Columns

Letters to the Editor

DEAR TRACI VOGEL: I'm so very excited about your writing style and ideas, and the initiative to bring feminism to The Stranger ["Is Outrage Outdated?" series, edited and curated by Traci Vogel]. I'm giddily surprised about this, [since I've] been aching for some relevance and guts in this fucking town.

As a girl artist, writer, and stripper, men continue to make me feel like a piece of shit; they treat me like a hooker when I'm not hooking, and then treat me like a beating post when I'm only trying to sell sex. And the "good boys" acknowledge that "things aren't right" if they're as obvious as a rape, but will shut you up if you wanna get beneath the surface of the roles women are assigned (bitch, "hysterical woman," dumb slut, boyfriend's band-watching-girlfriend, party girl, the town joke, etc.). These are the men who still can't stand to get fussy and critical about how women are treated, because it [forces them to confront] their environment of undisturbed apathy.

It seems that women in [my industry] shouldn't need to form a club against the "natural" boys club we are sort of part of, the one that hypocritically never gets seriously picked apart or talked about, as if not to rock the liquor boat at the bar. [Sex work and exotic dancing] is a part of life where feminism lays dormant. [But] I am a feminist, and will constantly be ignited by that with intent and the knowing that this is an exciting, complicated, hated, evolving subject.

Writing is so powerful, even in small doses. When I opened the paper and saw your article, [I realized] how fucking important [this issue] is to me.

Sophia Shalmiyev, via e-mail

WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY: You are still the funniest goddamn thing in The Stranger [I Love Television™]. I've been a fan for the last six years or so, and you still crack me up every time. I quit smoking pot after having my kid, and I wondered what things I would still find amusing after I wasn't stoned anymore. You, my man, are still funny. No one understands irony any more. Everyone is so fucking sensitive. So thanks for reminding us how stupid everything really is. Without that sort of insight, television just wouldn't be fun to watch at all. I laughed so hard at your column "Mmmmmmonkey Love" [April 19] my sides ached. And oh, what a joyous pain it was!

P-Flan, Seattle

DEAR STRANGER: You people print sex-crazed ads of some sick broads. Plus your editors don't cover anything up in their speech. And you guys printed [the thoughts] of a real psycho woman [who said] we should get rid of bums by using silenced pistols. Then I looked at your tattoo ads. And you guys print the most insane covers for your papers. Also you people print sinister advertisements not only for sex, porn, cigarettes, movies, music, and parlors, but also you guys print a very off-the-wall comic section--a comic section with nudity and jokes about guns and violence.

So I'm writing to tell you people straight up: Thanks. I love it. Keep up the good work. Finally a paper that's not boring. You guys print everything a guy could want. The Stranger rocks! And to all those people who criticize your papers, "F**k you." You guys should really tell those candy-asses off. Anyone who can criticize your papers are just retards. May God have mercy on their souls.

Nathan Hughes, Clallum Bay Corrections Center, Clallum Bay, WA

DEAR PHIL: As a teacher with seven years experience, I had some strong reactions to what you wrote ["Last Chance High," Phil Campbell, May 17].

Schools like Marshall don't accomplish much academically--but thank God there is at least one place that calls a spade a spade. Marshall's job is to give kids basic social skills. The truly sad fact is that many schools in Seattle spend a huge amount of energy doing the exact same things that Marshall does while attempting to prepare other kids (whose parents actually decided to raise their own children and not expect our schools to do it for them) to find academic challenges and success.

Teachers and administrators often spend more than a third of their time correcting the behavior of less than a quarter of the students. In a 45-minute period for a 25-student room, I'll spend between 17-20 minutes dealing with interruptions from the same three to four students, every day. Would you want your child to have to put up with that crap from classmates on a daily basis?

We need a couple more Marshalls, and [more] relaxed criteria for getting kids in those types of schools. While I won't blame students for the families they are born into, we do them a grave disservice if we are overpatient with them. For example, I'm curious about your interviewee, "James." He still has a chance to pull his head out of his ass and save his own life. And what does he say? "I ain't going to get no job at no bank!" Well, boo-fucking-hoo. How many classes has this kid decided to cut in his life? How many assignments ignored? How many classrooms disrupted? How many other students' educations interrupted? What felony was he convicted of? I'm not devoid of sympathy for kids. But frankly, FUCK James if he can't get it together. He has people at Marshall who are giving him a chance, and I don't want kids like him in my classroom anymore.

I'm glad you wrote your article, and I sense a genuine interest in kids' welfare in your writing. I hope you and The Stranger will continue to visit schools and gain an accurate idea of the landscape, and figure out just how truly difficult some of these kids are, and how totally ill-equipped schools are to function the way everyone seems to expect us to.

James Michael, via e-mail

TAMARA PARIS: You implied that it would "get worse before it gets better," in regards to the Supreme Court decision and wrongful death lawsuit in which a 12-week old fetus and the mother were killed by doctors [Last Days, Tamara Paris, May 17]. Does that mean you think a viable fetus is not a living person?

At eight weeks, an embryo becomes a fetus; at that stage, it develops pain receptors throughout the body, and reacts to outside stimuli even more so than an adult, because the receptors are so sensitive and new. I am not anti-choice, but a person is a person. When a fetus can feel and react to things, then it is sentient and self-aware.

Here's a gruesome fact. Planned Parenthood performs over 45% of [their] abortions on fetuses that have developed enough to feel pain. Be aware that I do not condemn abortions, but I also cannot condone killing a person just because they are not wanted.

R. Hart, via e-mail

[Editor's note: Hart also attached a jpeg image of an aborted fetus to this letter, just in case we wanted to see those pain receptors up close. Thanks, R. Hart. Just don't kill any doctors, okay?]

DEAR EDITOR: Just for clarification, the court opinion referred to in Last Days [Tamara Paris, May 17], which established that a fetus is a "person" after a gestation period of 12 weeks is, in fact, an Arkansas State Supreme Court opinion. The article seemed to suggest that this was a U.S. Supreme Court holding. This may have simply been an oversight, but for a moment even I was startled to learn that W.H. "Dub" Arnold was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

John R. Nicholson, via e-mail

DEAR EDITOR: Sean Nelson does well by championing the validity of Paul McCartney's contribution to pop songwriting ["What the Man Said," Sean Nelson, May 17]. But why the dis of "Ebony and Ivory"? At the time, that song affected the world in a way that only several pop songs in a generation can. It is a sincere, strong piece of art (especially compared to, say... "Say, Say, Say"). Also, "Ebony and Ivory" wouldn't be included on Wingspan because Wings were not involved in that historic recording. I always enjoy The Stranger and just wanted to speak my piece.

P.S. I am 87 years old! ROCK ON!

Albert N. Schrieber, Seattle