Letters to the Editor

• Yahoo's "Oddly Enough" stories

  [Read the article: Dumbledore? Gay. J.K. Rowling? Chatty.]
  [Read more letters about this article: Here]

  Yahoo has a section in their news pages titled "Oddly Enough." It's all the little weird news stories that are fun to read but don't mean much beyond that. I consider "Dumbledore is gay" to be one of those stories. Somebody asked J.K. Rowling and she answered. She probably should have been more subtle or demure or left it more to people's imaginations, but she didn't. This happened Friday night. It probably was good as a Saturday "offbeat news" item. Maybe even Sunday.

  Today it's Tuesday. There are over 300,000 people -- that's a low estimate -- displaced in San Diego due to the worst fires the city has ever seen (far worse than the Cedar Fires in 2003). All of the city's hotels are at full capacity, turning people away. The high schools have been turned into evacuation centers. The football stadium is full of people. A significant number of evacuees have lost their homes. It's like San Diego's equivalent of a Katrina event.

  Even in the areas that aren't evacuated or on the advisory list, the effects of the fires are inescapable. You can't go outside without your eyes burning. The sky has a yellow tint everywhere you look. Prolonged outdoor exposure leaves you with sooty mucus. Many people's couches have been turned into the new sleeping places for friends who have had to evacuate.

  So that's why I had the knee-jerk response to this column last night. I apologize for being harsh. Salon has to keep "feeding the beast" with new stories. It was inevitable they would do a piece on Dumbledore being gay. It's the perfect subject for right-wingers to get upset about and leftists to celebrate. But.....

  Permalink Tuesday, October 23, 2007 10:14 AM

• Strange question, stranger answer

  [Read the article: My boss says I'm a lesbian but I'm not!]
  [Read more letters about this article: Here]

  What bothers me about the Letter Writer's situation is this: Why doesn't she just walk up to her boss and say, "I heard you have been referring to me as a closeted lesbian. This is not true, and I do not appreciate this assumption. I would prefer that you stop." Sure, it's easier for me to say this than for the LW, who is in a powerless position, but I think that's the best advice one could give. Your boss's reaction is out of your control, of course, but if you state your side calmly and without hostility, and if the boss is a reasonably intelligent person, her reaction should not be something to worry about.

  Cary's response is weirder. Why did you focus on her style of clothing and grooming habits? I can only imagine it has been a long time since Cary was around college-age people of various types. There are a LOT of left-leaning, hippie-ish women who do not "read" as heterosexual in a standard way, but who are completely heterosexual. Plenty of liberal women don't shave their legs. Plenty of them maintain shorter hairstyles and avoid using makeup. Why? Because it's a simpler, less fussy, less typically mainstream way to live. Personally I prefer if a woman still has a nice presentation, with some feminine aspects highlighted, but it's not my place to judge those who have other priorities. So....what was your point, Cary?

  As for the issue of sexual harassment, nobody should ever believe for a second that gays and lesbians are any better than anybody else in this regard. Minorities, given power, often commit the very same abuses that have been perpetrated against them.

  Permalink Tuesday, October 23, 2007 01:53 PM

• Interesting

  [Read the article: Why I miss the dead-tree newspaper]
  [Read more letters about this article: Here]

  This is a good piece about an important subject. Well done.

  Permalink Tuesday, October 23, 2007 08:36 PM