Letters to the Editor
Treeple
Published Letters: 304 Editor's Choice: 16
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Power chose to resign
[Read the article: Obama advisor Power resigns]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Without undue pressure by the Clinton campaign. A resignation, IMO, was totally unecessary (and I support Clinton). But now Obama supporters get to spin that Clinton "forced" Power to resign because Clinton is a crybaby who can't take it.
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Family conflict in general
[Read the article: Why girls cut themselves]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]There is an established correlative link between cutting and conflict or chaos within the family...no surprise that focusing on a specific relationship within the family will reflect that.
Interesting that TCF's critical take on how this study will be used in the MSM is headed "Why girls cut themselves." (Read here, to find out that some people are suggesting it's moms!) Takes a bit of the bite out of your point, doesn't it, when you do the same thing?
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voice of reason...
[Read the article: Why girls cut themselves]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Well, they don't really conflate suicide and self-injury, as much as say that the latter is a risk factor for suicide attempts. I think this is statistically true, although suicide collects risk factors like stamp collectors collect stamps. Of course I agree with you that self-injury and suicide are most definitely not the same phenomenon. I hope, and actually believe, that most researchers and clinicians know that by now.
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kryptogal
[Read the article: Why girls cut themselves]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If you spent time with this problem outside of high school, you might see a very different picture. Not all cutters are 15-year-old kids impressing themselves and their friends. Some do cut very deep. And even though the vast majority of these more serious injuries are NOT life-threatening, many people think they are. Unfortunately, many of those people are in positions of power. So it actually does matter if a cutter presents to an emergency room for stitches and the doctor thinks this is a botched suicide attempt. This used to happen quite a lot. It does not happen as much anymore because the research eventually trickled down to the real world.
But putting aside the question of why people make such a big deal over the physical results, people who cut themselves usually aren't very happy. They have a right to appropriate care, medical and psychological. (Before tattos and piercing went mainstream, those people were overpathologized, too.)
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Hey LW
[Read the article: Have I ruined my karma by sleeping with prostitutes?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If these letters get you down, see Dan Savage's column "Savage Love" for a more open-minded view of discrete adultery. You may or may not be suffering karmic retribution for cheating on your wife (my personal view is not), but you're more likely to *deserve* karmic retribution for telling your wife years after the fact, IMO.
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Wife might not want to know...
[Read the article: Have I ruined my karma by sleeping with prostitutes?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]There's knowing, but not having to admit or deal with knowing, and there's being told, i.e. *knowing*. The LW might know better what his wife wants. I know for me, that if I were in a long-term relationship and for some mysterious "medical" reason couldn't or didn't want to have sex (a medical condition that apparently does not prevent me from taking care of him in his old age, but anyway...), and my husband engaged in emotionless sex with a prostitute, I would not want to know about it. I would want to know about an actual affair, with feelings and intimacy and all that, so I could leave him. But just sex? No. His not telling her may be a kindness based on their own reality.
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Congrats, LW
[Read the article: I only feel alive when I'm in danger]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You are a textbook thrill-seeker! I am a much more modest one. The thing keeping me from seeking really dangerous highs is not the fear of death, per se (although as long as my parents are alive, I will take every precaution), but fear of injury. Is that something you think about? I would.
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Give it some time
[Read the article: I need a new dream]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]LW, it makes perfect sense that you don't feel up for pursuing adoption (or surrogacy?) *now* but in a year or so, you might find yourself stronger. Sure, you need a new dream. But maybe at some point in the future, you'll be able to re-examine your old one.
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I 3rd, 4th, 5th
[Read the article: India's "womb rental" industry]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The anti-video content. At least offer a transcript when you play anchorwoman.
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Actually, pubius maximus, you were quite mean
[Read the article: I'm living in filth!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It just seems you don't care because you think it's in the service of "truth." It is possible to be honest and compassionate. Perhaps you thought you were being funny.
My guess is that as nasty as you and other Salon readers have been toward this LW, she will probably not be overly affected by it. I'm sure it pales in comparison to how cruel she has been to herself.
But by all means, continue to tell people to institutionalize themselves (as if any of us have a chance at asylum these days).
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Two pieces of advice, consider at least one
[Read the article: Of Ph.D.s, gay lovers, slave narratives and the Ivy League]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Okay, LW, the first thing I'm going to suggest, you'll probably bypass, but I really wish someone would have said it to me (strongly, with knowledge and foresight)--
Nix the Ph.D. If you want to write a book about slave narratives, do it as a working journalist-historian. As insanely "who would pay me to do THAT?" as it sounds, you've probably a better chance at succeeding than in a doctoral program. On the other hand, if you want to be humiliated, demoralized, poor, and disenchanted, stay in school.
The second thing is, if you are determined to get a PhD, take the school with better weather. I'm in a top-ranked PhD program now, and let me tell you, I ain't getting no job in anything like the same. What you do in a program has more to do with your future success than where you are. This varies a little by discipline, but basically: can you get grant money? can you get published? If so, you'll be set. If not, it won't matter how good the school is.
I am going to end up at some lower-to-middle of the road school (if I stay in academia at all) and I'm going to LOVE it--because I'm going to move based on climate and culture. PhD programs are always longer than you think. OH MY GOD, if you have a choice to be in less malevolent weather closer to your partner, take it!
Best of luck to you--