Letters to the Editor
psamet
Published Letters: 105 Editor's Choice: 4
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Misinterpreted
[Read the article: Penalty Boxer]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"The junior senator from California apparently believes that an accomplished, seasoned diplomat, a renowned scholar and an adviser to two presidents like Condoleezza Rice is not fully qualified to make policy at the highest levels of the American government because she is a single, childless woman." -NY Post
I can't believe the NY Post deduced all that from Boxer's words.
First of all, she put herself in the same camp as Rice (in so far that she doesn't have children in Iraq), so if she is indeed claiming that Rice is not qualified to make decisions about this war, she is claiming the same thing for herself.
Second, what the NY Post views as character assasination, I view as a simple appeal to Rice's senses. She is reminding Rice (as well as everyone in the room) that for many Americans, there is a personal cost to this war--a cost that perhaps the White House does not see while it's eyes remain fixed on the prize. And she is venting her fustration with the administration for escalating a war that many see as doomed to failure.
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experiment with marriage lite
[Read the article: More women living sans spouse]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Looking at the failures of the Baby Boom generation, it is easy to see why the prospect of marriage has become less attractive. We watched our parents fight constantly and divorce, and we ask ourselves why we would want to go through the same thing?
Perhaps it's not the institution of marriage that is flawed but the culture surrounding marriage. Although this is now changing, the nuclear family has been the primary social outlet for most American adults. We have fewer friends, a weaker sense of community, and a more distant extended family than most other cultures around the world. Thus, we place an extraordinary amount of our social needs on our spouse. Our partners have become our primary means (and in some cases, our sole means) of companionship, sex, emotional support, financial support, child-rearing supoort, etc. Under the weight of these heightened expectations, many marriages crack.
I don't think we should applaud the demise of marriage. I think we should reinvent it. Do you ever notice how unmarried couples are more happy than married ones. Perhaps the married should take a cue from the unmarried. Experiment with living in different houses. See each other less often (but make each meeting count more). Make a strong attempt to stay closer with friends and family.
We should take the expectations we place on our spouse and redistribute them among ALL of our loved ones. That way our partners do not need to be responsible for all our social needs, and we won't get annoyed or feel resentful when s/he doesn't fulfill all of them.
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The author incorrectly presumes...
[Read the article: Deconstructing Oscar: Safe, sunshiny choices]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]that Little Miss Sunshine couldn't have been nominated by it's own merit.
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There is so much drama in the letters...
[Read the article: The readers strike back]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]and I love it! Now if you want comedy, go to the Fox Fans Speakout section on the Fox News website. ;)
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Faults with ape research
[Read the article: God and gorillas]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I admit that I'm not an expert in primatology, but from my limited, outsider POV, there seems to be two main pitfalls that researchers get into:
1) Personifying their subjects. Projecting human emotions and intentions onto animal behavior when there is no direct evidence of such.
2) Mistaking higher-level intelligence for Pavlovian behavior. I recently watched a documentary (can't remember the name) where a researcher was giving a gorilla a specific number of treats and teaching it to touch the corresponding number on a key pad. You might think that the gorilla was learning how to count. But the gorilla could see the researcher, and it may have been simply responding to the researcher's positive and negative expressions--directing it like a parent saying "hot or cold" directs a child to an Easter egg.
Similarly, the gorilla in the article may have simply associated "bad" with a negative reaction from the humans, rather than making some profound conclusion about its own behavior.
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You'd better have a good reason for staying in the program.
[Read the article: What am I doing here?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]LW,
Now is a good time for some serious self-reflection. Ask yourself what you want out of life, and why you want to stay in the program. Is it because you love writing, despite the fear of not being good enough? Or is it because you feel obligated to finish something you started--because you feel you have something to prove? If it is the later, then GET OUT NOW. I know too many people who have stayed in school, not because they wanted to be there, but because they felt they had to be there, and have crashed and burned because of it. They slugged it out, didn't complete assignments (or failed them), and after a few years of being completely miserable and getting into further debt, finally quit.
You need to assess if your motivation is strong enough to get you through the program. If you think it is, then by all means, stay. But if not, now is the best time to leave.
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response to ivanveen
[Read the article: What am I doing here?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The constant admonition of "writing is too difficult to pursue" and "give up" filters out many would-be failures. But it often catches someone that would have had a successful career in writing had they possessed a little more confidence to pursue it.
I'm in an equally challenging industry--film & television--and I almost listened to the cynics. Had I quit before I started, like everyone suggested, I would not be enjoying my current success.
The lesson here is: if you have the will, and you have the talent, there is no reason not to pursue your dreams.
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24
[Read the article: I Like to Watch]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"But "24" is the sort of show that can only thrive post-shark jump."
So true.