Delta dawn: Regarding David Holthouse's "Girl Trouble," in the December 16 issue:
None of the actions of these young women can ever be described as harmless fun or "a teenage prank." What they did was terribly disappointing and disgraceful. This is something that all involved will remember for the rest of their lives, which is so sad. It is obvious that the blame should be placed on all members of the Delta Delta Delta sorority for fostering and encouraging such a destructive and harmful environment that anything like this would tolerated or even remotely encouraged. Instead of tearing each other down, young women (and all women, for that matter) should be supporting each other and our individuality and freedom to make our own choices.
It is good to bring this behavior out in the open so it does not continue. Hopefully, something positive can somehow come out of all of this negative.
Tiffany D.
via the Internet
Spellbound: The contrast between the main characters of David Holthouse's "Girl Trouble" and Pablo, the star of Helen Thorpe's December 2 "Head of the Class," was startling. So sorority girls who cannot spell, punctuate or think qualify for in-state tuition at the University of Colorado, but Pablo, a star student, does not?
Where are our priorities?
Jen Belding
Denver
School choice: Why doesn't Pablo join the military? After doing his stint, he will become an American citizen, and the military will provide him with funds for his college education. Please don't tell me it can't be done; it's done every day. If he is serious about becoming a citizen and wants to go to college, he really does have a choice.
Carolyn Mascarenas
Bennett
Read it and weep: I've read three stories in the December 9 issue, and I just can't take anymore. This is the worst thing Westword has published since I moved here in 1979. It's made even more disappointing by the excellent December 2 edition.
What's So Funny? Not Adam Cayton-Holland's lame attempts to sound clever, or iconoclastic, or Rocky Horror hip, or whatever he thinks "Like the climactic scene in a teen movie where the homely girl's glasses are removed, her hair primped and her lips liberally beglossed, the new, improved Colorado Convention Center will reveal itself on Thursday, in all her geometric glory" is supposed to be. Maybe a man who hyphenates his name is funny in some circles, but I didn't think Westword reached Tennessee.
I don't understand what you hope to accomplish by giving space to this cretin. If you're trying to appeal to younger readers, you might pause to consider whether people who write as badly as Cayton-Holland ever read anything. I've seen better screeds on middle-school blogs.
"Girl Interrupted," the cover story by Luke Turf, should have been interrupted by an editor who has some regard for continuity and the reader's sanity. This waste of 4,333 words consists of unconnected expositions that read like rookie police reports taped together end to end. Each is full of ambiguous references to earlier events, and none ends with a rational segue to the next. It's like a DVD collection of Gilligan's Island episodes.
"Religious Rite," by Amy Haimerl, is just a crack-pipe vision. Whose idea was it to sample the holiday aesthetic opinions of visiting New Yorkers; "a tried-and-true New England WASP" whose only constructive opinion is to keep some unspecified gold; "the marketing director behind the Belmar Christmas trees made of recycled license plates" (yeah, I want that in front of City Hall, and one for my living room!); a guy who is haunted by "alien uber-sculptures adorned with light-up Rudolph headbands"; a pair of women's tacky-clothing designers; and Sid Pink -- who cannot even design a website that doesn't require Shockwave?
Westword, the first thing to do is send the employees' sugar bowl to a drug-testing lab. Don't wait for the results, just give David Holthouse a raise and ask him to conduct remedial writing classes after hours. What in hell happened to this issue?
David Hakala
Denver
It's curtains for culture: I appreciate Juliet Wittman's reviews and comments on theater in Denver. Her short article in the December 16 issue on LIDA's closing struck home with me, as I was one of those people that she mentions involved in experimental theater in the '60s. I'm glad that someone is noticing and reporting on the theater situation in Denver -- not just writing reviews, but on trends, as well.
The arts and education in general in the United States are suffering as never before. It's necessary to know what we have that is good, as well as what is good that we're losing. I would love to see more articles that examine the cultural situation in Denver.
John Tischer
Denver
Cubism: I would like to thank Patrick Osborn for his hilarious Drunk of the Week articles. My roommate introduced me to them, and they have saved me from what are often monotonous and boring days in my cubicle. I have nearly been brought to tears as I attempt to control my laughter in hopes that my boss won't discover that I am not working.
While my roommate and I don't share Patrick's love for Black and Tans, we drink an awful lot of Jack and Cokes, a seemingly well-utilized backup for him. If he and the Institute are heading to a bar and would like some company, it would be our pleasure to join them for a night in the "vortex." Cheers.
Seth Foreman
Denver
Not good: I'm not sure the author of "The Santa Clause," in the December 16 Off Limits, has her facts straight! Did she walk down the hall to see the kindergarten classrooms? I still have my Rudolphs hanging outside my room; poinsettias and candy canes decorate the inside, too. I was never told by anyone to take down any of my holiday decorations. Where did you get this information? Did you talk to the principal at all? Shouldn't you get your facts straight before you go and publish an article that is so far beyond the truth it would make Santa cry?
Romi Hovey
Denver
