Some of us have taken abuse from scribbling turds like you on this issue for years. Many, many Y2K-aware people who have tried to get their communities prepared have not only been vilified in the press, but have lost their jobs -- in non-profit [organizations], in local government -- for "promoting panic."
When we were down, you put the boot in. Do you now want to be recognized for sounding the alarm about Y2K? Sorry, dipshits. We've got your number.
Danton Thorsson, Mercer Island
STRANGER OFFERS HOPE FOR THE FUTURETo the Editor:
WHAT HAPPENED TO FREE SPEECH AT SEATTLE CENTER?Dear Editor:
They should never have harassed him. I feel that they are doing it so that his organization will have a much harder time gathering enough valid signatures. This is crazy!
Darral Good, Lynnwood
WHY BASH NOOKSACK?To The Stranger:
Randy Murchy, Nooksack
STRANGER INCONSISTENT!To The Stranger:
Jay Thompson, via e-mail
Editor's note: We at The Stranger place the utmost importance on consistency. We apologize for the confusion and assure you, and all our readers, that conflicting opinions will never again appear in these pages.
WILSON DOESN'T GET GOTHDear Editor: KATHLEEN WILSON'S RESPONSE TO MERCURY IS PARTLY WHY IT IS A PRIVATE CLUB [IT'S MY PARTY, JULY 29]. IF I WANTED TO BE GAWKED AT BY rude, Adidas-wearing scenesters in baggy pants, I'd go to the Cha Cha Lounge. Since I don't, I (along with a few hundred other citizens) patronize the Mercury, and occasionally, the Vogue. Of course the Mercury is pretentious. It's a Goth club! Wilson's description of everyone being "lumpen and unattractive" just shows that she simply does not "get" the Gothic subculture.As far as the dancing, the correct way to describe it would be "Gothic Tai Chi." It accounts for both the "I lost my contact" and the "oh my back hurts" movements she witnessed. At least she enjoyed her drink.
She Nelson, Seattle
HERE'S YOUR LETTER, NOW DON'T SHOOT!To the Editor and Stranger readers: I HAVE BEEN READING THE STRANGER SINCE I MOVED HERE TO SEATTLE IN '91, AND OVERALL IT'S A PRETTY ENTERTAINING PAPER. I HAVE NOTICED, UNFORTUNATELY, THAT JUST LIKE EVERY OTHER RAG IN THIS FAIR CITY, IT'S UNBELIEVABLY, IRREPRESSIBLY,unapologetically WHITE. It seems there's room for fags and dykes, cross-dressers and confused-about-their-genders, fat slobs and "heroin chic," C-cup tits and above, small pencil dicks to big ol' schlongs. But there's absolutely nothing about the hassles and headaches that a tall, slender, could've-been-a-model-but-too-dark-for-local-agencies, small-breasted, genius-level IQ, hellacious writer, voice made for radio, face made for television, dark-skinned black woman faces daily.Do you ever print letters from people like me who actually have something important to say? I know there's not a lot of room for me to expound on this topic, so I'll just get right to the point:
I completely understand what goes through the minds of people who "go postal" and blow their co-workers away, because I'm pretty close to that point myself. I'm tired of my co-workers keeping me at arm's length just because my dark skin makes them uncomfortable. I can hold a conversation just as well, if not better than they can, and I'm sick of being shut out. I like all sorts of music: from classical to classic rock, goth to hiphop, contemporary and New Age, Celtic and Native American. Why the hell should I be ostracized for something beyond my control?
I'm not as rich as Michael Jackson, so I can't afford the bleaching treatments he's undergone -- and you know what? Even if I could afford them, I wouldn't have them done. I don't have that level of self-hatred; low self-esteem, maybe, but not self-hatred. No, my hate is directed outward where it should be: at all of you narrow-minded, shit-for-brains assholes who think that a person with skin darker than yours is inherently inferior. Fuck all of you whitebread bigots and Uncle Tom shitheads: Just watch out when I've decided I've had enough.
Pissed off in Seattle
MORE FROM WHINY ARTISTIC TYPESEric,
Eric Fredericksen responds: There's a big difference between getting into a Northwest Annual or Safeco or Microsoft collection and gaining the attention of Seattle's major private collectors. But if you're happy with the bones you're getting thrown, good for you. As for your "weird" comment, blue chip contemporary artists like Paul McCarthy and Ann Hamilton are much weirder than anything I've ever seen in Seattle's alternative spaces.