TO THE STRANGER: I noticed that the women who wrote to The Stranger supporting that fucked-up project CRACK ["Peddling Birth Control," Phil Campbell, June 14] kept talking about the "real world" [Letters to the Editor, June 28]. I am from the so-called "real world." I'm a recovering addict. After getting addicted to coke to survive my boyfriend beating me up every day, I sure as hell don't need some asshole bribing me to get sterilized! Ella Sonnenberg: I don't need anyone to pay me to make choices about my own damn life!

I find it hilarious that some chicks from Bellevue and Olympia think they can seriously talk about the real world. Most of my friends are addicts or recovering, and most of them have been beaten or raped to an inch of their lives. We need options and services--not bribery. If Sonnenberg wants to offer FREE Norplant, then fine. But if she really wants to help, we need people to stop treating us like shit, some decent treatment centers, and some free and decent child-care. Too hard? Too bad. Wake up. If the problem is hard, then the solution will be hard, too. Stop taking sloppy shortcuts with other people's lives.

Leslie Watkins, Seattle

JEFF DeROCHE: I'd like to thank you for writing One-Night Stand [June 28]. In 24 hours, it has assisted us further in our quest to gain more publicity and book quality shows than the previous year(s) we'd spent without [published] reviews. I can't help but think it will provide many other performers with similar opportunities. Your efforts are greatly appreciated.

Jeff Rush, via e-mail

EDITORS: It is with a note of (mixed) sadness that I see the writing baton for Last Days being passed back to David Schmader. At first I wasn't sure what the change would bring, but was pleasantly surprised at the relative ease with which the pearls of comedic wisdom gushed forth from Last Days' new captain. Tamara Paris certainly possessed the proper balance of wit and skepticism to properly observe our weird world. Thanks for six months of fun, Tamara, and welcome back, David.

Steve Stuart, Seattle

EDITORS: As three of the most active nonprofit affordable housing developers serving downtown, Plymouth Housing Group, Housing Resources Group, and Capitol Hill Housing Improvement Program are concerned about Josh Feit's column "Teamwork, Y'all" [Five to Four, June 28].

First, none of the [city council's] proposals "jeopardize low-income housing downtown." The proposals will actually make affordable housing the priority use for the first time. The issue is how to best harness downtown development in a way that is consistent with the Comprehensive Plan and the adopted Neighborhood Plan, that meets court-mandated legal tests, and generates real money for low-income housing.

It's not surprising that you were unable to find a consistent ideological pattern in city council votes on revisions to downtown development regulations. The legislation and the issues and impacts it addresses are far more complex than that.

Your article did a great disservice to Council Member Richard Conlin, who has worked with all parties (neighborhood residents, commercial developers, and nonprofit housing groups) to develop legislation that will: (1) increase the charges on developers for additional floor area by 70%, from $13/square foot to $22/square foot; (2) dedicate 60-75% of those fees to the preservation and creation of low- and moderate-income housing, compared to the 27% that went to housing over the last 10 years; (3) in compliance with 1999 code, support housing for those who make 50-80% of median income; (4) increase the available funds for low-income housing.

These revisions came out of a two-year neighborhood planning process, which involved many people representing a wide range of interests. Council Member Conlin should be commended for listening to this process and sponsoring this innovative and progressive legislation. As low-income housing providers, we support this legislation, which is projected to generate up to 900 units of affordable housing where it is most urgently needed, near jobs and transit.

Paul Lambros, Plymouth Housing Group

Jim Ferris, Housing Resources Group

Chuck Weinstock, Capitol Hill Housing Improvement Program

THE STRANGER: Regarding "How D'ya Sew an Amputated Finger Back On??" [comic, Ellen Forney, July 5]: I enjoyed the article and felt it was informative. Doug Hanel has an excellent reputation as a hand surgeon and resource. However, the comic incorrectly stated that there is usually referral to physical therapy after replantation. Actually, the referral is made to the hand-therapy department, in most settings, which usually consists of occupational therapists.

Occupational therapy is a lesser-known rehabilitation discipline, and is frequently confused with physical therapy. It involves restoring independence in functional activities of daily living and treating all components of activity performance, including the physical component.

Kim Levin, OTR/L, via e-mail

TO THE STRANGER: "The End, Another Elegy for Another Neighborhood" by Joshua Russert ["Summer Shorts," June 28] is one of the most nauseating examples of how spoiled, ignorant, elitist, racist, and deeply hypocritical modern scenesters are with regard to this whole gentrification crap. The unstated message behind articles like Russert's is, "Anyone who encroaches on the area I now infest is unjustly and wantonly destroying it." To which I would ask, whose land are you on? I realize that the loss of "the funky little coin-op Laundromat" and the "Honey Bear Bakery" constitutes a genocidal apocalypse to you hearty poets living way out there in (gulp!) Wallingford, but for the sake of context, stop and think about what Native Americans still have to endure every single day... you!

Literally thousands of years of self-sustaining wildlife and native cultures were supplanted by "vibrant neighborhood(s) with a strong sense of community" such as yours, so lose the self-righteous melodrama and stop feeling so fucking entitled! Be honest: Gentrification isn't happening to you, it is you!

David (Crooked Stream) Russo, Seattle

DEAR STRANGER: I am a practitioner of the Lucumi faith, a.k.a. Santeria, and was insulted that you chose to sensationalize my religion in the way that you did ["Urban Voodoo," "Summer Shorts," Adrian Ryan, June 28].

It's unfortunate that you chose to use the term "voodoo." One of the biggest negative influences on the acceptance and credibility of this religion in the United States has been its association with the term "voodoo"--which, by the way, is a term entirely fabricated by Hollywood, and is not used by any legitimate practitioners anywhere. The Haitian version of the religion (as well as the version practiced in New Orleans) is called Voudoun, the term used for that branch of the religion in Africa.

The next point of insult after the title was the photograph. It depicts Mrs. Howard in a fairly seductive pose, with her ritual necklaces exposed and her navel showing. Although we're all human, and enjoy the pleasures of being human, we don't flaunt sexuality when we're focused on the religion. AND, most of us would never expose our sacred, consecrated ritual necklaces in that way, and would NEVER want them to be photographed. Mr. Howard is holding a sacred ritual object that we would not photograph either.

Onarea, Iyawo

DEAR EDITOR: I've been trying to understand the column "That's Yo Mama by the Dalai Lama" [June 14]. I've been searching in libraries, and it doesn't seem to be his own style. Now I read "Can the Drama by the Dalai Lama" [June 28], and I really don't understand. I've always looked at your paper as a healthy source of criticism, but this time I found you guilty and manipulative--not telling me the truth about why you are writing such a column, not telling me the real name of the writer, and not showing me the supposedly angry letters from the "Buddhist people." You are betraying the trust and respect I've always given to your paper, and I don't trust you anymore.

Anonymous, via fax

EDITOR RESPONDS: The angry letters from the "Buddhist people" appeared in our June 21 issue, we ran the column because we love it, and the real name of the column's writer is His Holiness the Dalai Lama.