Letters to the Editor
AirFlow
Published Letters: 63 Editor's Choice: 5
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Go-Go Dancer doesn't equal Stripper
[Read the article: Too fat for Maxim's Super Bowl party]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It was a stripper costume; no mention was made that she was to perform as a stripper. She was hired as a dancer. It amazes me how often respondents gravitate toward the, shall we say, more lurid and salacious words in an article ["Stripper costume"], and miss completely the original content. Read carefully, like you did on the SAT.
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This is news???!
[Read the article: What's in your wallet?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This is news???!? For the past 3 years, the cost-of-living increase on my minute pension has been negated by increased costs for medical insurance, with a net loss every year. I just wonder how the elderly, particularly widows who live on their husband's social security benefit [or anyone else on a fixed income, for that matter], are surviving. And don't forget elderly single women, who don't have a "surviver benefit" accrued from their spouse's social security; how on earth anyone can live on under $500 a month is a mystery to me. I often think that it would be an interesting exercise, to have the lovely legislators in Washington "survive" for a couple of months on the income of which the rest of us have to "make do". Early after my divorce, with an infant child, I was working one full-time and two part-time jobs, in addition to the full-time parenting job; we were barely surviving. My son ate, I didn't. So, when I hear these Washngton sickos telling us platitude after platitude, I say "bah humbug" and hope that those who rejoiced at their tax refund are enjoying the poverty and lack of government services our country is facing.
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Security
[Read the article: The happiest wives ...]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I believe that more women than men take time off from work to take care of kids when they're sick, stay home to take them to doctor appointments, go to school events held during the day, [et alia]. Knowing that their income loss [due to parental responsibilities] will be offset by their husband's higher income, surely must inform their survey answers. As a single parent, I can vouch for the economic cost of having to lose income to care for my child. Two-parent families, no matter how unequal the pay or household responsibilities, still have a "fall-back" person to take up the slack. It IS about security.
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Over-reacting, methinks
[Read the article: Can I kill a cat if it poops in my yard?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]1. Motion-detector sprinkler
2. Dog
3. Teach your kids to avoid poop from any source [duh], or resign yourself to the fact that the world is a dirty place. You watch out for other things that are hazardous to your kids, right? You sound anal-retentive.
4. Grow a conscience, maybe just grow up in general.
5. Sit up all night with IR glasses, do the spy thing, find where the critter lives, talk to the owners. You might talk to your neighbors, see if the problem is known to them as well.
6. I'll just BET the cat's owner is sick of unscooped poop from dog-walkers on their lawn. Not to mention the dead zones from dog urine. Oh, but dogs are on leashes, so the owners don't have to assume ANY responsibility. Gee, I forgot, must've lost some brain cells while out picking up dog poop, and reseeding the lovely round dead grass areas from the front of my yard where the leashed dogs are allowed to roam. I guess I could complain, but picking up the sh*t seems a lot simpler.
7. If your community doesn't have a cat-leash law, activate yourself to get one. Get out there, meet people.
8. If the LW spent as much time DOING something about the problem, instead of long-windedly whining and going extreme with killing scenarios, I'd bet he [my assumption is a male LW, sorry if I'm wrong], would have a mite less anxiety. "O world, make my parenting job easier". Come ON, you're going to be having a lot more important challenges ahead in your parenting career. Sheeeesh.
8. Why not worry about something SIGNIFICANT?!?!?
My neighbors complained about my "loose" cats; I keep them in at night now [the good neighbor thing, plus it is safer for the little darlings], and have them on an 8' line when outside with me.
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Single parenting
[Read the article: "Mom on strike"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]..is NOT like 2-parent. Duh. Kids have to learn, right quick, that they have to do more, be more responsible, if the household is to survive. The "rules" are NOT the same as in 2-parent households, and any single mother trying to do all the work herself rapidly figures that out. What would the LW's children do if she became ill, or disabled?
Society, in the main, prefers not to think about women raising children by themselves; oh, sure, we can all say "well what about grandparents and siblings and neighbors, for help?" What if there aren't those kind of people around? Have any of you noticed how, as a society, we tend to not help each other anymore?!? Too busy, what's in it for me? Compare to the 70s and earlier. I was lucky, my parents lived nearby, and even with their generous assistance, I still was tired and broke all the time. I suggest that people lay off the criticism of single parents [of both sexes]; if your inclination is to belittle, show some greatness of heart and befriend that person in a helpful way. How about a little yard-raking assistance? Oh, too busy with "church" and soccer. *sigh* It is getting harder and harder to maintain my composure, when society acts so ill, but talks so well.
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Don't assume
[Read the article: I'm young, rich and beautiful but so very unhappy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Just a quick comment here, as I've not yet read all of the responses and hope I'm not duplicating someone else's thoughts:
Nowhere does the letter writer state that her inheritance comes from her father. Perhaps her mother is the source of her money. SUCH a paternalistic society, such assumptions.
LW needs to find a cause and run with it. She needs to involve herself in something that is bigger than herself, and, preferably, have that something be in an area unfamiliar to her. Perhaps her listlisness and apathy are nothing more than boredom. Associating with the same set of people all the time is stifling.
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Diary entry
[Read the article: What else I lost]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This reads like an adolescent, whiny diary entry.