain. I was about to climb into the tub with the toaster …”

The lines did not sit well with Bill Price ’09, who wrote in and said that suicide should not be handled so “cavalierly.” He wrote: “With suicide being one of the top causes of death to our age group and with mental health issues being such a hot-button issue on campus, I’m utterly mystified that he would joke about it. I’m not even outraged; I just don’t understand the lack of maturity which would lead him to think he was being clever, or the lack of discretion which would lead The Sun editors to accept that sort of writing …”

It’s important to consider context and expectations. A quick glance through the Straight No Chaser archive reveals, among other things, references to erections, masturbation, vomit and pornography. There are quite a few featured columnists at The Sun, but I think a regular reader would be on notice that Eichberg’s column is going to venture into territory not for the squeamish.

With The Sun’s audience in mind, columns often stray into lurid or lascivious territory, and that’s fine. A topic isn’t necessarily inappropriate for a college paper just because it might offend someone. “Perhaps the joke was off-color, but racy jokes and controversial topics seem to be a staple of Sun columns,” Eichberg stated in an e-mail. “I personally believe that it’s impossible to write something without at least one person getting offended, but that does not mean controversial topics shouldn’t be brought up or referenced.”

He’s absolutely right, especially if he’s comfortable with having his name attached to the words in his column in perpetuity. However, I don’t really see what the line contributed to the column. I think this specific line was in particularly bad taste. Had I been editing the column, I probably would have taken that line out (and left the rest intact).

“The reference to suicide was very brief,” Eichberg stated. “It was not the subject of the article and in fact it was merely a quick aside comment.” Although this could mean that the line is not as bad as Price might think, I’m inclined to think that cutting the line would have avoided the problem without affecting the column too much.

To his credit, Eichberg offered an apology. “I’m sorry for offending the reader,” he stated, noting that he will refrain from talking about suicide in future columns.

Green Café

After reading the March 26 front-page story on the opening of the Green Café (which, by the way, had an absolutely knockout quote from the owner of Insomnia Cookies), I was eager for The Sun to answer the natural follow-up question: How’s the food?

I was surprised that no review appeared in the daily edition or in Red Letter Daze. Daze Editor Allie Perez ’10 explained in an-email, that Daze used to run restaurant reviews, “but it was getting to the point where we wondered if restaurant reviews were getting old — we run out of places to review, and people are already familiar with most of them since they’re Ithaca establishments.” It’s a fair point. Ithaca is only so big.

Because of this, she stated, the food columnist, and food coverage in general, focuses “mainly on things that college students and generally time [or] cash-strapped people can do themselves [or] would at least find interesting to read about.”

But what about the Green Café?

“In the case of Green Café and new places like that, we should definitely run a review of that … we had been planning to, but there was a mix-up in communication.” Perez added that the café initially contacted The Sun’s business side soliciting a review, and miscommunication between news and business ultimately led to no review.

My take: The Green Café opening has attracted quite a bit of attention. I’d like to see a review. Better late than never.