Letters to the Editor
AirFlow
Published Letters: 67 Editor's Choice: 5
-
Sick of would-be writers, anyone?
[Read the article: How can I get a writing job?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Perhaps Cary could assemble ALL the would-be writers' whines into one place. As for me, this LW's letter represents another big yawn. If all these wanna-be writers are so deficient in imagination that they can't figure out where local writing opportunities are to be found, perhaps they aren't good candidates in the first place. Oh wait. They can always LIE, like Ms. Havrilesky. Ooooh, modern times. "Pay me well- I'm inexperienced". Sure hope my surgeon is the real thing. Why not just go out there, take the starter job, and DO the thing in addition to your admin job??? So what if you're tired for a time? At least you've started in the field. Sure, being the obit writer ain't real sexy, but you're in the door. But you want something for nothing. Sorry, the world doesn't work that way. But Cary, PLEEEEEEEASE, lay off the complaining would-be writers for a while, OK?? Or, for that matter, complaining would-be anythings. Thank you.
-
Apple varietals
[Read the article: Life, death and spring]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I hope you connect with someone about your apple orchards. I believe that grafts can be made, thereby prolonging the varieties. Apples, alas, do not breed true, but grafting can save the day. [I know, not your thing, but I didn't research whether or not your apple varieties are rare/endangered or both]. Anyway, it was a great article and I thank you!
-
Men don't take hints
[Read the article: Lust in translation]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Anyone who has interacted with them should know this. Anyone who has been involved in any kind of 12-step recovery program probably has heard it, too. The trouble is, women find it hard to be "definitive" with men--don't know precisely why [I tend to do it, too]--but the effort to be direct sure pays off. Less confusion, better communication. I think it is related to the "men can't multi-task" thing.
-
Self-actualized?
[Read the article: I'm really a self-actualized being, but my family is all messed up]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Anyone describing himself as "self-actualized" ISN'T.
Mr "Cheerfulness-SelfActualized" sounds like the CAUSE. I'd not want to live with someone so smug.
-
IF you were an artist.....
[Read the article: I hit my sister in the head with my purse when I drink]
[Read more letters about this article: Here].......you'd be out there doing your art. And, if you're an artist, why are you whingeing about the job market? Don'tcha know, society expects artists to be poor and unhealthy (!), but DOING their art? What is your art, anyway? Oh, so easy to call your-self an artist, but so very very very very hard to BE ONE. Also, most tech writers that I know started out doing editing. I'll just bet that you want the entire apple cart right away. Also, the math says you've been married since you were 19; now you've seen the light at the end of the education tunnel, the exigencies of real life are hitting you, and you just don't want to have to fulfill others' needs or expectations any more. Not uncommon. Growing pains, fear of the future. We all gravitate toward our own particular escape mechanism. Alcohol, being legal, is the "easy" escape. Get this: people generally are of two drunk "types"---mean or hilarious. You've ID'd your type, don't like who you are when drunk [sounds like you don't like yourself sober, either, BTW], and have recognized some fairly large personal and familial issues. Get some help before you warp your kid the way (it seems) you were. Also, just a stray thought, but it sounds like you've outgrown the husband. You don't provide details about his passive-aggressive thing, but, if you get all mean and repulsive on him, perhaps that is the only way he can reach you at all. Hmmmm? And please remember, when you're tossing out the word 'artist'---people really in the arts DO their art, come hell or high water, weird husbands, bad 2nd jobs, not enough money, because without it life would be unbearable. I don't think you've got what it takes, but-----you surely do whine well.
-
Too bad......
[Read the article: But see, some women ARE bitches]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]..........that the 2 men on the panel couldn't restrain themselves from repeatedly interrupting the 2 women. Geeeez, which of the four people could possibly have something of a personal perspective on the issue? The 2 GUYS?!???? Ha. So, here is sexism in action. Too bad the one guy agrees about the obnoxious sexism going on in this campaign--perhaps he could do a little work eliminating it in his OWN life.
-
O no! NOT another writer
[Read the article: I got the writing fellowship -- so now I'm terrified!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I've said it before, I'll say it again: these letters from writers having a crisis are b-b-b-b-b-b-boring, flat, stale and unprofitable, (to steal from a real writer). Maybe these people can write, but they sure can't THINK. I'm done with reading this stuff--from now on, if the word "writer" is mentioned in the headline or anywhere near it, I'm running---nay, sprinting---to my piano. Gawd. At least most musicians I know don't have existential crises when good fortune comes their way. I'm not going to offer any suggestions--the LW has a graduate degree of some kind. That is supposed to predicate thinking and reasoning ability. I see how "dumbed-down" our schools of higher education have become, and it distresses me. I'd best get to playing some Beethoven right quick, to get the aggravagatin' taste of disgust out of my mouth.
-
Rufus11
[Read the article: Tin-eared at MSNBC]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I may have miscounted, but it looks like you responded 23 times to this article. Overdone. And, as someone else mentioned, that's a real thread-killer. I'm not going to comment on the article other than to say: sexism is subtle and repulsive and difficult for men to recognize, not having experienced it ad nauseum throughout their lives. Olbermann: used to like him, but he bought the corporate line and sold out to the company store. Pity, as he is one of the more intelligent news-readers. If I wanted editorials on TV, I'd sign up for 'em; in the meantime, it's internet news for me.