Letters to the Editor

From the week of 4/26/2007

A A A Comments (1) Thursday, Apr 26 2007

"Faith, Hope...and Charity," Luke Turf, April 19

Charity Begins at Home

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Luke Turf wrote a balanced, beautiful story proving that we all need a little Charity sometimes. Lisa Norwood's story should make even the most die-hard anti-social-program cynic see that there are a lot of families that simply need some help, and without it, we may lose out on the innate goodness and intellect of kids like Charity.

Turf didn't rail against the system; he just let Charity tell it in her own words. Thank you, Westword!
Angela M. Pleasants
Denver

"Faith, Hope...and Charity" should be required reading in every school, in every government-welfare office, and for everyone of the "victim" mentality who believes that the only way to get a leg up in this country is to get a handout. What a motivating, inspiring piece of work! If a nine-year-old girl can have such a positive attitude for her people and be so driven to succeed in spite of crushing poverty and so much adversity, what excuses do the rest of us have? Wake up, everyone, and listen. Change your thinking. Change your life. The power lies in you.

Charity Norwood is wise beyond her years, and hats off to her dear mother, who instills such goodness and beauty in her children, as well as the values of ambition and responsibility. These are the true heroes of society, people all of us can look up to. Charity broke the cycle, and I have no doubt we will see her do great things.
Jeff Courson
Lakewood

"Stalk Market," Michael Roberts, April 19

A Host of Problems

Michael Roberts, you suckup.

Joanne Ostrow is a TV columnist, not a reporter for Timeor Newsweek, and she was wrong in her premise -- a fact you kept missing in order to aim at a TV-show host on cable who hardly anybody watches. Media-on-media critique is hysterical, as it leaves out real people: the viewers and the listeners. Anytime somebody gets off for drunk driving that kills someone, that should be the story -- not the reporters.
Steve Conigliaro
Fort Worth, Texas

"A Kick in the Dick," Adam Cayton-Holland, April 12

Just for Kicks

Well, it was nice to read something about soccer sucking from someone who likes it. I've been playing soccer for twenty of my 24 years, and I can't stand watching Major League Soccer. It was also nice to read something about soccer without the words "boots, pitch and football" in it. It's hard to stand up for a sport that everyone makes fun of when you can't stand the product that we put on the field.
Chris Charpentier
Broomfield

"No Pain, No Gain," Joel Warner, April 12

Whipping Post

I am very interested in what happens to the Enclave. I was just getting into the scene when the Labyrinth got closed down. Some friends and I were going to Colorado Springs one Monday a month to a club down there doing Japanese rope bondage -- very tasteful stuff. But one day a reporter came down and saw what was going on and they had to stop doing it or close down. So needless to say, we don't do it anymore.

When Onyx was around and had its fetish nights on Saturdays, we also had tasteful bondage and whippings. This pretty much just shows how our rights are being taken away little by little. When Denver has a sex convention and/or a tattoo and piercing convention, all the religious freaks come out to protest satanic beliefs and whatnot, because they do not understand us and fear us.

I, for one, am tired of being walked on by these people. We should not have to live in Vegas or L.A. or New York City. I don't care that they don't like us, but let us live our lives the way we want to live them. We don't mess with their lives. We don't challenge the fact that they have to have a church on almost every single corner. I know that a lot of us are actually very religious and enjoy both our faith and BDSM. I just wish people would stay out of our business. If you don't like it, then turn your head, as you have done for centuries.
Tiffaney Lowry
Arvada

Ask a Mexican, Gustavo Arellano

What's in a Name?

I find it ironic that someone with the surname Gallegos -- which is of Spanish origin -- would write to say that Ask a Mexican is a waste of space. In his April 5 letter, Dave Gallegos's facetious suggestion was that the column be replaced with "Ask an American," to better voice how "we" feel about "illegal Mexicans from Mexico stealing our IDs so they can work here." My guess is that Gallegos's ancestors probably didn't receive an engraved invitation to leave their homeland and pillage the indigenous peoples of Mexico -- thus permanently infusing their bloodlines with European DNA. I'm also curious as to what Mr. Gallegos does for a living. Somehow my guess is it doesn't involve washing dishes, cleaning toilets or picking produce for minimum wage.

Let's stop blaming Mexicans for trying to make a better life for themselves and start blaming norteamericanos who aren't willing to work these types of jobs, or are too busy collecting welfare to bother working, and the infrastructure that supports such exploitation.
Laurel Miller
Boulder

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Pamela Fowler 05/01/2007 9:28:00 AM

After reading Laurel Miller's letter referring to Dave Gallegos in the April 26th issue, I HAD to write. Ms. Miller stated that she finds it "ironic" that someone with a hispanic last name would gripe about illegal Mexicans. Are you completely brain dead Ms. Miller? Or are you really just that damn dumb? Who has more right to bitch than hispanic Americans? They are the ones getting dinged on their taxes, being arrested for crimes they never committed, and having their credit shot to hell because a buttload of illegals are stealing their names and social security numbers. Once they screw up one person's life, it's no big deal to them, they just go get another. They can (and do) change identities the way other people change clothes. Of course YOU don't have to worry with a last name like Miller, so why should you care, right? You seem to be very pro-illegal. You think letting illegal immigrants into our country and helping them to have a better life is the humanitarian and the liberal thing to do. Well it's a load of bs. The effects that illegal immigration is having on our country and our economy is devestating. The whole idea behind people coming to the US to live and work was always supposed to be to make a better life for themselves, instead they are dragging the rest of us down to their level. If they really wanted a better life they would take the steps necessary to become a legal US citizen. They would pay taxes (sales tax does NOT count). They wouldn't cram six or more people into a tiny studio or one bedroom apartment and send the bulk of their wages back to Mexico. They would learn English and they would actually send their children to school to get the education that they themselves didn't have the opportunity to get. You claim that illegals are doing the work that Americans don't want to do- that too, is pure bullshit. Most Americans would be very happy to pick vegetables, wash dishes, clean toilets, or whatever if they were paid enough to live on. As it is, wages in many fields of employment have already gone down due to this situation and it's only going to get worse. You, yourself may not be feeling the pinch yet, but you will. Companies are going out of their way to hire undocumented workers because they don't have to give them benefits, they can pay them pretty much whatever they want, and they can work them to death. They're here illegally, so who are they going to tell? This also allows these companies to do away with the unions. Whether you realize it or not, the worker's unions are pretty much the ONLY reason that anybody in this country makes a wage they can live on, gets health insurance, sick time, maternity leave, vacation, over-time pay, workmans comp., etc. Once the unions are all gone, the American workforce is screwed. Unless you are a doctor, a lawyer, a dentist, or something comparable you can kiss your nice house and your shiny car goodbye. There's no way in hell you can ever hope to get it back either. The American Dream will have died and the really sad part is that YOU and everyone who shares your mindset, are the ones who are giving it away. For the record, I am a liberal, but I'm also a realist. We have a government who doesn't give a shit for it's own people- natural born or those who came here legally- and yet they are effectively laying out the red carpet for tons of undocumented aliens. Millions of Americans work 2 or 3 jobs to support their families and they still can't afford to take their kids to the doctor when they need to go. They can't afford to take a day off work when they're sick themselves. Millions of American children are not getting enough to eat. They are sleeping on floors instead of beds. They are wearing hand me down clothes and shoes that are too small for their feet. They don't get to go to the dentist or the eye doctor. Until we are capable of taking care of our own people, the rest of the world doesn't matter.