Letters to the Editor
msnowara
Published Letters: 7 Editor's Choice: 1
-
Self--if not actual--absorption
[Read the article: The breast of times]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]As a childless adult woman (although doting aunt to neices and nephews), I read this piece with equal parts fascination, revulsion, and frustration. The author's seemingly unaware self-absorption exemplifies what I've observed so much in the last 5 years of watching friends and family enter the parenting circle. I agree that there is nothing inherently "wrong" about nursing a 4-year old; indeed, it takes traveling just a few hundred miles each direction from our borders to see that her experience is not a marvel. What's more disturbing (and disturbingly absent from her analysis) is the author's need to subccumb to and rationalize what is ultimately at best a security blanket and at worst, a wedge between her son and his father. Moreover, the author makes it seem like she has no legitimate choice in the matter because her son "wants it", an attitude she will have to change surely before her child reaches puberty.
Ultimately, why not stop a nutritionally unnecessary ritual that serves only to infantalize your son, makes bedtime more difficult, and alienates your husband? The question, it seems, is not why should you not do it for your son, but why do you continue to do it for yourself?
-
Goodfellas will always be Scorsese's masterpiece...
[Read the article: "The Departed"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...But the Departed is a welcomed return to great movie-making. The author has obviously not watched Goodfellas enough--the movie packs an emotional wallop that certainly outweighs anything Scorsese has done since. The complexity of Henry Hill's relationships to Jimmy, Paulie, Karen, even his brother give the movie a depth Scorsese has yet to repeat. For example, Paulie (a small role played brilliantly by the larger-than-life Paul Sorvino) is the paradox that Jack Nicholson didn't quite get--a man who lives by a certain code that is, in its own way, virtuous, who is at the same time capable of quick and unspeakable violence. When Paulie pulls Henry aside after Henry gets out of prison to tell him to quick slinging drugs, Sorvino plays it menancingly, compassionately, and with a tinge of real, foreshadowing fear--he knows that it will be someone like his "son" Henry who takes him down, ultimately.
Moreover, Scorsese (and Ray Liotta--God, what happened to him?) always reminds us that Henry is an outsider--when Tommy is shot rather than being made, Henry refers to the complex politics as "real greaser shit" showing that although he is in some ways more inside that anyone, he will always be half-Irish and never capable of rising above his DNA.
And talk about lean! I've seen Goodfellas countless times and couldn't honestly guess how long the movie is--it's a study of perfect editing.
Although no Goodfellas, the Departed is really entertaining. I always forget that Leonardo DiCaprio is not just a Brad Pittian hunk, but indeed an excellent, excellent actor--his portrayal was painfully good. And Mark Walhberg needs to stop punishing himself for Planet of the Apes and continue on his streak of great roles--he's superb.
Stephanie, watch Goodfellas about 20 more times, and you'll get it.
-
Drop the prosecution--and stop relying on the criminal justice system for "truth"
[Read the article: Accused Duke players go on "60 Minutes"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This is the problem with relying on the criminal justice system to ascertain "the truth." As a criminal defense attorney (and woman), I can tell you that a trial is hardly an accurate reenactment of events--it's more like Inside Edition or Access Hollywood "reenactments." To say that only a judge and jury can determine whether the alleged victim in this case was "actually" raped puts an unrealistic burden on the system and sets up all victims--whether real or imagined--for disappointment and failure. If the Duke players are not guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, it certainly doesn't mean that she wasn't raped (and, as we've seen recently, just because they ARE found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt doesn't mean they did it); society, however, says it's so, which makes victims, defendants, and the community over-rely on a process that is, at best, designed to test the State's case. The prosecution should drop its prosecution of this csae--yes, it actually is relevant and disturbing that her story has changed over time and the prosecutor and police have acted continuously in unethically zealous manners--but make sure that this young woman receives the counseling she obviously needs (one way or another--either because she was really assaulted or because she fabricated an assault).