CRITICAL OVERSIGHT

TO THE EDITOR: Jim Demetre's trifling piece on the Olympic Sculpture Park ["The Return of the Natives," Oct 4] fails to adequately critique landscape designer Charles Anderson's use of the term "native." At a public forum earlier this year at the University of Washington, Anderson defended his decision to use Ginkgo biloba trees (native to China) citing the local existence of petrified Ginkgo remnants dating back to Pangaea. Anderson's practice renders the idea of "native" plantings a useless piece of rhetoric—evidence that his hack concept lacks any integrity whatsoever.

Amanda Mae

PRO VELO

STRANGER: Last week Kendra Coatney said something in a letter [Oct 4] that I thought was stupid, immature, hotheaded, and wrong. Velo bike shop is not "snobbish." I've been a customer of theirs for years, and their service has always been professional and friendly. Their commitment to serving every kind of customer is reflected in their stock. Everything from tricycles to racers are available and—check the market—the prices are fair.

Bike shops are generally low-margin businesses, and the presence of a shop in a high-rent area must always be viewed as a bit of a community service. As someone who uses a bike for most of my transportation, I'm glad there's a place nearby where I can easily pick up a spare tube or whatever. My feeling is that we're lucky to have them there, and they deserve our support.

Ron Frederickson

P.S. Your new layout sucks. Now you look like the Weakly, only more porny.

A CORDIAL INVITATION

DEAR MEGAN: Please stick to writing about music, and remember that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Your Slog entry back in May of 2007 ["Down with the Rusty Cock!" Megan Seling, May 31] was exactly what I'd expect from somebody who writes for The Stranger: mean-spirited and uninformed. If you don't like the objects in front of Square Room that are recycled from old metal drums and flowers recycled from old automobile bodies, that are made by artisans, take another route to your job.

We cordially invite you to stop by Square Room in person so we can show you work by our artists, tell you about them, and show you the "ridiculous prices" that we ask for in support of them.

Sincerely,

Brian McGuffey

Leif Holland

owners, artists

Square Room

SIGMA KAPPA:

NOT UGLY,

NOT OVERWEIGHT,

NOT THROWING UP

TO THE EDITOR: When I read the "What Are You, Greek?" article [Adrian Ryan, Sept 20], I was in complete shock. Though I was aware before reading it that it was part of what was supposed to be a "condescending" back-to-school guide, my jaw dropped at the sight of its content. I am a Sigma Kappa at the UW, and we were called "ugly bitches," and accused of having "the worst eating disorders" and being overweight, as insinuated by Adrian Ryan's comment that we are the "Mu" chapter.

Upon first reading Ryan's scathing criticism of my sorority, I was furious. Why anybody would think such hurtful thoughts about myself and my beautiful, loving, intelligent sorority sisters is beyond me, but to put it in writing and distribute these words to the entire Seattle area is an entirely different and much greater concern. The realization that this was not just one person's spoken opinion to another, but rather a widespread, public defamation of me and my dearest friends hurt me more than words could describe.

I am extremely disappointed by the lack of editing restrictions on this article. It is both irresponsible and unethical to let such a mean-spirited, inaccurate commentary be printed in your newspaper.

Elizabeth Newmark

IT'S A DATE

HEY, STRANGER: I walked into Beth's Cafe on Thursday morning (9/20) expecting to pick up a copy of The Stranger so I could read aloud the Savage Love column to my siblings, as we've made a tradition along with our weekly breakfast. I did not, however, get that copy of The Stranger. The spot where I normally see my beloved paper was sadly empty. No Strangers.

And so our breakfast was significantly lackluster because while we are quite capable of corrupting each others' minds on our own, the heartfelt words of Dan Savage were noticeably lacking. If, perhaps, Dan wants to show up as a replacement/supplement in the future, I can't say I'd have a problem (Dan, every Thursday morning we're usually there at 7:45. Freeeeee breaaaaakfaaaaast...).

Angela Barnard

FLAMING ASSHOLE

TO THE EDITOR: Regarding Eric Grandy's article about how he doesn't really like the Flaming Lips that much [Fucking in the Streets, Sept 20], it seems to me that there is a different bubble ripe for the bursting, one inflated by Mr. Grandy's sense of self-importance. I wonder what makes him believe that his perspective is one worth our consideration. Who gives a shit what he thinks about the Flaming Lips?

Alex Hartman

badtendo

TO THE EDITOR: I'm writing this in reply to the article regarding the Nintendo "employee" fired over her blog ["Game Over," Jonah Spangenthal-Lee, Sept 20] and, more correctly, the response the company gave: "Nintendo spokeswoman Perrin Kaplin says Nintendo doesn't bar employees from having blogs, but 'we generally don't encourage them.' However, contradicting Zenner, Kaplin says, '[Zenner] was expressly discouraged from doing what she did. I've seen everything that she's written and it's really not work appropriate.'"

That's the biggest crock of shit I've ever read, and it's full of fallacies.

"Not encouraging them" means, in a literal sense, that they don't tell you to, or they don't tell you that having one is a good idea, not that they're discouraged. Secondly, "not really work appropriate" would imply that she's writing it on company time, on company hardware, or on company webspace. From what I gathered, she used none of those, and I'm pretty sure that griping about work is perfectly legal. And if it's not in the employment contract that you can't bitch about your job and the people in it, I'm pretty sure that there's at least one left-wing movement that would sponsor her case.

Eric Nehls