Letters to the Editor
ela blinkt
Published Letters: 14
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self consciously american
[Read the article: Theirs not to reason why]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This was a good start to Wednesday, as Garrison always is, some thoughtful comments too & lately here you have to wade through alot of stuff you don't want to get on you to find those.
My dad was a bombardier in WW2 & when I questioned him about his 32 missions he would, consistently & in deep solemnity, tell me that it was an unspeakable service he performed for his country. I always struggled with understanding that...and these days, at the age of 49, wiser & even respectfully, I find I still struggle with it.
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Checking the Dictionary
[Read the article: McCain's "triumph" over a nonexistent heckler]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Heckler: one who asks a question a)you don't want to answer & B)don't want anyone else to hear asked of you.
It's right there in every Republican'ts dictionary. Some things you just know without even looking.
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Is Anybody Home?
[Read the article: Why Mother's Day?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I enjoyed Mr. Keillor's little tribute and I wish my mother were still around to share it with---she woulda had a good laugh.
Last night my 13 year old daughter asked from across the room what the spanish word miel meant. I answered "honey" and she responded, "What?" so I said again, "honey" and she said, "What! mother?"
That's my true story. Every day is mother's day. Some of them are really great and all of them are gifts.
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@ Allie
[Read the article: Why Mother's Day?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I think I recall reading one of your comments where you mentioned that you are a writer. The post here certainly proves it. I know there are so many sad stories out there, so many, many horrors...and so much of these dominate our psyches that it can be a powerful exercise to feel heartened in our little corners without pulling wool to achieve the state. So I won't say thanks for sharing that---but I will long be haunted by the image evoked by your description of the lost boy whose mother failed him yet again in the courtroom that day---whose mother damned so many, including her own soul, guessing she had one.
Well told. Shudder. Shudder.
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My Two Pennies
[Read the article: Some thoughts about West Virginia ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I also appreciated the link to Dawnt's blog, Joan. I think there is much to the educating voters premise that would be advantageous toward uniting these states, something I would very much like to see.
I stayed with this letters thread too, because there are some valid points amidst all this venom & I am, as I've always been, glad for the forum. Tough---well, it's been tough here in the salon too. Tough to stick it out with the divisive opinions. I suppose I don't get why it's so vicious. The anonymity of a computer is pretty deceptive, don't you think? I recently renewed & changed my screen name, it looks as if I'm newborn here, but I am here most days & without words.
Today I just wanted to post support for everyone here who wants competent government & speaks eloquent opinions. I was an Edwards supporter, frequently perturbed by Salon going the way of the other media & largely ignoring him. When he dropped out, just before we voted in Georgia, I had a tremendous struggle deciding between Obama & Clinton. I voted and ultimately decided that either one would adequately represent some of my beliefs. Since then I have been trying to rouse some of that passion I see here every day. In my office I listen to co-workers recite nightly television's talking points as if they were their own reasoned views and they are embarrassed to talk with any depth about these "beliefs" even when I ask softly & close my angry eyes. Because I do feel anger when people choose not to reason, whether it's for my side or some other side of any four sided box. I quickly grasp that I won't reach anyone by denigrating their method of arrival. The word ignorance implies a potentially hopeful outcome with some well-spoken information. Willfully ignorant is something sadder & more disturbing. I'm still trying to hold hopeful.
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Echoing Lovely
[Read the article: How I misspent my European vacation]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Why do we go on vacation, anyway?
Isn't it just all too easy to miss the entire point of leaving home...and then it's time to go back.
I am one of those people DisneyWorld left icy-cold from first sight, the cookie-cutter "perfection" of it, queues, the elbow to elbow folks with cameras, queues, the oversized cartoon figures and more queues under the hot sun--it seemed like hell to me while I was there, yet etched always in my memory is my daughter's face as she got her joy from it. When I think back on that week now, I only hope I didn't look as though I was in deep pain the whole time there.
I've resisted my own desire for a European vacation for the simple reason that I don't want to experience it as a tourist. Ah, that sounds arrogant, and maybe I deserve to only see the world through the words of others. That, at least, I am sure I will do.
On a recent trip to NYC I overheard a man, who identified himself as a traveler from Chicago, actually commenting to the concierge at our hotel that the people in the city seemed to have gotten friendlier since nine-eleven...
I was watching his eyes & I saw a flicker but he responded with the expected polish and warmly enough, "Sir, we have always been friendly here." Tourist love---all in a day's work for some.