Letters to the Editor
IndigoSwash
Published Letters: 101 Editor's Choice: 5
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BBC Coverage & Cary Tennis
[Read the article: The barefoot art of war]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Here is another article at the BBC:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7015212.stm
I admit I don't know much about this country, what used to be called Burma. But I very much hope the bravery of the monks and the people protesting brings change... and that the junta realizes it is facing a powerful public uprising.
Maybe this time, in a country that has had several uprisings, this one will succeed through the added strength and impact of the monks.
This in the BBC article is both beautiful and terrible:
"Monks marching to the home of Aung San Suu Kyi reportedly urged civilians not to join them and not to resort to violence.
But elsewhere witnesses said civilians were shielding the marching monks by forming a human chain around them."
I think it's much easier to write a letter responding to Cary Tennis than it is to respond to a growing crisis "far away." What can we do here in the US? I don't mean to be fatalistic. I really want to know.
There are so many times I've read of something horrible happening in the world and wanted to help, or stop violence, and wished I could be powerful enough to make a difference.
I know, this sounds maudlin probably, but all of this information streaming at us from around the world is both a blessing and a curse. I am glad for the knowledge of how people can stand up and risk their lives for others... but how awful that they must.
Maybe the best I can say is that reading news like this will inspire more courage and compassion as readers go about their daily lives.
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Also - Why is this story so far down the page?
[Read the article: The barefoot art of war]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I really think it belongs higher up at #1 or #2, not between Garrison Keillor and TV Daily!
Even Video Dog rates higher?
Thank you for having this story out, but it deserves more prominence I believe.
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"Too bad if the alcoholics aren't happy."
[Read the article: I want a perfect wedding, but my in-laws are trashy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"They are inappropriate. They are beside the point. The are not welcome. They should be kept away."
In response to the letter posted by Anonymous just above me: You are a complete ass.
About the perfect wedding, I don't think it exists either. Of course a newborn does not really fit in at a wedding or a reception, but the important thing here is, like it or not, your brother-in-law to be and this young woman are going to be part of your family.
Enjoy your husband, focus on the love and the well-wishes, and don't sweat the small (newborn) stuff.
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I smell a hoax too.
[Read the article: Here's looking at you, "Kid"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If not a total hoax, then at least a hands-on mixing of parental and child talent.
I read that the parents made a DVD showing Marla painting "Ocean" start to finish to try to prove this was all her own work. You can see the painting on her website under "Main Gallery", last on the right of the 6th row.
"Ocean" is colorful, fun, and crude. It shows heavily outlined teddy bear heads or Mickey Mouse heads. The squiggles are heavy and random, the colored areas have rough messy edges. It reminds me of a child's real art, like fingerpainting.
Compare it to "Mosquito Bite" in the Main Gallery, 2nd row. This painting has ADULT written all over it. The color mixing, the palette itself, reminds me of Klimt. The colors aren't just glopped on top of each other, they are carefully drawn together like a marble book end paper. The really damning thing in this painting to me is the tiny white mosquito circled with dots, in the middle near the top, in a darkened cave-like area that is carefully shaded and rounded. NO WAY was this painted by a little girl, genius or not.
I could go through and pick out lots more of the adult elements strewn all over these paintings. It's just really obvious to me that there are adult hands at work here. Perhaps she adds spontaneous elements to them as other letter writers suggested... I'll go with that.
I think the story is fascinating... and I don't dismiss the art here. It is definitely good stuff. But it's being marketed based on what seem to me obvious lies.
I can see that the family is surely making mad money off this, and well... It's hard to begrudge them success. But it's easier to condemn them when it could be warping a young child who is being used to make cash. It's not as slimy as pimping her out on the street, but if she is now 7, and probably when she was even 4, it must strike her as deeply wrong to be at the center of a fraud.
To me, coming from a family of artists, I have always found the valuing of art very interesting... and especially when it comes to modern art. It's always in flux, going by what's hot and what's hip right now, and most of the time it strikes me as random as hell who gets handed the Golden Brush of Fate.
I can see how this developed into an unstoppable drama, full of secrets and fear and greed... what a frigging mess. I'm sorry for the kid.
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MLR...
[Read the article: Here's looking at you, "Kid"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I think you nailed it.
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Thank God for the letter writers.
[Read the article: Selling (out) girls' self-esteem]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I've read some good stuff off Broadsheet.
This though... well, my college newspaper could do better.
Outrage over brand marketing tactics differing within a huge corporation? Whoa.
Tracy, dry off the backs of your ears and start scrounging up the real dirt, please.
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HUZZAH!
[Read the article: Rejoice! Every "Daily Show" ever is now online]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I am too broke to afford adding Comedy Central into my pathetic "basic" cable tier. I have placated my Daily Show love by downloading mini clips off the website of Comedy Central.
But now -- FULL ACCESS! Yeay! Yippy! YES!
Thank you Viacom. And The Daily Show.
I might not sleep for days.
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Paganchick13 and big words
[Read the article: Scent of a nursing woman]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Interesting that if you Google her alias, there is a mini sensation going on in the blog world about her personal, which also ran on The Onion.
Here is the snark:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/2d68kx
http://preview.tinyurl.com/2hv32q
Ms. Lynne/Paganchick13: The typo heard 'round the world?