Letters to the Editor
DurianJoe
Published Letters: 1315 Editor's Choice: 69
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Allie, great point about situational awareness.
[Read the article: Police: Woman raped, witnesses do nothing]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Being aware of your surroundings is the most important self defense tactic. Don't walk down a deserted sidewalk when a group of young men is lurking in a doorway. Be very suspicious of vans parked next to your driver's side door. Etc., nauseum. Lastly, avoid getting into a fight at all costs whenever possible. Bruised egos heal much more thoroughly than bruised bodies; besides, who cares what some idiot street thug says about you, anyway?
No, I'm not from Malaysia. I'm just a regular shlub from New York. The "DurianJoe" name was just a joke but I stuck with it. I've had fresh durian, and after running screaming for my life the first few times, I found that the fruit has an oddly enjoyable, custard-lke flavor. However, my wife still insists that it tastes exactly how it smells: like used gym socks that have been locked in a jar for 10 years.
P.S. I sorry your friend didn't have his sword or bo stick with him. :) Myself, I carry pepper spray. No katas necessary.
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The torture and murder of Sylvia Likens
[Read the article: Police: Woman raped, witnesses do nothing]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]For anyone who looks to America's small town past for community and a sense of mutual caring, I say: Sylvia Likens.
Sylvia was a 15 year-old girl who was murdered in small town Indiana in 1965. Over the course of several months, she was held prisoner in a suburban basement by Gertrude Baniszewski and her children. They, along with neighborhood children, tortured and raped Sylvia for weeks on end. People in that town knew something was happening, but no one wanted to get involved. Sound familiar?
There are, coincidentally, two movies coming out about this very soon: An American Crime, which is a docudrama, and The Girl Next Door, based on a Jack Ketchu novel which fictionalized the Likens case. I recommend that book, but you will feel awful and enraged after reading it.
Whether or not a failure to help others is cultural or individual is ultimately irrelevant. If someone needs help, you help them.
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According to my Italian tour guide, the fat ones are the Americans.
[Read the article: I Like to Watch]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Several years ago I was chatting with my Italian tour guide while in some city street, when see said, "Germans." She then pointed to a group of foreign tourists and told me that she could tell they were tourists simply by their clothes, which she said were always unfashionable. She then went on to tell me the telltale signs of other nationalities. Finally I asked her how she could tell who was American. "They're the fat ones," she said. (Ironically, neither I nor the 5 other Americans in our group were fat).
In Czesky Krumlov, Czech Republic, in 2003, I had a very sophisticated conversation about American politics with a local restaurant owner who was stoned out of his gourd. Alas, my knowledge of Czech politics was nil. I wish I hadn't assured him that there was no way on Earth Bush would get re-elected.
In Paris, I made friends very quickly with some shop owners when I told them I thought Bush was the worst President in U.S. history.
The common theme running through my conversations with these and other folks I met was how much they admired the U.S., but how disappointed they were in us lately (all three of my visits happened during Bush's term).
Nobody I met would have wanted to trade their country's lifestyle for those of Americans, whom they all saw as overworked and stressed out members of a dog eat dog society. After travelling through these and a few other European cities throughout the years, I can't say I disagree.
Incidentally, Heather, were you stoned when you wrote this column? It had an awfully high silliness factor (silly in a good way).
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Tiberius, that was then.
[Read the article: I Like to Watch]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Plenty of countries have done wonderful things in their pasts, but you can't sit on your laurels forever. The USA was great in WWII; not so great before, and pretty piss poor afterwards.
Anyway, Darfur is calling for help, but we ain't answering.
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Washington Post: snivelling little cowards.
[Read the article: Silencing "Opus"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I can't believe that the Post wouldn't run that Opus strip. Given their cheerleading for the Iraq War and the hoped-for Iran War (hoped for by twits and loonies, that is), you'd think that the last thing they care about is offending Muslims.
I don't get it at all.
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If you love something, set it free
[Read the article: My girlfriend tried cocaine at a party! She was drunk! Oh my God!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Dear LW:
I'm going to sound harsh with you, but keep reading. If you care for your girlfriend, break up with her. You are insufferably immature and narrow-minded, and you will make her miserable.
After you become single again, spend that time working on yourself. You do not need to stay immature and narrow-minded. Take time to explore why you are this way, and try to change it. Work to become a more tolorant and open-minded person.
You need to live in this world, and experience this world beyond you own very narrow view of acceptable human behavior. If you do this, you will become not only a happier person, but a better person.
Free not only your girlfriend, but your future self from your present self.
Good luck.