Letters to the Editor
Margalis
Published Letters: 614 Editor's Choice: 16
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How exactly?
[Read the article: Taking it to the streets]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Does a middle aged woman immerse herself in street kid culture?
D&D? Ha ha...1980 wants its catch-all scapegoat back. I suppose Judas Priest played backwards is also to blame...
Why don't cops take these kids seriously? Why would they? Gang violence is far far more pervasive. Look at a city like my fine Boston - how many murders here are gang related (a lot) and how many street family related? (Few if any)
This reads like one of those breathless "next on 20/20 - your kids may be going to RAVES!" pieces of garbage.
"Controlled by self-appointed "moms" and "dads," these "families" are often far more rigid, controlling and violent than those the kids fled. Members commit muggings, deal drugs and participate in gay-bashing incidents. Still, police in many cities pay them little attention, instead focusing their energies on more traditional gangs."
Yes - because gangs are *killing* people on a constant basis! Knives and chains vs. guns. Not a tough one.
I especially liked this part:
No. What is really striking about it is in the past we had hippie cultures and the punk cultures. And there were certainly a lot of criminals that intersected those cultures, but they were largely about something kind of productive and exciting and artistic.
LO fucking L. Yes, because punks don't carry chains and knives, play D&D, wear mohawks or mug people.
This is just an updated "my generation is better than your generation." The problem-children of days gone by were just misunderstood creatives while the problem children of today are sociopaths.
Yawn.
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Why the D&D reference annoys people..
[Read the article: Taking it to the streets]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It isn't correct. D&D is just a stupid scapegoat that always gets trotted out when some kid does something wrong, despite the fact that very few kids actually play D&D.
And no, "D&D" is not a generic term for roleplaying.
The "young nomads are every bit as dangerous as the Bloods and the Crips"? No, they aren't.
Of course the most amusing part of it was the "punks in my day were productive and creative" garbage. (Without a hint of irony) I'm sure parents in those days were saying that!
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As far as The Pit at Harvard is concerned, would you rather walk through Crips territory or The Pit drunk at 3 AM? I'm going to go out on a limb and guess The Pit, seeing as how hundreds of people do that every day without major incident. (I'm happy to report I was there just last night yet miraculously survived)
Street Families are not the Cleavers but this sort of breathless reporting is pointless. How about some analysis of *why* people join street families?
The author says that some people just up and walk out of their dorms to join them - surely there must be some explanation beyond Marvel Comics, The Matrix and D&D.
This reads like every other "kids are doing fucked up things" piece we've ever seen. Its like they all come from some generic mad-lib.
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Her time came and went
[Read the article: Camille's back!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]No nice way to say it. It isn't 1995 any more.
Camille has been repeating the exact same schtick for years now. Her claim to fame has always been saying nothing with style. When the style gets old nothing is left.
Will we live to see the day that Camille makes it through an entire column without calling a man effeminate? Such are the great mysteries of life.
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'ABC's "Nightline" called via my publisher for comment, but I felt far too upset to go on TV.'
LOL. Yet another in the long line of "people who felt profoundly sad and moved when someone they didn't give two shits about turned up dead." How genuine.
'Never mind the pills -- which put Smith into a hypnotic, seductive Candy Darling haze.'
LOL again. Seriously how can she produce this drivel with a straight face? (Assuming she does, which seems an unsafe assumption) Hypnotic and seductive? How about incoherent and pathetic?
Again, its just a dumb schtick and the schtick has lost whatever novelty it once had. Remember the "I didn't do it" boy?
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One thing I enjoy...
[Read the article: Camille's back!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...is that every time Camille writes here the response is overwhelmingly negative, with very legit and consistent complaints, which Salon of course doggedly ignores.
I've never understood why Salon has letter pages when neither authors or editors bother responding at all.
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Deja vu all over again
[Read the article: Camille's back!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"Somewhere in Silicon Valley there exists a piece of software that can analyze her previous columns and spit out new ones, if that is what you want."
I believe you are referring to the "copy/paste" functionality of Microsoft Word.