Letters to the Editor
woodside
Published Letters: 34 Editor's Choice: 2
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Public speaking and performing
[Read the article: I'm a brilliant scientist and I fear for the world's fate]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]are ways to persuade people to change their behavior or rethink their belief system. If, LW, you tried to get good at these things (particularly performing), you would come to understand how useful, or even necessary, faith can be. It does not always have to be delusion.
Someone said, "We don't have much time so we have to go slow." Someone else said, "Life is much too serious to take seriously." The point is that an extreme view (no matter its truth value!) usually impairs our functioning when we first encounter it. We stop breathing deeply; we stop being able to relate to other people; we panic; our spines shorten. So if you want to convince or persuade people, you have to do it in a way that does not elicit this response. And you can. Performing artists do it very well because they have to learn to flow with whatever is happening; otherwise the performance is not honest or authentic.
I have multiple degrees in the sciences including a doctorate, but I ended up deciding to be a performer. I too was frustrated with people's faith and magical thinking until I discovered that a certain kind of faith is necessary to do anything physical well. In general, I'm now a much more open-minded, tolerant person than I used to be.
In grad school, I used to say to a colleague, "If everyone would just [fill-in-the-blank], then everyhing would be ok!" And he would say to me, "But everyone's not going to do *anything. There are just too many different kinds of people in the world." And that's true. But it's also true that everyone wants to be touched. That's what good art does. Learn to touch people, and they will listen to you. And you might discover some wonderful things in the process.
Check out an improv class in your area, or if you're into music, take some lessons or join a choir (though classical music, or anything that doesn't require improvisation, is much less likely to challenge your linear-logical ways of thinking).
Good luck.
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Freelancing
[Read the article: My big, fat, unpaid credit card bill]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]doesn't have to be a dead end, and I don't know why Cath1 feels so strongly that it is. It helps if you freelance doing a few different things-- I do a combination of academic tutoring, music lessons, and performing-- but you can make a pretty penny working for yourself even if you specialize in one area, as long as you've networked and marketed yourself well and there's sufficient demand for your services.
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@prettypithy
[Read the article: Female trouble]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]No one knows why black women get more fibroids. But we do. I have a lot of aunts and female cousins, and fibroids are always a topic of discussion at family get-togethers. The same is true for many of my black girlfriends.
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@gcindic
[Read the article: The Tyler Perry juggernaut ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I don't think Tyler Perry's movies *are passing as great art in the black community. I think they're passing as great entertainment. And great entertainment will always make more money than great art. Life is stressful! Most people want to be entertained. Great art demands something from the viewer/listener. Of course the rewards are staggering, but a lot of people are far too stressed out to cope with the demands (or the ticket prices). I happen to agree with you about the quality of Perry's movies, but I don't think it's helpful to judge people for what they gravitate towards.
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@krisellyn
[Read the article: Rev. Jeremiah Wright isn't the problem]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You wrote that since the US is a nation of immigrants, generational guilt-trips don't work. But to my understanding, when the oppressed speak out, all they are seeking is acknowledgment and understanding. Their intent is not to induce guilt. When people speak, it's only because they want to be heard. They're not really interested in making you feel guilty. They may want you to take responsibility, but responsibility has nothing to do with guilt.
What's responsibility? In my book, responsibility is acknowledging that the world is kind of a big mess (which isn't really anyone's fault because we're all messy human beings) and that if we want to clean it up, then we all have to do our part. Nobody is to blame, but everybody needs to help clean up. Taking responsibility is saying, "Ok, I'll help with the cleanup."
I'm African-American and descended from slaves, but I take responsibility for the genocide of Native Americans because I am American. I take responsibility for consuming a disproportionate part of the world's resources because I'm an American, even though I consume much less than the average American. I take responsibility for being on the wrong side of class struggle because, in subtle or not-so-subtle ways, I still hold the bourgeois values I grew up with, even though I'm my income is working-class. It's not my fault that a lot of people in my city are homeless, but it is my responsibility to do something about it because I live in the city, even if it's just challenging the way I see homeless people and doing my best not to send more rejection and negativity towards the homeless people I meet.
We are born into a hurting, messy world, so we are born into responsibility. Guilt stops us from taking responsibility because it goads us into defending ourselves. No one wants you to feel guilty, but they may ask you to take responsibility for being American-- being a part of a country that has done stunningly wonderful things and shockingly egregious things. Enjoy and bask in the wonderful; take responsibility for the egregious even though it is not your fault.
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subject-verb agreement: None of these men reacclimates
[Read the article: "Stop-Loss"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Not one reacclimates...
No?
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Red stars
[Read the article: Rape is like force-fed chocolate cake?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]for all the BNP-are-fringe-neo-Nazi-lunatics posters.
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Colombia, not Columbia
[Read the article: Real female heroes: Ingrid Betancourt]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]in the book title. Glad and heartbroken to learn about Betancourt.