Letters to the Editor
aliyamirat
Published Letters: 8
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But is it really polyamory?
[Read the article: Whole lotta love]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]As a pagan in a large, metropolitan area, I have known a few polyamorous people. The thing that's concerned me with several of them are that they involve at the core a 2-person relationship involving a woman of, let's just say, less than stellar looks and a man of more stellar, but not terribly hot, looks. I know this sounds superficial, but the two couples I knew who were married but identified as poly made me feel like the woman was trying to hang on to her husband who really just wanted to swing. Another was an unmarried couple of the same general description.
I have met people in true poly relationships, and I consider myself sexually liberal, even though I am straight and married in the exclusive sense to one man. But I worry about wholeheartedly endorsing polyamory. Some people seem just along for the thrill ride and not for, as the article states, the hard work that these entangled relationships entail.
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If you do decide to leave...
[Read the article: I let my friends stay with me and now they're evicting me!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...print out a copy of your letter and Cary's response and leave it on the kitchen table. It may not be *nice* to kick out a pregnant bimbo and her stud, but they should know that they're getting the place out of misplaced cultural pity and not because they're right -- or worse yet, entitled to it.
Personally, if my name were the only one on the lease, I would make them move out. You are simply enabling them to mooch off others and that's no way to raise a child. They are adults, and parents now, and they got themselves into the homeless mess, not you. And you made the original agreement with the boyfriend, not the mother.
Definitely DON'T let anything like this happen again. You've already sent out the signal to your circle that you're a doormat.
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Art is art, but...
[Read the article: Here's looking at you, "Kid"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...we are always going to ascribe larger meanings to it. I find many of the paintings, whoever did them, gorgeous and full of internal images and meaning, much on the order of abstracts made by Australian Aboriginal artists and yeah, some of those dead white European dudes.
You can't tell me, though, that the sudden skyrocketing of fame -- and selling price -- isn't largely due to the novelty factor that they were supposedly painted by a pint-sized prodigy. Some 30-something office worker putzing around in his kitchen might be able to get a grand here and there...but his adorable mophead gets 5 figures.
What I haven't seen addressed in any of the articles about the film is whether Marla is still "creating" new works. She seems to be forever stuck at 4 years old, but if you do the math, she's a grand old 7 years old by now.
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A little surprising, Cary!
[Read the article: Somebody sent child protective services to my house!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm not surprised by the number of replies from people who have articulated my own first thoughts, that what CPS has done in this case is perfectly normal, at least through the filter on normality that "child protection" by our government seems to use. I'm just surprised that someone as worldly as you would suggest some very naive responses -- even if they are perfectly sensible and logical.
Many departments would in no way allow someone under investigation to march down to HQ and demand an interview, for example. Think about it in a situation with a charming manipulator who is guilty, and you can see why the sometimes nonsensical safeguards of anonymity and investigative control are built into the system.
When I was a military wife and mom living in an off-base housing complex, someone called military CPS and complained I was neglecting my infant son. What I was doing was on the advice of my mother -- trying to get him to sleep on his own at night by letting him "cry himself to sleep." And what I found out a few months later was that my then-husband was sexually harrasing our next-door neighbor, who called CPS to get back at him. Everything was worked out pretty quickly, but yes, it was frightening at the time.
I would recommend the Mom in this letter keep doing what she's doing -- this is obviously a baseless allegation. But if I were her, I would also try to get a legal consult, just in case. And to absolutely NOT tell anyone from her church she's doing it.
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Unbalanced
[Read the article: Killing the wolves again]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"Wolves need to fear humans, and then the balance will be restored."
Wolves don't fear humans. Wolves fear humans with guns. I'm not anti-hunting or anti-gun ownership, but guns neither evolved nor were created during God's busy week, so they aren't really a "natural" part of the balance you speak of.
And the article clearly states that the killing is not of wolves who attack livestock or humans, but of those who don't. Wolves wouldn't attack people or livestock if we hadn't cleared the woods of their dinner. I'm guessing they're just bitter.
We humans have constantly thrown "the balance" out of whack. Killing wolves for being wolves isn't going to solve anything. And we should all fear anyone who preaches and votes that it will.
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Thank you, Cary!
[Read the article: I seem to be moving in with my boyfriend -- but why?!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Because a straight-forward, yes-or-no answer was exactly what this girl needed.
It helps that I agree with you. The writer needs time to herself to (dare I say grow up?) be ready to take on the responsibility of a child. I give her props for recognizing this, but I worry that she's let herself be talked into this and it isn't going to end well.