Letters to the Editor
Kevin Andrew Murphy
Published Letters: 18 Editor's Choice: 1
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A family of artists
[Read the article: My walls are covered with my mother's paintings]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I understand the whole situation. My grandmother was a painter. My grandfather, a woodcarver. They left a huge number of paintings and carvings to the family, but thankfully they were all left communally and we simply picked and chose among ourselves and put them up where we wanted. Having the entire gallery, however, would make me feel like I was in their living room, not mine.
What you have are heirlooms. Pick the ones you like best and pick a number which you think your daughter would likewise like and appreciate, then spread the rest throughout your family and your mother's friends. When your mother left you he paintings, she likely meant you not to be the permanent currator of all of them (no one lives forever) but rather her artistic executor, the one who decides what happens to her work.
My mother has one painting by her great-great grandfather. It's very old and quite nicely done, but it's the only one we have by him. Your daughter will likely have children one day and so on and so on. Keep enough that all your grandchildren will have something to remember their great grandmother.
And paintings store flat very well. All you need to keep the ones that aren't on display is a chest or cabinet or even the back of a closet.
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Making Amends
[Read the article: I'm mentally ill but I'm no mass killer]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]People who you've hurt or injured glare at you. That is a natural reaction. If you don't like this, learn to cultivate some tact and diplomacy if you don't possess it naturally.
Yes, they should forgive you. Yes, it would be the right thing. But yes, these things are generally said by psychologists and/or priests, people who are in the business of forgiving people, and wouldn't collect their paychecks if they didn't. And moreover, probably wouldn't give you the time of day if you weren't paying their billable hours or being part of their congregation.
You want regular people to forgive you? Make amends. Talk is cheap and asking for forgiveness is cheap, especially if you do it in public where there's the emotional blackmail aspect where the person you're asking will seem like a jerk if they don't say they forgive you. Besides which, being forgiven doesn't mean someone will like you now or again or ever. You're associated in their mind with pain and injury.
You want to make that go away? Repair the damage you did, and even if you can't, go out of your way to do nice things for them. If you're lucky, you'll end up an emotional mixed bag for them, and eventually on their schedule--not yours--they may actually forgive you, not just say the words.
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To better serve our customers, we are cutting services...
[Read the article: Goodbye to the Fix, for now]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Joan,
Please. Points for at least mentioning that the Fix is being canceled, but don't try to spin it as something that improves Salon.
I was a subscriber for years until the percentage of election blather began to crowd out the actual investigative journalism, presumably because election blather is cheap but Phil Robertson actually needs to get paid to sneak into Iraq and write war coverage and investigative journalism. Sad to hear that writing a gossip column summary requires more actual journalistic research than just spouting off about the next election.
Besides, as others have pointed out, to have your lead article about Alec Baldwin's self-flagellation after being caught making an angry-dad call to his daughter? In what universe is this not celebrity gossip? Ditto the fanboyish "I saw John Edwards in the shampoo aisle! Squee!" bit of celeb-spotting that tried to pass itself off as election blather?
Here's a suggestion on how to keep the Fix: make it the spot for all the other columnists to dump all the amusing cheesy-poof fluff they find in researching their regular stories and patch it together from that. Heather can cover the tv celebrities like the Baldwin nonsense which of course has nothing to do with his acting. King can cover whatever silliness is going on in the sports world that has nothing to do with actual sports. The various political bloggers you're employing as columnists can put in the crap about John Edward's hair. Then let an intern with his or her ear to the ground cover the gaps. There, you have the Fix.
Will it be as good? Maybe, maybe not. But it will at least keep Salon from turning completely into a left-leaning election blog.
And for Pete's sake, drop the cutesy bunny videos from Video Dog.
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A case of too many queens, not enough handmaids
[Read the article: The few. The culturally aware. The Language Corps]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Back when I was getting my degree, I was taught the dirty little proverb "Anthropology is the handmaid of Imperialism."
From what we've seen here, this is what happens when Imperialism forgets her handmaid.
Of course, what happened here is that handmaid already told the queen that invading was a bad idea; if you were going to invade, don't burn the libraries and museums; and omigod, you just said "Crusade" in a speech Mr. POTUS? WTF? Do you have any idea what that means there?
Right about the point that Bush was snarling "Bring it on!" the handmaid was in the corner babbling "I told you... I told you so... No one listens to Cassandra... I told you so..."
And now the queen is calling for her handmaid to translate for her? Fine: "No, Your Majesty, those are guns, not rosepetals, and they're telling you to get your stupid ass out."
And the handmaid is being diplomatic with her translation. What the Iraqis are saying is far less polite.