Letters to the Editor
Godmonkey
Published Letters: 159 Editor's Choice: 3
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Timbuktom's first letter
[Read the article: Go away, can't you see I'm writing?!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]He says: This Business About Not Wanting Other To Read Your Stuff......is the mark of an amateur.
You are very, very wrong. I can't know for sure, but I suspect I should know rather better than you do. And I'm not trying to be ass -- just saying. Trust me on this one, Timbuktom.
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P.S.
[Read the article: Go away, can't you see I'm writing?!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I should also note that it's different for everybody. That is, the converse of what you say is by no means a truism, either. Some artists require flamboyant adventure while others require bourgeois stability, for that matter. Amateurs and pros alike.
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I second the objection
[Read the article: Another San Francisco tragedy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]of the poster who questioned the last line. How is San Francisco priveleged exactly? There's plenty of wealth, but that's true of L.A. or NYC -- or Houston or Atlanta. Or Detroit, for that matter. Because SF is scenic and Jack Kerouac drank there and in the Year One the Grateful Dead played in the park, the city has earned an exemption from violent crime?
I'm sorry tragedy struck so close to home, Joan, but that last line kinda blows my sympathy.
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The only possible interpretation
[Read the article: Another San Francisco tragedy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]is that educated, liberal-minded people should be shielded by dint of their own enlightenment from random violence. Other groups, apparently, had it coming to them; or perhaps most North American locales are of less cultural primacy, and therefore their citizens are more expendable.
I extend genuine sympathy to your daughter and her teammates, Joan, but this outrageous (or perhaps, hopefully, merely unfortunate) phrasing demands an explanation.
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Farbie,
[Read the article: Another San Francisco tragedy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If this happened in middle America, to a white father of a star basketball player, the MSM would be all over it, complete with a GMA interview, etc., etc.
Ha! Unless there's some "hook" to the story -- such as, he was killed by a teammate's father or his estranged wife -- a murder is a murder is a murder. There are probably a hundred murders a day in the United States. The national MSM will only cover one if there's the requisite hook -- that said, I'll certainly concede that being a "pretty white woman" does qualify. Being white, from middle America, and the parent of a student athlete does not -- no more than being an inner-city crack dealer, really.
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People don't become "galvanized"
[Read the article: A sad King birthday in San Francisco]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]because they have no idea where to start. I live in a violent city, as well, and I confess to apathy and despair. I sure as hell can't stomp my pretty little foot and refuse to take it anymore, and the cops are apparently as impotent as I am. Addressing poverty and hopelessness in the inner city would be a start -- but that's, um, kind of a huge task, y'know?
Violence is a cancer in our cities. Or maybe it's a symptom of the cancer that is legacy poverty. Which is a symptom of the cancer of racism. The original sin America may never overcome.
Joan, please accept my condolences.
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The shocking lapse
[Read the article: Latina teen girls have surprisingly high rate of attempted suicide]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]in basic reading comprehension on the part of Carol Lloyd is, I fear, dwarfed by her alacrity in stating pure conjecture as if it were established fact when it comes to causal factors. Carol Lloyd has discredited herself, Salon, and to a lesser degree, feminism, although she is certainly not its spokesperson. Raising private preoccupations to the level of rational discourse results in a kind of shopgirl's philosophy, sorry. However torn Carol Lloyd felt as a teen re: the sexuality/demureness paradox, however legitimate a grievance it is, it does nothing to explain why women kill themselves at a greater rate than men.
Particularly since they don't. By a long, long shot.
BTW, "having a string of boyfriends until they get knocked up" (gee, no stereotype there) doesn't necessarily negate the "stereotypical" assertion that Hispanics have stronger family ties, generally speaking, than Americans. Are the pregnant girls then exiled from the family bosom?
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Allie
[Read the article: I get grossed out when I hear, "I'm a mom!"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]We all agree with your last point. That is to say, we all fervently hope you never become a mom.
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Vegetarians
[Read the article: Hey, skinny bitch!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]lay gnarly dumps.
(No cruelty was used in illuminating this elephant in the room.)
Pew!
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Xanadu,
[Read the article: Rock vs. jazz]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Get a Mingus anthology or box set. Get some 60s-era Sonny Rollins. Get some Gil Evans orchestra. McCoy Tyner's The Real McCoy. Art Blakey -- Indestructible. Thelonius Monk -- just a greatest hits is fine for starters. Coltrane's My Favorite Things is obvious and accessible, but also moody, complex and awesome. A Love Supreme is a little more challenging.
Lots more, but.
My 2 cents.
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Quotable Cary
[Read the article: Could I quit the drinking but keep the hangovers? ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]that neglected stepchild in the drinker's menagerie
Ha!
You know, the appealing thing about a hangover -- or even the 8th hour of a trip, as Poster #1 observed -- is that you're prevailing over an adversary. You're exercising mind over matter, and it doesn't really even take any discipline; you have no choice. The mind swells by dint of its own strength. Only by having an adversary is the mind liberated and aware of its own awesome indomitability!
Of course, adversaries like childhood abuse, etc. -- i.e., demons -- may take a lifetime to prevail over; and the true self-control afforded by Eastern religious disciplines and the like require, well, discipline.
But a hangover or a stiff trip offer twice the melodrama at a fraction of the price. That which doesn't kill you, et cetera.
All hail the mighty hangover! You gonna eat that last biscuit, or what?
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One gets the impression
[Read the article: Has success ruined America's friendliest filmfest?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]O'Hehir might not think so highly of SXSW if he lived somewhere warm in March where they make good salsa.
Austin collapsed under its own hype 10 or 12 years ago, but they had already pulled off the civic-boosting coup of all time by scheduling SXSW in March. Genius, really.