Let's keep this statistic in mind: 20 percent of pregnancies develop life-threatening complications. This is why the decision -- whether it's the decision to bear a child or to abort, or it's the decision to give birth at home alone or in a hospital -- belongs to the woman. Only she can decide if, when and how to put her life on the line. No one knows whether she will land in the unlucky 20 percent and things will go south on her.
S.P. Williams
Lakewood
"Energy Crisis," Adam Cayton-Holland, May 10
I enjoyed Adam Cayton-Holland's "Energy Crisis" mostly for the "comedy gold" factor, even though I disagree with his assessment that SPIKE should not be used by anyone. I have been using the product for a couple of months now, have lost nearly twenty pounds and have added muscle in places I didn't even know muscle existed. This, of course, was with a combination of exercise and diet.
What I really enjoyed about the article was how Adam reinforced my theory that Americans love to ignore warnings. As we have seen in the past with some of the most famous ignored warnings -- such as "hot coffee," "don't use near water" and "don't shake the baby" -- he completely ignored the product's warnings and recommendations (knowingly, I might add) and not only drank one whole can on his first attempt, but drank a second one shortly thereafter. I've been using the product for months and would never drink more than one SPIKE or any other energy drink, for that matter.
Just a word of advice, Adam: Don't be surprised if things don't work when you don't abide by the instructions, and in the future, please don't base your reviews on your own ignorance.
James Jansson
Parker
"Home Run," Juliet Wittman, May 3
Juliet Wittman, in regard to your review of How We May Know Him, not all unproduced playwrights in Denver can be in the Mafia or be drunken Irish poets. Then again, not everybody can bring an original idea into form, either. Aside from being dismissive and haughty, you are a snobbish hag who's in no creative position to judge others. So, please, for the sake of Denver's theater scene, drop the pen and pretensions.
I've never written a hate letter to someone I don't know before, but I'm sure it's nothing new to you.
Mark Sbani
Denver
Hooray! What a wonderful review of a work that Ellen Graham has crafted and recrafted. Good to know that Westword is truly sharper than the local dailies. This was an informative and incisive article.
Lis Brown
Denver
Ask a Mexican, Gustavo Arellano, May 3
I love Ask a Mexican; it makes me laugh. However, I got pretty annoyed at the letter from la Chulita Mexicana Catolica and Gustavo's response, which illustrate an egocentric behavior that is at the heart of difficult race relations in America today.
My background is all English, Scottish and Irish, so I'm as Euro-born as Americans come, but I speak pretty good Spanish and have worked very hard on my diction and accent, so that native speakers typically assume I'm fully fluent (and are surprised, then, by my limited vocabulary!). I also speak a very little bit of French, and I treat it the same way. I try to do it right.
People make a choice whether something is important enough to do properly, or if it's not that important and it's okay to do half-assed. Of course, some people do everything half-assed, but that's another issue. To generalize about a race making the same choice as one, two or a handful of observed members of that race do is simple prejudice -- and that's the problem.
In addition, I must point out that the common language of the United States is English. If I left one country where life was not so good and moved to a new country where I thought life would be better or my family and I had more opportunity, and that new country's native language was different than mine, and my success in this new country could be greatly increased by learning to speak this new tongue fluently, I would bust my ass to learn it properly. But that's me.
Finally, and perhaps most important, Spanish is a European language!
Mark Mitchell
Boulder
