TO THE EDITOR: As an employee of the Seattle Center who contributed many hours to the production of the Festál events, I am offended and confused by Eric Fredericksen's article ["Don't Burn, Baby" Jan 13]. I failed to find the connection asserted between the cancellation of the Millennium Burn for security reasons and what he claims to be the Seattle Center's "perpetual fetishization of the exotic." What Mr. Fredericksen either does not know or just neglected to report is the process by which Festál events come into being.

The community organizations themselves organize the actual event. The Seattle Center hosts the event and helps the organizations produce it. If there is no Bastille or Guy Fawkes Day celebration at the Seattle Center, it is most likely because no one has approached the Center about creating one. Although it is true that the Festál events are "unfamiliar to the majority of Seattle residents," they are extremely important to and well attended by the communities they represent.

I was also one of those involved with the Millennium Burn. At many of the Festál events I worked on, those "written wishes of thousands of Seattleites" were collected. I am extremely disappointed for Carl Smool and for all of us who worked hard to try and make the Burn happen. But I feel more cheated by Mr. Fredericksen's article and how, with very little thought or investigation, it undermines a truly wonderful coalition of cultural events.

Jeb Lewis, Former Festival Coordinator for the

Office of Cultural Events at Seattle Center

STRANGER: What is up with you reviewing a show, before it even happens? Especially if it's the band's first gig under the name Wolf's Bane [Up & Coming, Barbara Mitchell, Jan 6]? For you to even compare Wolf's Bane to Lilith Fair and Jewel is outrageous. Wolf's Bane has an awesome lead singer who was rocking the house [at the Showbox] for the band's whole set. She had the crowd dancing and getting into the groove. I also HIGHLY DOUBT Jewel would have such a feeling, energetic guitarist (who even did a leg kick)!! As for Tiger Zane and the Kerry Lauder Band... YAWN.

Anonymous, via e-mail

GREETINGS: I am writing in regard to the questions in your sex survey ["Sex Survey 2000," Jan 13] that included references to Jesus ["What Would Jesus Do?"]. I was very confused as to why your publication chose to associate Jesus with the questions in your sex survey. I cannot understand the connection between the questions asked and Jesus. Jesus loves each one of us, and offers His free gift of salvation to any person who will acknowledge and repent their sin and accept Him as their Lord and Saviour.

In Christ's Name,

Jay Hess, via e-mail

EDITOR'S NOTE: Many Christian churches encourage young people to ask themselves, "What Would Jesus Do?" when they face difficult life choices. They give their young charges WWJD jewelry and T-shirts to prompt them to ask themselves what Jesus would do before they, say, cheat on a math test or go to third base. While Mr. Hess fails to see a connection between Jesus and the questions posed in our sex survey -- problems of modern sexual morality -- the connection is at least as strong as that between Jesus and any math test.

DEAR STRANGER: Your article on the Community Coalition for Environmental Justice (CCEJ) ["Toxic Medicine," Alexandra Holly-Gottlieb, Jan 13] was very funny. Complaining that the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Beacon Hill uses PVC [polyvinyl chloride plastic]? You're joking, right? PVC plastic is in everything! You know those plastic pipes under your sink? PVC! You know those clear plastic containers your food sometimes comes in? PVC! You know the material that bottle of soda comes in? PVC!

How dangerous is PVC? Well, unlike other plastics, PVC contains 43 percent petroleum in its composition, and rock salt makes up the remaining 57 percent. Rock salt is the chloride part of "Polyvinyl chloride." PVC is approved for use by the FDA and other major food and drug agencies around the world. You will regularly find it as a liner in pipes that supply our drinking-water reservoirs. It helps eliminate cross-infection by permitting floor and wall coverings to be joined without seams (which is why it is regularly specified for use in hospitals).

The use of PVC allows time-sensitive products such as blood to be stored for longer periods than would be possible in glass containers. It can also be used to treat burn victims. The amount of dioxin in PVC is almost negligible. If the medical community has problems with PVC leeching dioxin, don't you think there would be some sort of reaction by the medical and science community? If the CCEJ is going to complain about the VA Hospital's use of something, forget PVC and concentrate instead on dihydrogen oxide. From what I understand, the VA uses thousands of gallons of this stuff! Hundreds of people die from dihydrogen oxide exposure every year, and if you ask me, that stuff should be outlawed!

Chemically yours,

Wally Glenn, Seattle

YOU COMMIE PIG-FUCKING BASTARDS!!! I don't mean that in an aggressive sort of way, I'm just trying to get a point across. What does it take to get a job over there? I'm working on becoming a functional alcoholic, which seems to be a prerequisite. And I do give sexual favors to my superiors. I heard that everybody who works there eventually gets into a local rocker's pants. They'd do anything for a good write-up. And come to think of it, so would I.

Tobias Barr, via e-mail

EDITORS: I keep expecting Ripley's Believe It or Not! [Letters to the Editor page, every week] to be gone with a "just kidding" note. Has anyone else noticed how totally LAME it is? Not a shred of hip. What's next, is Art Linkletter going to replace Dan Savage? Family Circus instead of Maakies?

Todd R. Caspell, via e-mail

EDITORS: If Bradley Steinbacher really feels so strongly about not wanting to hear encores, I'd recommend he leave immediately after the band exits the stage ["Be Gone," Excellent, Jan 13]. He can then rest assured that he'll never be aware of what he clearly deserves to miss.

Mike Theiss, via e-mail

DEAR EDITOR, Erin Franzman has got to go. Since she has no style or voice of her own, she's had to borrow and expand upon The Stranger's hackneyed "we hate everything" stance. Sure, as she writes in this month's Excellent [Jan 13], it's ridiculous to take the attitude of "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." HOWEVER, it's just as bad when you never say anything nice at all. Then it appears as if you're nothing more than a contrarian. That, my dears, isn't music criticism, either.

That alone should give [the editors] basis to send her sorry ass back to New York. If you're still not convinced, here's a couple more reasons: (1) She can't even properly quote the Rocky Horror Picture Show [Up & Coming, Jan 13]. The correct quote is "I see you shiver with anticipation." (2) She allowed a photo of some random black man (NOT Mos Def) to be run with the caption "Mos Def." Um, I know those black folk all look the same, but isn't there a law against misrepresenting an artist's likeness as such?

Joey Quinn, via e-mail

DEAR EDITOR: Why does Charles Mudede always write about himself when he's ostensibly covering some other subject? Please remove the "I" from his keyboard! I'm sure he's a fun guy around the office and everything, and his Police Beat column is amusing (one place he refrains from self-reference), but OH PLEASE don't let him write any more about FILM!

An Exasperated Reader and Film Fan, Seattle

Due to a production error, a photo of Talib Kweli was misidentified as Mos Def in Up & Coming on January 13. Kweli is not "some random black man," however, as letter writer Joey Quinn (see above) asserts, but Mos Def's bandmate in Black Star.

Last week, Charles Mudede stated ["Victorian Realism," Jan 20], that Mike Leigh's new film Topsy-Turvy is 239 minutes long. In reality, the film is only two hours and 39 minutes long. We deeply regret the error.

And lastly, the Beacon Hill VA hospital ["Toxic Medicine," Alexandra Holly-Gottlieb, Jan 13] shut down its incinerator in 1998, not 1999, as we reported.