Letters to the Editor
Published Letters: 215 Editor's Choice: 15
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You Can Stop
[Read the article: I am the keeper of secrets]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]That's what you can do. You can tell all involved that you can't be the Keeper of Their Secrets, anymore.
That you love them, that you respect them, and that it's too painful, as you love and respect other members of this group, to be asked to keep secrets from them.
That's all. And one more thing, perhaps. You could distance yourself, just a little, from Male Friend. If he is now to be going through a divorce, it could be more difficult to deal with the attraction. Just a thought.
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It's Your Home, Not His
[Read the article: I let a homeless man move in with me and now I can't get rid of him]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You have already given in--you told him not to come back and "he came home anyway"?
NOT HIS HOME, so he can't come home to YOUR home.
Here's what I'd do, but you make your own choices, of course.
Change the locks while he's gone.
Change my phone number and have it unlisted.
DO NOT answer the door unless I know who is coming and when.
Get therapy to help me understand why I believe that I have to deal with a manipulative drunken jerk who used to beat me up.
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Where in This Letter Does She Say
[Read the article: How can I get a writing job?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]That she has actually interviewed someone?
Is it necessary to be paid to do so? I think not. I'm not a writer--tho I fancied myself one in my younger days. But I can, off the top of my head, think of 10 or 15 subjects that would be absolutely compelling to write about/read about, and would demonstrate the truth of her high opinion of her talents.
If you want to write--write. Go down to the nearest intersection at lunch from your assistant job and ask the first 25 people you talk to what effect, if any the housing crunch is having on them.
Go to the nearest mall on Saturday and ask 25 teenagers how the drop in the economy, coupled with the continuing rise in the cost of a college education, is affecting their choices for after high school.
Nike said it, but it's still true: just do it.
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It's Not Just Freelancers Who are Self-Employed
[Read the article: What every freelancer should know]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]But most of your advice was spot on for the rest of us, too.
A few additions: DO NOT depreciate your office space--it will be taken from your "Free" appreciation when you eventually sell. DO use as deductions ANY AND ALL house related expenses if you EVER have clients/customers come to the house. While I am not fond of the enormous cost of energy to heat, wire and cool our home, it is a comfort to know that nearly 10% of it is a deductible expense, based on the square footage of our home.
Similarly, the plants we put in the yard, the water bill, the garbage collection, internet and phone are ALL deductible based on that %age of the house that is my home office.
I will need a new laptop this year...deductible. When I buy a new desk to replace this inefficient, overwhelming behemoth...deductible. Driving to the post office with products for a customer...deductible. And going out to dinner and talking with the waiter about products/business...deductible.
WOOHOO for self-employment.
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Keep Your Piehole Shut
[Read the article: I think my dad's too old to vote]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It is the right and responsibility of EVERY citizen over the age of 18 to vote. NOT only those whose offspring believe that they are somehow qualified to do so.
I don't care if they are the rightest of rightwing Republicans. Or if they write in "Charlie Brown and Snoopy" for their choices for president. If enough of us vote, we WILL have the rule of the majority, and not just that of the voters--because they will be one and the same.
EVERY citizen who has the right to vote should be doing so. If we had more people voting, we'd not be in the mess that we currently are in.
Who told YOU, LW, that you are the decider? It appears to me that it's just that same arrogant POV that allows our elected officials to make such egregiously bad decisions: the belief that they know what's best for the populace.
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Two Word: Alcoholics Anonymous
[Read the article: I quit being a musician because I couldn't play without drinking]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The number of speshul people in AA is legion. One of the reasons that a lot of them give themselves for drinking is that they need it to be the wonderful, witty and creative person that they know they are inside.
Learn to deal with life without alcohol and pot, and then learn to deal with the fact that you are human. Which, in the grand scheme of things, means that you ARE wonderful witty and creative, it's just that, in one fashion or another, we ALL are, so we stop patting each other on the tops of our heads for it by the time most of us reach the age of 10 or so.
Sucks to be you, that you didn't learn that lesson at the age of 11.