Letters to the Editor
domini
Published Letters: 1162 Editor's Choice: 79
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Keeping Mama busy
[Read the article: How to care for my aging mother?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]As onr of the roundrobin of givers, I can say that having something to do is important. That's the best reason to keep her in her hometown. I've seen other relatives and other people's relatives deteriorate out of sheer boredom. Keeping my mother occupied can be fun. Can she teach? Does she have a skill? Would she like volunteering at the hospital? Does she want to sing in a choir? Volunteer at the library? Help single mothers? Crochet or knit hats for babies? political work? Sit the front desk for a volunteer task? Oh, she also needs exercise. Take her kicking and screaming to the Y for the senior classes in aqua exercise, walking, etc. She'll fight, so you need to learn to ignore her and just stuff her in the car. Learning to diplomatically roll over your mother when the irrational head butting happens is a skill. It is guilt inducing but necessary.
If you move her to the duplex, have a list of stuff that she likes to do and be prepared to force her to do it. Airtran has very cheap tickets; use them. There are senior tours, senior bus trips (the casino is VERY popular, and she won't be the oldest on the bus!) Investigate ways to make her feel useful and happy. That will make you life much easier. I say this as I struggle to do this (my mother is too smart and energenic for all of our good- it's hard to get ahead of her). She needs a community, or the mental deterioration will continue.
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OK, I laughed
[Read the article: Peace out, my Wigga]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm black, and I have my ghetto pass. But I laughed. I HATE THE WIGGLES. And since rap is dead (they use it in McD's commercials for God's sake-Easy E is rolling over in his grave) it seems fitting. The end of the supergroup which has been a bane to my existance is coming.
If you have never have 4-5 4 year olds in your front room, screaming and moving to that stuff, or if you like it, you won't understand. I couldn't ban those fools the way I banned Barney (he scared everyone, including the kid), the Teletubbies (mesmerized the 15 month old- are they telling him to kill us in our sleep or what), the Smurfs (on principle), and a few others. The Wiggles are everywhere. They are rhythmless. They are musically challenged. Their stuff is, for lack of a better word, weird. I'll take Blue's Clues, Dora, or anything else any day of the week.
To imagine this crew in hiphop outfits is a gas. It's like when Pat Boone tried to go hardcore metal, and wound up in a dog collar singing metal tunes to string orchestras. You have to have a certain sense of irony for it.
It's ok king. My friends laughed their heads off. I guess I'm just not intellectual enough for Salon on some days.
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If we want to learn about sexual moresx, this article was not the place
[Read the article: Dangerous liaisons]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]There's better scholarship out there. "The Lost sisterhood" and the "Techonology of Orgasm" pop into mind. Better written and more interesting. While in London there was a problem with child prostitutes, don't act like it was considered normal. It was seen as perverted. While Casanove had access, most people would have looked down on his exploitation. This work seems to have problems of accuracy and of context. I don't think we need to "fiction up" history to make it interesting. I would rather it be accurate.
I think the interpretation of Casanova as a "sexual liberator" is less than accurate. These upper class women were not free. The femme couvert still covered them, etc. The incest is simply proof of his and their bored boundary pushing.
As for it being too salacious for 17 year olds, MM should take the filter off her Google and put the word "thong" in. Or worse yet, hit Google images. Compared to that stuff, this review is really tame. Most 17 year olds have seen far worse.
I would not introduce ten year olds to politics, etc. Some things are meant for adults, and Salon is one of them. I don't want to talk to bright 10 year olds on a message board, either. THe children who you want to have access to any of this stuff are simply not mature enough. Nor is it fair for us to have to censor ourselves for them.