Letters to the Editor
amspeck
Published Letters: 258 Editor's Choice: 43
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More good places for girls to shop
[Read the article: Attention Broadsheet shoppers! Run, don't walk, to American Girl Place!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Another place to shop is American Apparel. They're online at americanapparel.net and are starting to open retail stores. While they won't fill any prescriptions, they are committed to paying the women who work their a living wage.
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Tell them
[Read the article: My husband is a high-achieving alcoholic, seven years sober]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]My parents told me in high school that one of the causes of my grandmother's premature death was alcoholism. It was painful for my mom to admit, but it allowed me to get educated before drinking became a part of my life. In response to that talk, I decided to delay drinking until I was well into my 20's, was surrounded by a group of friends who knew me well enough to identify trouble, and have always stayed away from binges. I can, for now, enjoy a drink or two a week. But I am aware that there may come a time when I cannot.
I don't despise my grandmother. I'm sad that she didn't have programs available that could help her -- in a dignified way -- come to terms with the reasons she was a chain-drinker.
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"Lesbian Style?"
[Read the article: Divorce, lesbian style]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]What makes a divorce "lesbian style?" Is it the hole in the wall? Is it going for 5 additional years after the union, which commemorated 5 years? Is it the embarrasment that you couldn't make it work after your wedding became national news? I don't think there was anything in this story that justified the "lesbian style" headline... I think we could just say that the first civil union celebrated between lesbians in Vermont has come to an end and let it be that.
What actually would be far more interesting to me is whether in order to get a divorce the lesbian couple has to do the same work my straight friend is doing in his divorce... sitting down and talking over who gets the flannel and who's taking the cats; whether they're going to sell the U-haul or one of them take over the loan on it; how they're going to split up the Xena memorabilia. As a lawyer friend of mine says, the marriages are purely optional. What the community needs is a good way to divorce when the relationship is over.
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Ludicrous
[Read the article: L is for Lame]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]A little history behind the song... the band Betty (Fronted by Elizabeth Ziff) performs the song and makes numerous cameos during the second season. In the press, this is always played up as a touching acceptance of the show by 'real' lesbians, but to me, it smacks of some back-room drunken handshake between self-promoters.
The L Word and the theme song are related in one profound way... they use extreme stereotypes of lesbians to catch an audience. The song and the show actually use different stereotypes... I have appreciated the fact that the the show avoids the drunken stupor that seems to be de rigour in some lesbian circles (including the songwriters), but regardless, this isn't the way I or my friends live, either the song or the show. We're just amused by it.
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Toward a better definition
[Read the article: "Feminism = Narcissism"?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I have always thought that being a feminist was about thinking that all women were entitled to certain rights and treatment; not that all women should have the same kind of thoughts. For example: I don't think you have to prefer working in an office to staying at home to raise kids, but I do think you should have a right to choose, and a right to the education to be able to earn enough to make it worthwhile, and a right to be treated with respect while getting that education.
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I disagree!
[Read the article: Our host reimbursed us for a theft in his house]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Having recently been a victim of robbery, I disagree that "doing my best to get along without being a burden to others" was my obligation. I needed help. And if I'd had $1000 stolen from my room in a host's house, I would need help again. It was the giver's responsibility to offer what he could, and not the reciever's responsibility to read the man's brain and deduce that the offer wasn't real.
What really looks bad in this situation isn't the young man's behavior, it that the host in a foreign country couldn't actually provide safety inside his house. That's what hospitality is supposed to be. Maybe there's some face saving to do now that the young man called the host on his inability to protect his guests, and on the father's part for entrusting his family to someone who couldn't protect them, but I don't think the young man has an obligation to play along by coughing up an obviously difficult to come by $1000.
Now, if the father had asked the young man to help pay for a safe for the host's house, I think that would be appropriate.
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Yes and No
[Read the article: Massachusetts shrink outed as former stripper]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Yes, it matters to me that she lied about her credentials. One role of a counselor is to model for people that they can take on difficult tasks and complete them in spite of their being difficult.
However, it does not matter to me whether she was a stripper. I've always appreciated people in the social professions (Counseling, ordained ministry) who had some life experience to mix in with their knowledge. I also think that professions such as stripper, waitress, truck driver, are the kinds of jobs our culture creates for people who are primarily kinesthetic learners, and there's no need to look down on them for finding a way to make a living with those skills.