Letters to the Editor
Leeandra Nolting
Published Letters: 177 Editor's Choice: 10
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every child a wanted child...
[Read the article: Hey, wait -- that's my abortion!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I am in complete agreement that every child SHOULD be a wanted child. However, not every child is. Even in areas with widespread access to abortion/birth control, not every child is planned or wanted by his biological parents. This is a fact of life.
Whether or not a particular person was/is "wanted" by his own parents shouldn't have a bearing on whether the rest of society views him (or even whether he views himself) as a "blessing" or a "burden." Otherwise, a whole lot of us would be SOL.
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hey, nothing against yoga postures for exercise...
[Read the article: Why I hate partner yoga]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...nor against those that do it as a religious/spiritual practice.
I've just met a few too many brainless American New Agers who take "Yogi Bryan's" word as gospel, so to speak...
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inevitable vs. possible
[Read the article: Hey, wait -- that's my abortion!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Yes, universal access to abortion would make it POSSIBLE that every child would be wanted by his parents AT BIRTH. But what of the eighteen years following? Circumstances sometimes change; children who were considered "blessings" at birth can become "burdens" to their parents.
The question I was raising was a philosophical, not a legal one: are fetuses something with inherent worth, or are they along the lines of material goods, whose value is determined by supply and demand? Is a wanted, but miscarried, 12-week fetus worth more than an unwanted, purposely aborted 12-week fetus? After all, other than the circumstancial triggers of their deaths, the two are basically the same thing.
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if they're so worried about people getting fat on food stamps...
[Read the article: No more food stamps. You've eaten enough]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...why not expand the WIC voucher program to people besides pregnant/nursing mothers, babies, and small children? Maybe to everyone on food stamps in addition to food stamps?
I've never been on WIC, but I have seen the lists of "approved" foods: things like milk, cheese, dry beans, rice, eggs, bread, fresh fruits and vegetables, etc.
The whole idea behind WIC was that mothers and babies needed certain HEALTHY foods for the best start in life, but those foods were often not purchased by low-income women for a variety of reasons (cost and ignorance being the two main ones). The thing is, though, those foods are good for pretty much everybody regardless of age.
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lefties vs. righties
[Read the article: Is your ring finger long enough for this job?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Gender aside, what about the old bit about left-handed people being more creative while right-handed people are more analytical? It has been known for decades that professional musicians, creative writers, and graphic artists are far more likely to be left-handed than the population at large, and often a prospective employer can tell handedness without even meeting the person, just by looking at the slant of the applicant's handwriting.
But the problem, of course, is that there are plenty of very talented artistic types who happen to be right-handed, and plenty of highly skilled left-handed engineers and accountants. So far, I haven't heard about a single artist not getting a gallery showing or a single writer getting a rejection slip because they were right-handed, nor have I heard about H&R Block discriminating against lefties.
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also unqualified, but...
[Read the article: I get grossed out when I hear, "I'm a mom!"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I can completely sympathize with the LW.
I love kids. I want my own someday. Many of my best friends have kids, and yeah, during the early years, they pretty much eat up all your time and energy.
No, it's certainly not wrong or creepy to tell people that you are a mother. But the idea of defining yourself to other people SOLELY by the fact that you bore offspring...that isn't telling people much about yourself. Most women ARE mothers at some point in their lives.
You may not have as much time for your own interests once the babies arrive, but that doesn't mean you need to forget about them. Kids do grow up, after all, and you get at least SOME of your free time back later on.
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jambalaya...
[Read the article: Gumbo city]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Go to Coop's Place. It looks like a hole-in-the-wall dive bar because it is a hole-in-the-wall dive bar, but it's got excellent jambalaya. It's on Decatur near Ursulines and next to Molly's at the Market. Get the "Rabbit and Sausage Jambalaya Supreme", which, in addition to rabbit meat and sausage, usually also has shrimp, crawfish tails, and tasso in it.
Everybody else, it seems, heats up Zatarain's and charges tourists $7.95 for it.
(Coop's also has an excellent eggplant parmesean, but they don't have it every day.)
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again...
[Read the article: Male circumcision no help to women?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Where did AIDS rates really take off in the United States in the early-mid 1980s? The young gay male population, most of whom had been circumcised as infants.
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preventing blindness vs. STDs
[Read the article: Aboriginal STDs]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Didn't most states once require silver nitrate drops to be put in all newborns' eyes to prevent blindness? I think the reason was that a lot of G.I.s unknowingly came back with chlamidya from WWII, gave it unwittingly to their wives, and the wives passed it on to their babies' eyes during childbirth. Then the babies went blind.
The vast majority of baby boomers got these, but yet most were never at risk for blindness because their mothers didn't have chlamidya.
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where else are they going to put the kids?
[Read the article: When Mom's in prison, should her baby be behind bars too?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]One size fits all policies don't work, but seriously...if you've got a woman and her kid who were living on the streets of Mexico City and she gets picked up for prostitution, to what kind relative are you going to send the child?
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don't ban the "symbolism"...
[Read the article: Spanish conservatives: No more sexist symbols!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Work to end the discrimination.
A headscarf on a schoolgirl can be just a headscarf on a schoolgirl. Muslim women aren't the only women who wear headgear for religious reasons...many married Orthodox Jews and members of some Christian sects do as well.
It seems the Muslim girls at minority Muslim schools would be the ones who MOST needed their right to practice their religion protected.