Letters to the Editor
subterraneanne
Published Letters: 96 Editor's Choice: 10
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Her reactionary hometown news rag hasn't covered this yet...surprise!
[Read the article: Still an angel?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]As a recent transplant from the Midwest to Augusta, Georgia (Smith's hometown)I find it interesting (not) that this information hasn't yet made it into print locally. The sages on the Augusta Chronicle's editorial board (who are wont to quote the Bible as supporting evidence for their learned tripe, er,...opinions) hailed her as a hero. But....DRUGS?? (gasp!) What's a knee-jerk fundamentalist to do?
I can only assume that Ms. Smith has seen the light and has rededicated her life to Christ. Mark my words, that will be the official line and will make damn good copy down here, where every other car is a billboard for Our Heavenly Fathers (one UP THERE, doncha know, and the other in the White House).
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All or nothing suggests there's a problem
[Read the article: When is it time to stop "canoodling" with our children?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]As a mother who breastfed my now 16 and 12-yr-old daughters past the point where it was socially acceptable, I'm not a prude about skin-to-skin contact and physical affection with my children. However, the article DID creep me out. Initially, it was her vocabulary, which is most definitely the lexicon of love and lust. (Is she simply trying to shock? Maybe.) But the fact that she cut her children off cold turkey indicates that this woman has no definable boundaries. It's all or nothing, and that's got to be profoundly confusing for her kids (what did I DO? they might well wonder...one minute, I'm sucking on her neck with my hand in her hair in public, and the next, NOTHING).
Another thing she might want to consider: my father-in-law used to play a game of "potch the tookus" (forgive my poor Yiddish transliteration) with my 6-yr-old at the restaurant where we had brunch every Sunday. One day, a social worker at an adjoining table called the authorities, and he was taken away in handcuffs. Of course, the woman's fears were groundless, but that doesn't take away the trauma of being interviewed by Children and Family Services.
FYI.
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Sanctimonious Seniors, Smug Boomers & Whiny X-ers--Gimme a Break
[Read the article: Talkin' bout my generation]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]These cohort categories are about as useful, substantive and enlightening as VH1's Top Hundred Bloat Rockers. My sister was born in 1951, I was born in 1958, and another sister in 1961. We invariably vote for different candidates (can you say, Bush, Gore, Nader?) and have different religious, social and political agendas. My father (born in '26) was one of those moderate Republicans whose like you seldom see these days. My mother ('29)was a Common Cause liberal. I've got a cousin (from the Repub side) who's building a sustainable community in California and another (from the liberal side) who's sending her kids to some private fundamentalist religious school. WTF????!!!!!
What I know is this: My father, white man that he was, returned to the Midwest from WWII (he never left San Francisco Bay) to a free education courtesy of the GI Bill and a booming job market. He stayed with the same company for his entire career, retiring in his late 50s with an incredible pension plan and no financial worries. The most vocal of the "Greatest Generation" (gag me) are the very ones who were able to go to college for free, support a family on one paycheck, and retire without worries. You say your prescription drugs cost alot? Mine, too.
On the other hand, my brother-in-law lost his job in his early 50s, and after 18 months of fruitless searching, finally bought a franchise in his industry and downsized his house, his car,and pretty much every discretionary item on the ledger. Who knows when he--and the rest of us in our 40s and 50s--will retire.
As my hero, Jeff Lebowski (The Dude) so aptly put it: "I gotta rash..."
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Talkin' bout My Generalization
[Read the article: Talkin' bout my generation]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Yes, I know I already held forth this morning, but I've got to add just a couple more things to the debate (being the self-absorbed Boomer the so-called Gen X'ers insist I am).
First, yes, it is so much more about class and race and region than about arbitrary timeline demarcations. In every generation, there are artists, posers, opportunists, conformists, fundamentalists...and many other "-ists". There are racists and there are sexists and there are capitalists. There are those who take a stand, and those who--50 years later--decide, hey, that wasn't such a bad idea, after all. This is the way of the world.
Second, although I have roundly dissed the whole idea of these categories, the so-called Gen Y kids are our best hope. A previous letter writer maintains that Boomers' kids are our last attempt at promoting our self-absorbed agenda? Well, listen, I've got two daughters, almost-17 and 12, and the view from here is that their generation, despite the conservative bullshit and media pap they've been fed, is more tolerant of differences (for example, they support gay marriage more than their Boomer parents).
By the way, why don't you Gen-X whiners VOTE? Or are you too disaffected?