Letters to the Editor
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Published Letters: 260 Editor's Choice: 16
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The Problem with the Publishing Industry
[Read the article: I was conned by JT Leroy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Had "JT" pushed this as a piece of fiction, the publisher would have had nothing to do with it. I'm not justifying the author's tactics, I'm just saying that the publishing industry will rarely take you seriously, regardless of how well your work is written, if you don't fit into one of their "flavor of the month" categories. The current flavor of the month seems to be "reality" writing.
Bah humbug.
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Sophomoric and Insulting
[Read the article: Europe's cartoon jihad]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I find the cartoons sophomoric and insulting. They are no different than the jigaboos and gollywogs caricatures of a bygone era in the US. Or the disparaging depiction of Jews of an era Europe should be well aware of.
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Garden of Dreams
[Read the article: The oil is going, the oil is going!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Though well meaning, I think the idea of turning large chunks of Golden Gate Park, or NYC's Central Park, or LA's Griffith Park, into large community gardens to supplement the loss of imported food due to looming oil shortages is naive in the extreme. The huge populations in these three cities could never be supported by such means. Even if you train people to lower their consumption -- most Americans, myself included, are at least a bit overweight -- these dream community gardens won't cut it.
Two things will save us. As consumers, we lower our consumption. As a society, we start immediate funding (to the tune of hundreds of billions a year) into research for more efficient solar panels and batteries. Imagine a solar panel that can produce enough electricity to run a house on a cloudy day. Or a battery the size of a nickel that can run a skyscraper for a month. Impossible? So were a lot of things, once upon a time. But this sort of dreaming, I believe, will help us more than the dream of community gardens in every metropolis. Not that I'm against gardening.
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Go Team!
[Read the article: The K Chronicles]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]One of Keef's better strips. Laughed out loud.
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Gotcha!
[Read the article: Tom the Dancing Bug]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Lucky Ducky is my hero. I'll follow him to the ends of the earth.
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Put the "M" back in MTV
[Read the article: Quarterlife crisis]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I've said it a zillion times and I'll keep on saying. The day MTV starts showing videos again, regularly, consistently, is the day I'll start watching again.
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Liberation Clothing
[Read the article: Speedo freaks]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Speedos, and their cousin the bike shorts, are what helped drag me out of the closet. I'll always look and I'll always enjoy.
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LOL
[Read the article: Tom the Dancing Bug]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This week's Tom the Dancing Bug left me in stitches. I think a copy needs to be faxed to every world leader and religious leader ASAP.
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Nevermind Larry
[Read the article: We hate to watch]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Larry King is the least of CNN's problems. Anderson cooper is far more grating, all themore because he's supposed to represent serious journalism. Quite the contrary, he is the epitome of superficiality. Nohting seems to hold his attention for more than 10 seconds. His show makes no attempt at depth, only whiz-bang flashiness. And the sounds effects and graphics are just the limit. I'll take Larry any day of the week over Anderson Cooper.
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Still a planet in our hearts
[Read the article: Tom the Dancing Bug]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I hope plenty of IAU members have seen this latest TDB. The whole debate over Pluto has been obnoxiously silly. And this brilliant strip by Mr. Bolling has captured that silliness superbly.
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$30,000???
[Read the article: Unhappily ever after]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Uh, OK. Let's suppose this happy couple lives where I do, the SF Bay Area. Let's say they own a house. Let's say that said house has a typical Bay Area property value of $500,000. Let's say that they made 20% down on this house and that their mortage is around $2500/month. Are you saying that the guy is going to earn enough money to make the mortgage payment by himself? Because the $30,000/year the wife is making won't do squat. It will barely pay for food and utilities, especially if they have children.
My parents we're able to raise 5 kids, own a home (in LA) and send them all to college (with grants and loans) all on a single income (my Dad's) which was barely $40,000. But this was a long time ago. And these days are long, long gone.
Mr. Noer is clearly living in an extreme fantasy world if he thinks that today's couple can live on a single income. I would think that the financial stress created by such an arrangement would doom a relationship far more than the purported doom he's alarmed about by a working woman earning a decent salary.
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Dim Future
[Read the article: Come as you are]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Somehow, reading about a group of people a decade younger than me who perpetuate the doctrine that women are second class citizens is very depressing indeed.
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Well done!
[Read the article: Tom the Dancing Bug]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Clearly Mr. Bolling is just as annoyed as I am about those Hummer ads where a guy who's a vegetarian compensates for his supposedly unmanly diet by buying a Hummer. Well done!
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Context
[Read the article: Teammates: Allen used "N-word" in college]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This report puts Sen. Allen's current behavior -- the macaca incident -- into context. Now we have established a long history of racist behavior. No one can argue that he's changed since his college days, not since the macaca mess. Similarly, one cannot say that the macaca incident was an isolated incident. The man is a bigot, and apparently one of very long standing.
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Seeing Tomorrow
[Read the article: This Modern World]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Oh, he'll see tomorrow, alright, in a nice happy place known as The Village. Wait, he's already there, alone with the rest of us.
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Hazzards of the Avant Garde
[Read the article: Tom the Dancing Bug]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]My favorite "avant garde art" story: John & Yoko release one of their conceptual art recordings (I can't remember which) in the late 60s. One reviewer, who received an advanced copy, commented extensively about the artistic qualities of two sides of this "double" album where there is only faint noise or hissing heard for the entire length of the side. I think he described it as a hypnotic hum or something of the sort. Turns out that it was not a "double" album, but a single album with each side on its own disc; the reverse side was empty. Think of voter ballots where it says "this page intentionally left blank." The reviewer, not knowing this, felt he needed to say something so as not to sound unhip.
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Just add some notes
[Read the article: Queer and loathing on Capitol Hill]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Sidney's article would make a perfect libretto. Just tinker with the language a bit and add some notes and you've got a grand opera.