STRANGER STAFF: Happy 10-year anniversary [The Stranger's 10th Anniversary Issue, Feb 28]. I was just reading through your lovely new issue and I believe I laughed out loud (LOL) three times. I usually only LOL once when I read your paper, but you really went balls-out for humor to mark this special event, and I appreciate that.

I did however get very sad when I saw a Linda's ad that said "CONGRATULATIONS to The Stranger for 10 great years!" That was a very nice gesture on the part of Linda and her establishment(s), and I realized how I wish I had done something that nice for you.

James Keblas, The Vera Project

EDITORS: Seeing as how I am a huge fan of Dave Eggers' work, I was surprised to find out that he used to play a part in getting The Stranger to the people ["Where Are They Now?" Feb 28]. I was very interested in seeing the articles that he had written, but the link that you listed didn't seem to work.

Just thought I'd let you know.

Steven

EDITORS: Brian Goedde has gone ahead and discredited himself as to having any form of knowledge regarding hiphop music ["Afterschool Special," Feb 28]. And, with his expressed attitude, it is safe to say that he does not understand most forms of music. He does, however, have a firm grasp on the form of music he refers to as "pop art." Oh yeah, and speaking of heavy... Brian: I can see why you find that shit "appealing" in its "brash, sometimes outrageous confidence," because you are so ignorantly steeped in privilege that you can't even make the distinction between culture and commodity. Go ahead with your Rap City peeps and reap the benefits of your stolen and perverse culture. Go ahead and leave hiphop independent, and take that ugly movement you call "pop art" elsewhere. Isn't that the whole theme of "pop art" anyways? Life and debt....

Erin, via e-mail

BRIAN GOEDDE: I just want to say that your article about bad rap was an excellent example of how out of touch with kids, as well as the hiphop culture, Rice Baker-Yeboah is. Mr. Yeboah, I am sure that you educated yourself proficiently when you were a member of Seattle hiphop collective Basement Nation, but perhaps you need to take a class on how to persuade kids to learn what YOU desire. They simply were not interested in your fatuous gibble-gabble about rap being a socially positive force that will bring justice and utopia throughout the world and bla bla bla.

Instead, it appears they were merely willing to pass time in your trite workshop, er, I meant "Community through Communication," in order to gain access to the messages that Rap City had to offer. I am convinced the ideas Rap City has to offer are much closer (and more appealing) to the ideas behind hiphop culture than the idealism that you feebly attempt to spit out.

It is clear you have visions of grandeur, but it is also clear that your vision is not going to fuse with the hiphop culture you are attempting to adulterate. The kids don't like your rhetoric, and the messages are merely ideas you dictate. That is no fun at all, and I bet Rap City, regardless of its baseness, probably is much more interesting.

Jacob Hall, via e-mail

EDITORS: Amy Jenniges calls Seattle Weekly's Geov Parrish "gullible and predictable" for using eyewitnesses as sources ["Can I Get a Witness?" Feb 28]. It's a good thing Jenniges uses the police as her source, since the police have never lied, cheated, or misrepresented anything, ever.

Paul Souza, Seattle

DEAR EDITOR: I find Geov Parrish's writing anything but "gullible and predictable," unlike Amy Jenniges in her "knee-jerk press" article. Jenniges challenges the value of Parrish and others raising questions about the police killing Shawn [Maxwell] in the U-District on February 18.

The actions of people in positions of power should definitely be scrutinized, no doubt when it ends in killing a person, especially another black man at the hands of police.

My question is: Why couldn't a group of trained police surrounding one man take him down without killing him? How about shooting out his knee? How about better use of non-violent tactics?

A healthy democracy needs this lively scrutiny of power. Otherwise the press is a mouthpiece for established power structures that, unfortunately, will endlessly justify violence as necessary.

Liza Burke, via e-mail

AMY JENNIGES RESPONDS: Parrish is not gullible simply because he talked to eyewitnesses. But he did latch onto one particular witness--whose story falls apart on examination--to stir up controversy over a man's tragic death. There is value in raising questions about shootings, but relying on spotty testimony strips away credibility.

I talked to eyewitnesses, obtained documents from the King County Medical Examiner, saw the knife, and, yes, called the police. As it turns out, the accounts and the documented facts largely fit together--and it seems the police haven't lied about how this shooting happened.