Letters to the Editor
novoteindc
Published Letters: 17
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Smitten By The Mitten
[Read the article: Turn out the lights, Michigan]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I was born in Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit and grew up in Lansing. I have not lived/worked in my home state since the late '80's. However, I visit my family in MI regularly and consider Michigan my home.
I graduated from a cross-town rival to the author's HS. (Eastern vs. Sexton). On summer nights I was lulled to sleep by the constant rythmic "ka-chung" sound of Fisher Body floating across town. The UAW made the middle class in Lansing. So many of my classmates were able to go to college (and leave the state) because their parents worked the line. I also know people who died in accidents in those plants- most horribly a boy I went to HS with who fell into a paint pit when we were 20. My white-collar master's level job poses no dangers like that. I keep a postcard of the Oldsmobile plant on my pc at work. (You can get these at the Lansing Airport giftshop)
Michigan tourism is alive and well. Thousands of people from the midwest region visit Michigan regularly. My family owns vacation rental property Up North and the majority of our guests come from out-of-state; OH, IN, IL. It's the snobbery of the east and west coast mentality that causes people to "not know" that MI is a spectacular vacation destination. I consistently meet this attitute in the mid-atlantic region. When i take visitors home they are always surprised at the vastness of Lake Michigan, "You can't see across it?" (Look at a map people). No east coast beach I've been to can hold a candle to Sleeping Bear Dunes. Those puny things at Cape Henlopen, DE are the highest Atlantic dunes? Ha!
If you love swimming, walking for miles on the beach, hiking, fishing, boating, abundant public access and public boat harbors, beach fires, the aurora borealis, a clear view of the milky-way, Sweet Black Cherries, and air that smells of cedar and pine, then Michigan is your vacation paradise!
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the sport of synchro
[Read the article: Sexism in the pool]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Synchro as a sport has become a cultural joke. It's unfortunate. (but that old SNL routine was hilarious).
As an ex-competitive speed swimmer AND an ex-competitive synchro swimmer -- it takes a lot more all-around athleticism and mental acuity to perform well in synchro.
Men/boys should of course be encouraged to participate in any sport they show an interest in- just as girls should be. If there are not enough of the "odd" gender to compete in [name-the sport]-so be it. Those boys/girls knew that going in. One day there may be enough interest in all sports from both boys and girls to either compete on thier own teams or on "mixed' teams.
Maybe it's not your favorite sport to watch or do, but unless you have held double ballet legs while sculling the length of the pool - you simply don't know what you're talking about when you claim the physicality required for synchro is minimal.
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@JasonChicken
[Read the article: Playing soldier]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Mary Cassatt was an American painter, not French. And, if you can't tell by her name, a woman who succeeded in a very macho field. Art, like all other professions, has been and continues to be dominated by white men, albeit less so now than when Cassatt was painting. If you need more proof do some reading on the founding of the National Museum of Women in the Arts.
I live in DC and have a very different experience with Rolling Thunder than GK. He doesn't live here, so he probably didn't know it's a Memorial Day tradition in DC and was irritated he couldn't get to the gallery. Had he known he would have planned better and been less irritated.
I stood on the same corner he did, (Constitution and 7th) but I went there to see the spectacle on the street, and to remember and, in my mind, honor Vietnam Vets, the names on the wall, the ones who went to Canada and the ones who went to prison instead. I know all of them and respect them all for their choices. I went there to mourn and to dream of a world without war.
Mary Cassatt's painting will be there next weekend, Rolling Thunder is once a year.
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Method soaps
[Read the article: We are what we buy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Method soaps/cleaners are phosphate-free, biodegradable and not tested on animals. Plus Target and other "mainstream" stores stock it so you don't have to go to the specialty "health food store" to get them.
I stoppped reading on the 3rd page when I saw this clueless assesment of why someone would spend more on Method than Joy (because of the bottle design). BS. It's because of environmental consciousness.
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CPR? Defribillators?
[Read the article: Russert dead from apparent heart attack]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Doesn't anyone in that ofice know CPR? Why don't they have defibrillators? (sp?)
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Willis Carrier is My Grannies' Cousin
[Read the article: Does air conditioning make people vote Republican?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Willis Carrier was adopted by my grandmothers' aunt and uncle when Willis was about 12. My granny had memories of playing with Willis when she was a child. My grannies' aunt and uncle sent him to college. It was and is today a family of science and engineer and entrepenuer types who value education and even back then for girls too. My granny and her sister went to college. Willis and his adopted sister (granny's cousin) married. Really! But it wasn't considered insestuous because he was adopted. I don't remember the age difference - 5 years or more. They had two sons. The first Mrs. Carrier died and Willis remarried. The second Mrs. Carrier had children from a previous marriage. Unfortunately Willis did not attend to his will because when he died the entire business and assests went to his second wife. She did not share any part of it with Willis Carrier's sons. When she died her own children inherited Carrier's wealth. Willis Carrier's children did not inherit any of the wealth from their father's invention - This is the family history retold at every family reunion. Just an FYI and backstory to AC. I will now read the rest of the comments to see if one of my cousins has posted one.