Letters to the Editor
blunderdog
Published Letters: 509 Editor's Choice: 10
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Where in Manhattan IS this Guy?
[Read the article: Air head]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]As another transplanted NY'er from a pleasant rural area, I can appreciate some of the nostalgia (and, with due respect to the author, that is all this piece is), but I can't understand the desire to feel more connection with the "outdoors" of summertime when he lives in Manhattan.
There *is* no outdoors in Manhattan!
I suppose up the Innwood way, or directly on top of Central Park, you can almost perceive "nature" as something nearby, but that's about it. You don't hear cicadas, frogs, crickets when the windows are open in NYC. You hear the bass tubes of SUVs, fire engine sirens, coversations of exiled smokers. You don't smell nature and growing things with the windows open, you smell pee and diesel fumes.
There's just not much that's "friendly" in the Manhattan outdoor environment. Pavement, dog deposits, electric lights, the occasional broken bottle--not the idyllic setting for sipping iced tea in hammocks, that's for sure.
My suggestion: get the AC for the wife, then spend a few nights trying to sleep on a fire escape when it's nice and hot for a cure for the nostalgia pangs.
PS: Aside to the handful of commenters who've mentioned that AC is often overdone: for those of us who tend to "run hot," the AC is *never* overdone. It's not about being overweight--we just have different metabolic efficiency. Sure, maybe you have to bring a jacket walking around a mall or supermarket, but would you really rather be sweat on by strangers such as myself? :)
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Same Situation, Different "Choice"
[Read the article: Mom's a pothead]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]What if the 15 year old had "found Jesus" and was demanding his mom become a Christian or he'd "leave"?
Same answer?
What's the difference?
Of course, I remember being 15, and it SUCKED. My parents did all kinds of things they didn't want me to do, some for reasons I could understand, and some for reasons I could not.
The passion, the anger, the frustration...these are just components of an adolescent's coming of age. Adolescents really are often convinced they know everything, and it's always easier to tell the other guy what he's doing wrong than to figure out WHY it bugs you so much.
That said, if mom is a mess and needs help, it makes no difference why. But I don't see any way a child's judgements, threats, and demands are going to help that problem.
Cary's answer seemed to assume that doper mom is neglectful. Perhaps she is, in which case his advice is great. But if this is just a disagreement about ethics and/or law, the stuff needs to be hashed out in a direct manner. Mom needs to explain what her situation is, and child needs to figure out how to come to terms with it. (I don't consider his "leaving" a realistic option.) And of course the LW/friend should tell doper mom what she thinks and how she feels. That's what friends do.
But come on, Cary. An ultimatum from a 15 yr old? Do you have any idea how ridiculous it sounds that you're just saying cave to it? What if it was an ultimatum from a 12 yr old? Or that toddler who threatens to hold his breath 'til he dies?
Being of civil libertarian bent, I'm of the mind that mom (with dad's agreement OR disagreement) needs to make clear to the son that there will ALWAYS be people in his life that don't behave according to his expectations and beliefs, and it's his responsibility to figure out how to grow up and deal with that reality. And maybe the son will turn mom in, and maybe she'll get sent away for a few years.
And THEN...THEN he'll know what it's like not to have a mom.
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Now THAT's Funny!
[Read the article: If we leave Iraq, do we lose for good?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Cammille claims she likes eloquence and hates glibness.
I saw her speak and attend a mixer of sorts back at my liberal alma mater (Brown) in the early '90s. At the time, I was impressed with her willingness to engage with a bunch of arrogant adolescents who really weren't worth the time of day. I appreciated the fact that she was so articulate in her dismissal of the absurd black-and-white political discourse about subjects like date-rape as they were placed into the context of human sexuality. And yeah, she was cute and entertaining in her way--at least to anyone willing to listen to what she was actually saying, rather than thinking of their counter-strokes every time she opened her mouth. Perhaps even anyone who didn't call her a "rape apologist" or "anti-feminist."
And now, alas, little more than a steady jumble of clever quips and topic changes, better suited to the "Can you Believe?" segment on the average entertainment magazine show than a Salon column. A few too many cups of espresso and a toke or two and maybe I could get into it.
She's still teaching? What in heaven's name could she be doing for education these days?
Ah, well. I confess that I do think she's still cute and entertaining, but I am a bit disappointed in both myself and her every time I read her column to the end. I'd feel better about myself afterwards if I just jerked off instead.
As an aside to all the posters who keep demanding her column be cut from Salon--what are you, idiots? *You* clicked on the link! You are generating the "buzz" and web-traffic that makes her a worthwhile asset to a for-profit website. Each time you post a letter about how much you hate her writing, you SUPPORT HER PRESENCE HERE.
It's the fucking Internet people! There are TROLLS out there! With the money you save from your cancelled Salon subs, go buy a clue from the playbook!
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Free time on Sundays?
[Read the article: Opus]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I blog during mass.
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If they can all afford the cruise...
[Read the article: The National Review mind]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]and we elect Edwards as the next Unitary Executive, can he take all their Social Security money away to help pay for the war?
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Kitties are OK
[Read the article: My roommate bounces my cats the wrong way]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]They're not getting any kind of cumulative brain damage from the bouncing. Simply not, no. That's the part to let go of.