Letters to the Editor
Allie_
Published Letters: 1242 Editor's Choice: 109
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at least you still have a public library
[Read the article: The library fix]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm trying not to cry.
Everything Keillor says about what a library can mean is true. What isn't true is that neighborhood libraries still exist. I live in Memphis, Tennessee, and our brilliant, insightful leaders (who are demanding money to build a new stadium) have just ordered the closing of several of our public libraries, including the White Station branch, which was to me growing up what Keillor's library was to him.
Libraries, they say, are an idea whose time is past. This is the information age, and information (everyone knows) comes exclusively from computers.
I presently live within the most densely populated zip code in Memphis. There is no library within walking distance of me. Never has been. There were never plans for one. There are no bike lines in Memphis, either. Not one single bike lane, and rudimentary public transportation, which means that the children of the many poor people without cars (for whom a library would be most essential, as a link to a better life) are shit out of luck. The closest branch closes at 6 p.m., making it essentially impossible for anyone who works or anyone with working parents to use it. I haven't been, but I've read in the papers why it closes so early: rows of gang members lined up outside, a beating and rape of a librarian in the parking lot, regular theft and intimidation of visitors.
The quiet zone inside a library isn't valuable unless you can get to it.
Mayor Willie Herenton, our city's leader, doesn't see libraries as a priority, which you might consider odd, since he was superintendent of schools before becoming mayor and could therefore be expected to take an interest in education. He doesn't. He takes an interest in bringing pay-for-view boxing matches to Memphis, and he takes an interest in basketball, but not education.
Public libraries sure are nice.
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re: questions
[Read the article: When covering up blocks the sun]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]So what exactly happens if you're Vitamin D deficient? It's clearly not lethal, since societies where the burqa is worn have managed to survive. Is there permanent damage? Does your body just function suboptimally? How serious is this?
Google "rickets". Rickets are what you get if you're Vitamin D deficient. Rickets won't kill you, just cause long bones to bend and make you a deformed cripple. For all I know, there could be a lot of bow legs hidden under those burqas. I'm guessing, though, that most female children aren't forced to cover up until puberty, so they get enough vitamin D during their growing years to allow their bones to develop normally.
It takes a fair bit of hard-headedness to avoid getting enough sunlight to prevent rickets in Saudi Arabia.
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compared to non-pregnant women
[Read the article: The world's sexiest vegetarians and more]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Here's the statistic someone asked for, how likely pregnant women were to be murdered compared to non-pregnant women of the same age.
In a study published last month in Child Maltreatment, researcher Cara Krulewitch of the University of Maryland at Baltimore School of Nursing found that between 1994 and 1998, pregnant women in Maryland were twice as likely to be murdered as non-pregnant women of the same age.
The debunking article seems ingenuous to me. "Hey, 8 murdered women in 75,000 isn't very many," is a foolish statement. That's roughly 1 in 10,000. One death per ten thousand otherwise healthy, young people is a lot of deaths. West Nile virus doesn't kill 1 in 10,000 people in an area, but it's enough to cause the CDC to recommend that we all wear bug spray and avoid being outside at sundown. And murder isn't like other "health issues," it's something that doesn't have to happen, period.
I'll agree that "OMGzorz if you get pregnant your husband will kill you!" is the wrong reaction to the study. Nevertheless it seems worth reporting that for women living with violent men, pregnancy can be the factor that pushes them from abuse to murder.
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re: natural-look makeup
[Read the article: How young is too young for mascara?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Bingo. I can't tell you the number of times I've had little old ladies come up and pet my face because "You look so nice without makeup" when I was wearing full makeup. Not to mention the times I've had men say something like, "I wish more women would go without makeup the way you do, you have such natural beauty."
Uh, no. My natural skin is subject to lupus-related freakouts. When my sed rate goes up, the first thing I notice is the pitch black circles under my eyes.
You aren't going to convince me that having to wear makeup is something the evil patriarchy forces on me; I'm very grateful that as a woman I'm allowed to wear it and keep my day-to-day health variations my own private business.
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oh wow
[Read the article: I'm an analytical chemist with a two-body problem]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It's rare that I disagree with Cary enough to start screaming, but this one is a screamer: GO TO TORONTO! FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE DON'T GIVE UP THIS JOB!
She's a CHILD. She's in school. School ends, people graduate. If she loves you now, it's possible she may still love you after she graduates. Then SHE can move to Toronto.
Way to wreck someone's life, Cary, Jesus.
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it's the first case that bothers me the most
[Read the article: "She liked to dress provocatively"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]For what it's worth, I could easily have passed for 16 at the age of 10. When I was 14, I used to have seniors ask me to buy beer for them.
However, no one could have mistaken me for a 16-year-old five minutes after I opened my mouth and started talking. A fourth-grader simply can't mimic the behavior of someone in high school. I was an exceptionally mature 4th-grader who preferred the company of adults, and there's simply no way.
The comment about the bicycle is to my way of thinking worse than the comment about provocative dress. Anyone who would think that a new bicycle would make a child "feel better" about being sexually abused clearly shouldn't be walking the streets where other people might mistake him for a human being.