Letters to the Editor
janemar
Published Letters: 31 Editor's Choice: 6
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My American-made Toyota
[Read the article: Is Mitt Romney taking Michigan for a ride?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]10 years ago we bought a Dodge Caravan because we wanted to buy American (and Chrysler minivans were at the time still best-in-class. The thing turned out to have been made in Ontario.
Five years later we bought a Camry...we'd had enough with abysmal American-car quality. (Nuts and bolts frequently tumbled out from under the dash...we never could figure out where they came from.)
Guess what? It was made in Kentucky (or was it Indiana?)Our latest car: a Subaru, made in Kentucky (or Indiana?).
The bottom line: great cars are being made in America, away from the union pressures and other woes in Michigan. I wish the new plants were union, but I'll bet those workers make a decent living, and are happy for the work.
Let's not confuse the loss of auto manufacturing in Michigan with the loss of auto manufacturing in America.
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Eighth-grade level writing
[Read the article: Brian Williams nominates Peggy Noonan for a Pulitzer Prize]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]A Pulitzer? For this?
"...the Wright Brothers and what kind of country allowed them to go off on their own and change everything?
Beyond its facile and overblown reading of history, this is just bad writing. If this qualifies for a Pulitzer, I have some high-school essays I'd like to submit.
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Unlikable protagonists
[Read the article: Good night and good TV]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It may be true that it's harder for an American sitcom to succeed with an unlovable protagonist, but it's not unheard of. Frazier Crane was insufferable, and the writers often led viewers to believe he was tilting toward lovable, only to snatch him back from the brink.
(BTW, Kelsey Grammer's new show Back to You is set in a newsroom...)
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Unlimited bacon
[Read the article: Bacon is dead! Long live bacon!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]In high school my brother had a miserable job as a grill cook under a tent at a beach club. Blistering heat, whiny kids, pushy parents. When my mom asked him if there was anything he liked about the job, he thought for a minute then answered, "unlimited bacon."
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Chicken pox vaccine
[Read the article: Amanda Peet gets her shot on ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Though chicken pox is a relatively mild disease, like any other illness it CAN cause serious complications in some children...and the risk increase as the child ages.
My son caught chicken pox from his grandfather, who was suffering a bout of shingles. But despite frequent exposure, my daughter never contracted chicken pox. By the time she was 13, the vaccine was available in the US, and we were grateful to have it. At 13, chicken pox can cause real trouble.
And for the poster who thinks Hep B is a problem only for prostitutes and drug users, let's hope no one you love ever has unprotected sex:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hep_b
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Do a tweener list next
[Read the article: Awesome Kids' Video Project: The sequel!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Tweens (around 10-12)are a demographic ripe for introduction to a broader cultural landscape. They have the benefit of already being exposed to sex, violence and other topics that are verboten with younger kids (I wish this weren't so, but it is).
When my daughter was 12, she stumbled into the room while I was watching "The Lady Eve", and stayed for the whole thing. Her comment about the very young Henry Fonda was priceless: "Who's he? He's hot!"
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Ticks, mosquitos, poison ivy, sunburn...
[Read the article: Why I hate summer]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I just love wearing a hazmat suit to garden...how do the babes in the Smith and Hawken catalog get away with tank tops and shorts? Oh, right. California.
For me, summer is Nature on the attack. And it's winning.
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Once the train leaves the station...
[Read the article: Bridesmaid revisited]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]A colleague of mine is planning (and paying for) her wedding for this October. She's a level-headed woman with good taste and good friends. But I've watched her wedding assume a life of its own, sucking the cash out of her and her fiance in small but accumulating increments.
To paraphrase a well-known quote: $500 here, $500 there, and pretty soon you're talking real money.
The hotel where every one is staying is 15 miles from the reception. People will be drinking. It's just good sense and good hosting to rent a bus ($500). Want the band to play during cocktails? $500. The cake offered by the reception hall is dry and tasteless. Order a cake from a great bakery instead: $500.
I know, I know, she could just say "no", but she does want to have a wonderful party. Once you sign on to host 150 people for what inevitably turns into a full weekend of events, the additionals start piling up. The wedding train has left the station, and you can't get off until it's over. No wonder my colleague is getting frazzled and tense.
Brides and grooms should think of planning a wedding like contracting to build a house. Assume you'll go at least 20% over budget, so pull back accordingly at the start.
And don't forget the advice from many of the posters here: $20,000 for six hours is pretty steep. If you'd really rather have the down payment for a house, elope. Have a barbecue. Because once you get on that train, you're not driving anymore.
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Changing the temperature by degrees
[Read the article: Does air conditioning make people vote Republican?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]A recent article in Wired pointed out that it actually takes less energy to air condition than to heat. In Arizona, residents need to lower the temperature from, say, 90 to 75, a 25 degree change. In Minnesota in winter, raising the temperature from 10 to 70 is a 60 degree change. (I'm not sure if the humidity reduction in AC takes more energy, though.)
I've lived in both Richmond and New York City without AC, and survived. But I must admit... AC is truly delicious.
(Once, during a building-wide power failure in my office in NYC, we had to open the windows for the day. The papers flew everywhere, and we scrambled to find staplers, coffee cups, anything to hold them down. So Mr. McClelland, here's another thing you can add to your list of evils perpetrated by AC: the demise of the art of paperweights.)
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Maybe it's the timing?
[Read the article: Convention crowd is sparse]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The Democratic convention took place before most schools, including colleges, were back in session. So it's possible that more people, especially women and young people, were able to attend.
Bad scheduling on the part of the RNC machine, if you ask me.