Letters to the Editor
nigelx
Published Letters: 40 Editor's Choice: 4
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Florrie Fisher
[Read the article: Strangers with Florrie]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]My 8th-grade "social health" class was shown an earlier film with the great Florrie Fisher around 1965, long before any of us suburbanites ever laid eyes on drugs. I've never forgotten it, and I remember her line about the girl "part black, part Spanish and part Indian... but it doesn't do her a bit of good becuase she's a raving lunatic..." She used to say, "If I can save one life--" It may seem hokey now, and it didn't stop me from using drugs, but my hat's off to Florrie, wherever she or her spirit may be.
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Montreal and Quebec literature
[Read the article: Destination: Montreal]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I've been to Quebec many times from the US but never to Montreal - just driven through it on my way to canoe and recuperate afterwards in the far-flung reaches of Quebec City, Chicoutimi, Chibougamou, and my favorite part of Quebec province, Lac St. Jean. I'd be interested in hearing about Quebec's Francophone literature, even in translation, as I've only read a couple of writers whose names I can't even recall right now. English literature is more than London; Quebec is more than Montreal.
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Congressman Foley's proclivities
[Read the article: The congressman and the page: Just creepy or "sick"?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I do find it curious that all of the congressmen who have been outed as gay, bi or whatever Foley's preference is, have been Republicans, with the exception of Barney Frank, as far as I know. Does this mean that gay Democrats have more finesse in leading their lives? Or just that gays are everywhere, and the GOP should admit it?
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Veils and faces
[Read the article: Sneering at the veil]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]There is a distinct difference, for me, between hijab which consists of a veil or scarf around the head and neck, and that which conceals the face completely or in part. Muslim women who cover their faces may feel modest, and for immigrants it may be what they are used to, but in Western cultures, which is where they are living, it is in fact considered insulting: it says, "You are not good enough to see my face." Yes, cultures have different standards of dress -- in the tropics it is common for men to go about dressed only in soccer shorts, but in the U.S. the law is "No shirt, no shoes, no service," and if you are in the U.S. you must comply or stay out of the store. I wouldn't walk down the street in Egypt in a tank top and shorts, because it's not appropriate for the community; likewise, people living in the West have to realize that here, honest people show their faces.
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Stranger rape
[Read the article: Exploiting female voters' fear of rape]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Mary Lauby, executive director of Jane Doe Inc., an anti-domestic-violence organization, was quoted as stating that rape "is not strangers jumping out of bushes." In point of fact, sometimes it is. It was for me.
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"Oriental" and "Gypsy"
[Read the article: The new bohemians]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The term "Oriental", when applied to the music and dance of the lands from Turkey to Iran (or so) is in fact the correct word: it derives from the original Latin meaning of the "Orient", which is the East, that is, the lands east of the Romans, or what we now call the "Middle" East, and has nothing to do with Asia, the "Far" East. "Oriental" has been rejected by Asian-Americans (I don't know how Asians feel about it), but among my belly dancing colleagues, it's the correct word to describe a certain type of music of the eastern Mediterranean and its dance forms. I would say that "Gypsy music" has a broader connotation than "Roma music": if you called R&B "Black music", you would not be far off, even though many of its performers are not Black.
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Fed-Ex's threats
[Read the article: The Fix]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]So it's not going to bring about world peace... But if K-Fed is threatening to release a sex tape if he doesn't get paid a hefty sum, isn't that extortion? Or blackmail? I mean, call the cops on this guy.
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Firecrotch?
[Read the article: So long, Paris]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm all for expanding my vocabulary, so would someone please explain what this word is supposed to mean? Horny? Diseased?
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Egg flip
[Read the article: Nothing but nog]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]There is indeed a drink called an egg flip, which is, or used to be, found in Britain. I've never had one and I don't know the precise ingredients, but my impression is that it is non-alcoholic and more like the New York drink called an egg cream (which nowadays contains no eggs). Sometimes it was given to fortify an ill person's constitution.
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Massachusetts and legality of marriages
[Read the article: Mitt Romney likes it straight]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This is something I have been wondering about for some time, ever since gay marriage and/or civil unions were legalized in some states or countries: I read once in a legal reference source that a marriage that is legally contracted in one jurisdiction must be recognized in another. Now, this was before same-sex marriage had become a legal possibility, so presumably this was understood to pertain to situations such as a couple having been married in India at the age of 13, or marriage between first cousins, which is legal in the UK and in some US states but not others (like New York). Therefore a married couple who are first cousins do not have their marriage declared invalid in New York, and by the same reasoning, even if a couple, same-sex or otherwise, couldn't GET married in New York, they could still BE married in New York.
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Angelina Jolie and Marianne Pearl
[Read the article: Beyond the Multiplex]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I've seen pictures and video of Marianne Pearl, and until our letter writer pointed out that she has African ancestry, I assumed she was French, or perhaps Lebanese or Jewish. Curly hair and a tan complexion do not make someone "black" or even "biracial", regardless or who their parents or grandparents were. Jolie probably got the part because she is Politically Active Top Movie Star du jour. Physically Mrs. Pearl could be played by any number of "white" actresses.
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Please clarify for the novice mixologist
[Read the article: Summer sips]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Could you explain "muddled"? And what is a "simple syrup"?
Thanks -
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Sound level in theatres
[Read the article: Beyond the Multiplex]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I agree that the sound level in multiplex-type theatres is often too high. The projectionist needs to be aware that human bodies, or any bodies, absorb sound, and therefore the level needs to be turned up when the theatre is full and down when it is sparsely populated. Also distressing is hearing screaming and explosions from the theatre next door.