The recent media focus on Rosa Parks reminds me of the shock I experienced in college when I first learned that prior to her moment on the bus, Parks had been an activist with her local NAACP, and had attended the renowned Highlander School for civil rights leaders. Since then, I have felt there was something insidious about the portrayal of Parks as a simple seamstress who was too tired to move to the back of the bus - that as a child, I was denied a lesson about the power of political organizing, and about the intentionality and autonomy of a brave young civil rights leader, in favor of a quaint fable about a humble Negro who accidentally caused change to happen.

Reading "Scissors" was a perplexing experience - it is a dreadfully written book, with no insight or self-awareness, and I couldn't uunderstand where the raves on the back cover had come from. I did pity Burroughs, and want to send him to therapy, but how pity could translate into positive reviews is completely beyond me. Thanks for finally saying what I've been thinking.

I just have to chime in to warn readers away from The Ruins. This god-awful piece of crap about (spoiler alert!)an out-of-control jungle fern features indistinguishable characters - the women are all self-centered cowards without half a brain between them; the guys are all... guys - and a plot line that harbors exactly one surprise, which is that there are NO RUINS involved in this book. None. Zip. Zero. Just a field the tourists get stuck in while looking for some ruins. There are lots of great genre novels out there to waste your time on - this isn't one of them.

It has long been a source of deep pain and frustration to me that the right wing of the American Jewish community effectively quashes any real debate about the occupied territories. Charges of anti-Semitism and Jewish self-hatred are a very effective smoke-screen, but in the end what's left choking is Israel itself, which degrades its culture and corrupts its soldiers by engaging in collective punishment and military occupation. Of course terrorism is inexcusable, but so is the systematic dehumanization of 3 million people under the control of a military machine. Palestinians - a traditionally secular people - are being pushed into the arms of Islamic fundamentalists by the policies of Israel. All of us - especially those with families in Israel like myself - will pay a heavy, if not tragic, price for that.

Dear Dayenu - as a fellow Jew I must ask you: do you really think Palestinian children must be brainwashed to hate Israel? Imagine yourself as a child: would you not hate men in uniform who drive armored bulldozers into your home, who mow down your olive trees and humiliate your elders in front of your eyes? Putting aside whether these actions are "justified" or not by the threat of terrorism, it is a simple fact that children living under occupation will hate the occupier. Even you believe with all your heart that Israel has no choice but to control a civilian population at gunpoint, do not suger-coat the reality: children who witness power at the end of a gun will a) despise the person holding the gun, and b) most likely conclude that violence is a legitimate means of achieving one's objectives. The Occupation breeds violence and hatred towards Jews. It hardly needs anti-Semitic propaganda to help it along.

I wish the comments were more about the shows, and less about Heather - it would be lot more interesting, and far less disheartening about the human race.

Did anyone else catch the creepiest thing about Dirt, which was an extremely explicit male-on-female anal sex scene? It was performed twice: once by the philandering girl friend and her secret lover, then -- as total violent revenge -- upon said girlfriend by her angry boyfriend. I mean, let's not kid ourselves - there are young people watching this softcore nonsense, and I have serious concerns about sending the message that when you're pissed off at your girlfriend, anal rape is an appropriate response.

I was so appalled by the Addison spin-off polluting an otherwise reasonable epsiode of Grey's, that I actually emailed Heather yesterday, imploring her to cover this purile, embarrassing let-down. Lo and behold, she was one step ahead of me. It's ben very gratifying to read the letters today - we all are in perfect agreement that the producers took the very appealing character of Addison and consigned her to barren bimbo-land for reasons known only to them. This is what still puzzles me: Grey;s Anatomy was a huge hit when the characters had depth and intelligence (relatively speaking, of course - it's not exactly Middlemarch, but it is network TV). So why dumb things down?

Beats The Sopranos hands down. More complex themes, more compelling characters, and incredibly entertaining.

Heather, I have to respectfully disagree with your comments re Brotherhood - I caught the 1st season on demand and I was blown away. How about this blasphemy: I find Brotherhood superior to the Sopranos. The characters are more complex, the action tougher and more realistic, the drama consistently surprising and deeply compelling. I encourage folks to check this show out.

Really? This raises thorny questions for you? Maybe you need to get out more.