TO THE STAFF AT THE STRANGER: I know readers enjoy identifying with journalists who appeal to their own aesthetic senses, ideals, and senses of humor. I understand that newspapers benefit from a "format." But The Stranger is depressing. While I agree with your anti-SUV sentiments, appreciate movie reviews that acknowledge mediocrity in Hollywood, and can find myself interested in the articles concerning local politics, I recognize an almost total lack of body beneath this print job. I won't go on for paragraphs about how sick I am of Kathleen Wilson's scribblings--we are all aware of who and what she doesn't like, and of course we all know who she knows--but can we get something new? I also won't harp on Dan Savage's work--wherein lie flashes of his intelligence--which never seems to get past a certain smart aleck, fuck-you template. It's neither shocking nor sassy, but rather repetitive. And why, oh why, keep running the "I Love Television" column? Usually, on the way to adulthood, we come to understand that putting everything down and defining ourselves with a negative [attitude] aren't the only ways to illuminate the world around us. I would love to see The Stranger, with a large readership and great potential, grow up!
E. McCullough, Seattle
EDITOR OF THE STRANGER: Of late, it has become clear to me that The Stranger's low price is reflected brilliantly by the shoddy and ill-informed work of its music and film critics. (Not to say that it's always rotten, but even a moron will do something intelligent from time to time.) For the love of all that's holy, please hire some critics with a clue, and pass the expense on to the public.
William Weaver, via e-mail
DEAR EDITORS: I usually only read The Stranger for its movie or rock-show times and the "I Saw U" personals, but this time Trisha Ready's article, "The Story of a Schizophrenic" [Nov 16], caught my eye. I was finally intrigued by one of the long articles in the paper! I was thrilled that someone was finally writing on a subject that, as [Ready] mentions, is constantly being tiptoed around and degraded. Ready demystifies and personalizes [schizophrenia], which opens a doorway for others to connect on how they feel [about] and treat the subject. The feeling of being "trapped twice" is one that many people have felt [while] dealing with illness and society's views and treatment of them.
Erin Robinson, Seattle
DEAR LAST DAYS: Tell me, why did the mildly retarded woman in the "Guess Who's 40?" T-shirt make you sad [Last Days, David Schmader, Nov 16]? I am a UW student and eat almost every day in the Student Union Cafeteria where, it [seems], many retarded people work. I have a very sad feeling about all of it.... These folks must feel separate and excluded from whatever it is that we students are doing. I so often see this one lady in particular sitting on a loading dock during her break, and she looks so small and gentle--and largely unnoticed by the world--that I want to run up to her and squeeze her. I fear that like most small and gentle creatures in this world, she is probably unappreciated and mistreated by the rest of us fuckers. Sometimes I feel like the whole world is so full of cruelty that I am sure I am going to Hell, if I'm not there already.
Ashok Mudholkar, via e-mail
DEAR STRANGER: Your news coverage has gone straight to hell. Case in point: The Stranger's ridicule of Peter Steinbrueck's attempt to do right by homeless folks. The guy sticks his neck out, asks for $12 million to fight homelessness in addition to the mayor's already hefty increase, and what does he get? Allie Holly-Gottlieb says he's a "grandstander" ["Keeping It Real," Nov 2], and Josh Feit dismisses him as a "dreamer" when a mere $2.5 million gets approved ["City Hall of Heroes," Josh Feit & Pvt. Steve Rogers, USA, Nov 23]. Asking the politically impossible is no crime. Twelve million dollars more is a fair measure of what the city would do if we valued the lives of poor people as much as we do convenient parking. Peter's win is not insubstantial. Two and a half million dollars here and two and a half million dollars there... pretty soon you're talking about real money. Steinbrueck raised the bar, and it's not coming back down. Your coverage of this has reeked of glib cynicism.
Timothy Harris, via e-mail
EDITORS: Once again, we can all count on The Stranger to advertise and eventually ruin all the cool things going on in this city! Places and events that get The Stranger's sign of approval will ultimately become the hip destination of frat boys and yuppies! WHY advertise/write articles about the KINK/FETISH scene ["Fetish Education," Dan Savage, Nov 23]? OF COURSE every frat boy in town is going to systematically ruin it for all lifestylers! THEN The Stranger decides to have a big-time WORKSHOP event! GO FIGURE! Can ANYONE see what I am so obviously stating?
"KLULESS 333," via e-mail
DAN SAVAGE RESPONDS: Some of the kinkiest people I know are frat boys and yuppies. What is a frat house but an elaborate KINK/FETISH scene? And only yuppies can afford to equip a dungeon with expensive sex toys. If it weren't for submissive frat boys and sadistic yuppies, why, Seattle wouldn't have a fetish scene to speak of.
EDITORS: Bruce Reid is a big fucking moron who wouldn't know a good movie if it punched him in the balls. This guy seriously needs a foot up his ass. These are things I say in response to his review of Unbreakable ["Unbearable," Nov 23]. I don't want this brilliant film to get a bad rap because one guy who writes for the paper didn't like it. The cinematography was breathtaking. I don't know what seats Mr. Reid was in. The gloomy, dark, grainy camera- work helped ground Unbreakable's outlandish premise in reality. It took the shine off of the whole thing and that's exactly what needed to happen. Did Reid expect another Dick Tracy with bright green houses and lemon-yellow clothing? This movie is a big "fuck you" to all the other superhero movies that try to gloss everything up and make it too cartoony. Batman it ain't. Think Blade Runner set in present-day.
"MC Milkcrate," via e-mail
EDITORS: A fascinating take on the Times/P-I strike ["No News Isn't Good News," Phil Campbell, Nov 23], which manages to be fairly impartial on the issue. However, as a recent émigré from Michigan to Seattle, I can't shake the feeling that [Pacific Northwest News Guild administrative officer] Larry Hatfield is avoiding bringing up the Detroit News/Free Press strike because it is much messier than your summation would indicate. There are still picketers on Lafayette Street [in downtown Detroit], and the statistics on those strikers aren't encouraging for the union. Of the 2,400 strikers, 240 crossed the picket line, 200 were fired during the walkout, and many more simply left the area or retired. More embarrassing for the guild is that the strike ended when the unions involved made an unconditional offer to return. I'm sure the guild is loath to consider this as a possibility in Seattle. The final federal ruling on the Detroit papers' culpability came in July of this past year, and, as of November 13, three of the six unions involved in the strike ratified their new contracts. While the Detroit strike lasted 20 months, the dispute itself lasted five years. Little wonder we'll probably hear more about the neat precedent of San Francisco's Chronicle and Examiner strike than the trench warfare of Detroit.
Chris Blakeley, Seattle
DEAR EDITOR: Regarding Jeff DeRoche's review of U2's new album, All That You Can't Leave Behind [CD Review Revue, Nov 23]: U2 are certainly an easy target for a cynical hipster who's in love with his own vitriolic rhetoric, but DeRoche is not fooling me! I was lukewarm until I saw U2 live (Oakland, 1997), and believe me when I say that they send out white-hot rays of love. They lay it DOWN. Mr. DeRoche, here is my offer: When U2 come to town, I will buy you a ticket and kindly provide you with a supper of mushroom tea and Ecstasy, and you can hang out with me and my friends, and maybe you'll get it. Purge that bile, my son. (Whoa--not on my shoes!)
Doug Patterson, via e-mail
EDITOR: A spike heel to the scrotum is in order for that foolish and misogynistic review of Live Nude Girls Unite! ["Where Are the Sybarites?" C. Everett Treacle, Nov 23]. As is so often the case, you have done a disservice to the makers of this smart, well-made documentary, to your readers, and to the community you pretend to serve. Off with your heads, wankers!
"Tyranny," the Lusty Lady, Seattle
