Letters to the Editor
az
Published Letters: 26
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Manderlay
[Read the article: Beyond the Multiplex]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The house in "Rebecca" is called Manderley.
Mandalay is a city in Burma, and a Rudyard Kipling poem about same.
If LVT is making a reference, maybe it is a hybrid one.
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er
[Read the article: We are "natural family"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Asafoetida (Ferula assafoetida) is a plant, and a gum derived from that plant and used as a spice.
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Context
[Read the article: Funny women a turnoff for most men]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Meera Syal's "cutting remark in public" may just be referring to Ummi's jabs at Sanjeev on The Kumars at Number 42. (I hope so.)
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Getting Caught
[Read the article: Out of jail, into the Army]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Like most people I knew, I smoked some pot in college. I never got caught, much less arrested or convicted. Lucky me.
That was years and years ago. Frankly, I don't see that I'm any more or less of a risk to society or the military (or even the chiiiiildren) than I would have been if I had been convicted of possession or use at 19.
Similarly, I don't see why having a drug conviction on your record would necessarily be much of a predictor for whether or not you will be stoned on watch, or whatever. If you want to know whether people use drugs _now_, then test them _now_ (and don't they?). If you think past use predicts future use, then judge people on use, not convictions.
Now, if you think that getting caught is an indicator of bad luck and you don't want unlucky people in the military, I might be persuaded to buy in. But good luck on convincing everyone else.
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"No one would say that you shouldn't have a child if you're suffering from diabetes"?
[Read the article: Pregnancy and antidepressants]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Are you kidding me? LOTS of people with diabetes are advised not to have children. It can be very dangerous.
There are several similarities, actually. Both depression and diabetes can be made worse by pregnancy. Both might be passed on to the child, but neither has a useful test to determine
who might pass it on.
One more similarity. Some people with one, or the other, or both, quietly decide that they will not have (genetic) children.
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the husband sounds kind of controlling to me
[Read the article: My husband thinks I should make more money]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]He chose to be a lawyer, because he wants lots of money (for security and lifestyle, according to the LW). This makes him unhappy. And his solution is for the LW to also make lots of money and be less happy?
Ugh.
Yes, security is important. No, it does not require that you make yourself miserable for the sake of the holy six figure income. There is a whole, real, gray world between the black of high-paid lawyers and the white of rich kids who want to Live Like Common People Do. Plenty of us live here, and we're doing okay.
The LW's husband doesn't sound like he's going to let this go, so she probably needs to talk to him. Here is a starting point: if it's reasonable for him to ask her to change to a job that makes more money, maybe it's reasonable for her to ask him to change to a job that makes him happier.
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Color Me Lowbrow
[Read the article: I Like to Watch]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]So NoTORIous has greatly improved my opinion of Tori Spelling. Not many American celebs can laugh at themselves, especially not to the extent she is taking it. It's actually funny, too. I laughed.
If that isn't lowbrow for you, I have more: I think Brian Austin Green is pretty funny on Freddie. Who could have guessed it?
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Think about it this way
[Read the article: Immigration nation]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The presumed non-payment of income tax by illegal immigrants (those of them without real or fake SSNs, anyway) has got to be at least partially offset by the taxes paid by legal non-immigrants.
So just break it down this way, if you don't want to pay for some kid to go to the emergency room: it can come out of my income taxes (and my overpriced insurance premiums, and my medicaid contributions). Yours can pay for the fingerprinting and digital photography at the border.
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Personal Stories
[Read the article: Immigration nation]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Perhaps I should have made clear that I am a legal non-immigrant, and I do feel that the FICA contributions that I will never get services for and the taxation-without-representation that I am subject to are the relief image of the illegal boogeyman that is being waved in front of us.
So perhaps I do feel that if I'm helping to plug this purported hole, I get to say that it's okay by me.
And, yes, INS and DHS are unbelievably stressful to deal with, even when you're white, and not muslim, and highly skilled/educated, and speak English, and don't have any intention of staying in the USA. I can't imagine how hard it would be if I was missing any of those characteristics.
(I know, I know, I should go back where I came from if I don't like the way things are done here. I will, soon enough.)
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so, hang on...
[Read the article: One step closer to an HPV vaccine]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The story is as follows:
1) We are all pre-pregnant and should act accordingly.
2) An HPV vaccine is a bad thing because it will encourage us to have sex, like the sluts we are.
pre-pregnant/no-sex/pre-pregnant/no-sex...
BANG
whoops, my head exploded
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Different Markers
[Read the article: Brand-name bullies]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Kids just look for different markers of wealth, status, and social class, like shoes, coats, hair styles, jewelry, and other accessories.
I understand that the usual kind of uniform code in the US is more half-assed, but all of these things were covered under the uniform at my school and those my friends went to:
- Coat: Exactly one made/model/color of permissible coat.
- Hair styles: had to be natural (or plausibly-natural) colors, hair accessories had to be in uniform colors.
- Jewellery: not allowed (except 1 plain earring per ear in uniform colors).
- Shoes: constrained in style and color. People could get whatever brand they wanted within those constraints, but most went for comfort.
(Actual markers of wealth: where people talked about vacationing, and where they went home to at the end of the day, I suppose. Actual things we respected: sporting skill, music/drama performance, being good at art.)
And of course I can dress myself. I actually learned to do this before I started school. Didn't everyone?