Letters to the Editor
levinine
Published Letters: 7 Editor's Choice: 2
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loved the movie, enjoyed the review
[Read the article: "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I saw the movie last night and it was the first in the series I truly enjoyed and loved. The opening scenes filmed at the quidditch world cup were exhilarating and funny and then terrifying, and the whole movie continues in the same vein. For the first time, nothing felt tacked on and too cutesy, it all seemed essential and so was much more deeply enjoyable.
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This is empowering?
[Read the article: New Yorkers holla back]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]From what I saw on the site, most women were "harrassed," put up with it meekly (or in the case of the woman who let the stranger walk her home and hug her, there seems to be an unthinking endorsement of his behavior), and then thought that taking a picture of the back of some guy's head makes them less of a victim?
And calling someone out on their bad behavior almost never causes them to act contrite, they respond to their embarrassment with anger and that's really not a position I want to be in when I'm walking alone down the street. When I don't have to, I don't engage. And when it's on the subway and I can't easily get away from it, I remove myself from the situation or I shoot one of my trademark, withering looks that should be a part of every New Yorker's arsenal. I don't carry myself like a victim and I don't allow anyone to see me as one.
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Stop blaming the skinny women...
[Read the article: 'Tis the season to obsess about food]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm old enough now to realize that when people make fun of skinny women, it's usually because of jealousy, but I was 17 before I was able to start accepting that. Until then, I avoided all situations where I might have to show my ankles. So as a child growing up in the southwest, swim parties and sandals were both unavailable to me. If fat is a feminist issue, stop hating on the women who cannot gain any to save their lives. And don't count it as an "empowering" activity for you and your children to engage in.
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a lackluster review is better than no review to a library
[Read the article: Kirkus shrugged]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]At least in my library system, we can't add books to our collection unless they've been reviewed by one of the major sources.
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Mitigating Circumstance?
[Read the article: Miss USA keeps her crown]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I liked her for being on Project Runway.
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Case being overstated
[Read the article: Prada: The new puberty]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]As a librarian who often works with teens and their books, I just can't get worked up about this. I'm about 100 pages from being done with the whole Gossip Girls series, and I'm loving it. The books are smarter, funnier, and better written than they get credit for. And the bad behavior isn't all that bad. I've actually heard that Alloy, who produces these books, has tried to get brands to pay for placement but didn't find any takers. The brands mentioned are high-end and often obscure brands who know that teen girls are not their target audience.
YA literature as a whole has come a long way, both at its most literary and most pop-addictive.
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Stargirl
[Read the article: The Natalie Portman problem]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Jerry Spinelli's YA modern classic Stargirl is wonderful at setting a girl up to be a MPDG and then deconstructing why the narrator needed her to be that for him.