Letters to the Editor
Samlor
Published Letters: 297 Editor's Choice: 33
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Mouthwash is far less expensive
[Read the article: Everything you know about absinthe is wrong]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]And Grain Alcohol goes down a bit smoother.
I tried perhaps 20 varieties 10 years ago when they started reemerging there. All beautiful in the glass. All with intriguing bottles and labels. All more like Listerine than Pernod.
Every one of them claimed to be the "real" absinthe - unlike the ones that came before them. Drinkwise, they all sucked. The smallest amount of 160+ proof alcohol is hell on the body and produces blackout drunkenness and industrial headaches far easier than a magical experience with friends.
I'm looking forward to trying the current round of new "real" absinthe. It would be great to find one that soothes rather than irritates. I'm not holding my breath.
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I'm a Kive lender as well!
[Read the article: Merry Christmas from Mawulé Agbeka]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I don't remember what got me involved - I probably read about it here.
I made three loans in April:
* $25 to a woman who owns a tire repair shop in Acuna, Mexico
* $25 to a young man in Kenya who has a butcher's shop
* $25 to a fisherwoman in Tonga
I realize that my connection to each of these people is an illusion that Kiva creates to make participating more compelling, but that's OK with me. It is the hook that got me to donate and it is the hook that will cause me to drop some more money into Kiva when finances allow. It also sounds like a wonderful Christmas gift akin to the Heifer people.
Thanks for reminding us about it, Andrew!
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Al Gore lied!
[Read the article: Maybe Romney had a dream]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Just a quick trip down memory lane...
Remember the manufactured outrage about Al Gore's lie that he had gone to Texas with [Personality XYZ] to see wildfires.
Al Gore had indeed gone to Texas before to see wildfires.
Al Gore had indeed gone to Texas before with [Personality XYZ].
Unfortunately, Al Gore never went to Texas to see wildfires on any of the same trips that he had gone with [Personality XYZ].
Therefore Al Gore is a liar.
Speaking of which - Bush never lied about Iraq because he believed everything he was saying at the time.
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IFC & Salon
[Read the article: Beyond the Multiplex: The year's best docs]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I like the two of these collaboration pieces that I've seen. I don't know how many more you have done. I've even caught the previous one on IFC proper a few times!
I really wish you would make these clips longer. IFC may have a self-imposed time limit for how long a segment like this can run, but Salon shouldn't. Andrew sounds like he is rushing to beat the clock during much of his part.
Two fascinating guys who really know a great deal about film... A year full of amazing documentaries... Certainly there's more to be said than was said here.
Perhaps you could produce a Salon cut in addition to the IFC cut with the Salon cut not being time constrained.
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Khudiram Bose
[Read the article: We South Asians like our leaders dead]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The "young revolutionary" mentioned in the article was Khudiram Bose who was hung at 19. There is a Wikipedia article about him here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khudiram_Bose
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Castaneda
[Read the article: Best of Salon 2007]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm both angry and glad (mostly glad) that you included the article about Carlos Castaneda in your roundup of the best articles of 2007. I must have missed the Castaneda article when you published it in April.
I'm not a Castaneda groupie. I read Teachings years ago and enjoyed it - but I most certainly didn't take it literally.
Castaneda had insight into the space where allegory, psychedelics, hallucination, spirituality, folklore and religion bump elbows. Did anyone ever actually turn into a crow? Of course not - but Castaneda realized that on some level, whether one hallucinates turning into a crow or one actually turns into a crow is the same thing.
I dare say that the author of the Castaneda article has never played with psychedelics. This doesn't make him any less of a man or a writer - but is leaves him ill-equipped to interpret Castaneda fully.
Are you experienced?
I don't want to create the impression that those of us who have experienced psychedelics consider ourselves part of an exclusive club... Christ - when I was at Berkeley LSD was everywhere for $1 a hit - an inexpensive and easily attained ticket to the "nagual" - a place that exists only in the universes of our own brains.
Once you've "been there," you realize that it's all between the ears. God bless Carlos Castaneda for writing about the psychedelic experience and making it palatable for so many people - so many seekers.
"To fathom Hell or soar angelic, just take a pinch of psychedelic." - Humphrey Oswald
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You're going to be a wonderful mother
[Read the article: The baby I turned away]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This was a great piece. I'm glad that your "haunting" as articulated wasn't as dire as the teaser paragraph on the Salon front page projected.
You made the right choice for you and you made the right choice for the little girl. It's pleasing to know that despite the "haunting" you're not beating yourself up over having made the [correct] decision that you did.
Thinking about the child - the path not taken - is natural and will probably always be there for you. This is probably a good thing. This memory will help keep you aware of the world that exists outside of your daily life.
You've been to India and you're familiar with the problems that so many teeming millions are faced with constantly there. Every one of us could travel to India and find needy people - needy children - and empty our bank accounts and our souls to try to improve as many lives there as possible - and not make a dent in India's poverty and associated problems. If one can adopt one Indian kid, why not two or three or ??? Where does it stop? India's problems will be there regardless of how many children are adopted by the west.
Your job is to be the best mother possible to whichever child you end up with. Through your love, you can make your child's world a beautiful place and raise her to be someone who can do the same for her own children someday.
That's really what this parenting thing is all about.