Here's something you might be interested in.
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Chatter Box
Podcast episode
Letters to the Editor
Chatter Box edition
Voicemails received at the Letters to the Editor extension. To leave your own audio letter, call 619-235-3000, x460.
Visually Fulfilling
Thank you for printing Elizabeth Salaam’s article entitled “Babes in Boyland!” It is encouraging to read about organizations teaching young women about building.
I enjoyed the author’s sense of humor throughout the article, and her writing was visually very fulfilling. The people she interviewed were very real, and interesting to read about. Great reading!
- D.A.
- via email
Breakdown or Collapse?
Re: Sporting Box, “The Public Doesn't Like Dead Horses”
If Lief or Joe Harper were concerned about the welfare of the horse colony they would have rapidly requested the drug test results of the horses that collapsed or broke down. Then, question the attending vets as to what drugs were administered pre-race.
Several of the eleven horses that died or broke down at Del Mar were labeled collapsed. I believe that deaths that were labeled breakdowns really collapsed. Drugs are a cause of a runner’s legs folding. It takes ten months for drug-test results from Del Mar’s current and future dead or mangled thoroughbred racers, and it could be found that the same drug was administered to all.
- Name Withheld
- via email
Destroyed by One Man
I’m upset about SD on the QT. What was done with the pictures from Comic-Con and from Pride was disrespectful to both the Comic-Con people and to the Pride people. The pictures and the captions are completely messed up. Those are movie characters and costumes from comic books!
This is not appropriate. The pictures are completely backwards. It’s presented as satire, but it’s not even satire. Most people aren’t even going to read the article because it’s so messed up. It’s basically saying not to dress up as a comic book character because you’re going to be confused with someone from Pride, and don’t dress up for Pride because you’re going to be confused as a comic book character.
The part about “Marvel heroines Dazzler and Spider-Woman” — those aren’t even the costumes for those two! That’s just a random picture from some random party at Pride. Those were not comic book characters at all.
And Peekatchu ... really? Peekatchu is a character from a cartoon for children. To put it in the Reader as a furry suit? It’s just wrong.
I read the Reader every time it comes out, and to find this in here is not even proper. It’s really sad that this was taken and destroyed. Two very popular events that happen in San Diego have been destroyed in one page, by one man.
This needs to be fixed. It needs a retraction, and an apology to the people he made fun of.
Half of the people at Comic-Con don’t even come out in public until Comic-Con because they’re embarrassed. The reason they go, and hide behind those costumes is because it gives them the confidence to be something when they don’t have the confidence to be what they are as a person. It gives them a mask to hide behind. And to have it laid out as something from Pride?
The second picture, the three women who were labeled as bondage enthusiasts, those are Princess Leia costumes! And the “gimp suit,” as you guys call it, is not a gimp suit; it is a Japanese animation character!
I understand the Pride people — they love to dress up as anything and everything, but to label them as people from Comic-Con? No. Those were people who were in the parade. As for the Palm Springs Pride, I’m not sure what’s going on with that. That’s on them. But it’s not even San Diego. Those pictures should have been labeled properly.
It really needs to be retracted. It’s not even “almost factual news” — it’s just downright disrespectful.
As a person who goes to both of these events, my picture could have been put up there! I could have been labeled as something other than what I was, and I would not have appreciated it.
Almost factual means almost factual. At least get part of the facts right!
This needs to be fixed somehow. It makes people very self-conscious, and people have worked very hard to come out and be who they are. This just shuts people back up in the closet.
- Name Withheld
- via voicemail
Lift the Small Boats
Re: News Ticker: “Sorry, Minimum-Wage Workers,” July 27)
I’d like to know if going the route of a city vote on the minimum wage would have been veto-proof by the mayor. With passage by the city council, I think the wonks knew it would be squashed by the mayor. That way they could appear to be supportive, and at the same time reassure their corporate donors it was DOA. If it is killed by mayoral veto, then perhaps a push to get it on the ballot would be the way to go next.
To those who say that if you can’t afford to live here, then leave, I say this: If your profits are more important than your people, then go to Texas, where you’ll fit right in.
We don’t want or need companies who choose to pay slave wages and could care less about the lives of their employees. That’s the difference between a city with vibrant, healthy neighborhoods, and one with groups of working poor living paycheck to paycheck. When people are paid well, they live well, and the whole city benefits as a result.
The conservatives have always said, “a rising tide raises all boats,” when referring to the need for higher corporate profits. Well, I say let’s raise that tide by paying a livable wage, but this time we lift the small boats. Those in yachts will be able to fend for themselves, I’m sure.
- Joe Piluso
- via email
Anywhere but San Diego
Your cover story “Shape and Sound,” was right on. As a long-time sax player and jazz fan I was very pleased when I learned that two of my favorite sax players, Charles McPherson and James Moody, were living in San Diego.
The first time I heard McPherson was back in the 1980s. It was a concert at the East County Perfuming Arts Center. As I entered the nearly empty concert hall I was surprised that I found such a wonderful seat. Featured that evening were the Grossmont College Symphony and Charles McPherson playing a perfect version of “Charlie Parker with Strings” from a very famous be-bop album. The room was almost empty. There were more people performing than in the audience.
I was excited when I heard that Dizzy Gillespie was scheduled to play in San Diego at Humphrey’s. Unfortunately, due to low ticket sales, the show was canceled.
At that time Grover Washington Jr’s band was scheduled to play at SeaWorld. After hearing about the cancellation, Grover invited Dizzy’s band to join him at SeaWorld with James Moody on sax. It turned out to be an excellent concert.
I always look forward to any opportunity to hear good jazz. So when I heard James Moody was appearing at the San Diego Street Scene I got my ticket to go. James Moody was on a small stage right next to a large stage with Wilson Picket. While a thousand people watched Wilson Picket I was one of the ten people watching James Moody.
It is sad that there are so few true jazz fans in San Diego. It’s no wonder that good jazz musicians play anywhere but San Diego.
- John “Hoot” McDonald
- El Cajon
Who’s Counting?
Re: “World-Class Brazil,” News of the Weird, August 7
Chuck Shepherd is WeiRD! Seemingly he knows a spider from a fly by opening with “Arachnophobes (and their snake-fearing cousins, the ophidiophobes),” but he continues with “Brazil seems to be one giant incubator of the scariest insects and vipers on the planet.”
Hey dude, next time count the legs when a mosquito lands on your arm but don’t — I repeat don’t — hesitate long enough to count legs on a Brazilian wandering spider on you anywhere — you might not reach eight!
- Fred Crowe
- via email
Here's something you might be interested in.
Chatter Box
Chatter Box
Podcast episode
Letters to the Editor
Chatter Box edition
Voicemails received at the Letters to the Editor extension. To leave your own audio letter, call 619-235-3000, x460.
Visually Fulfilling
Thank you for printing Elizabeth Salaam’s article entitled “Babes in Boyland!” It is encouraging to read about organizations teaching young women about building.
I enjoyed the author’s sense of humor throughout the article, and her writing was visually very fulfilling. The people she interviewed were very real, and interesting to read about. Great reading!
- D.A.
- via email
Breakdown or Collapse?
Re: Sporting Box, “The Public Doesn't Like Dead Horses”
If Lief or Joe Harper were concerned about the welfare of the horse colony they would have rapidly requested the drug test results of the horses that collapsed or broke down. Then, question the attending vets as to what drugs were administered pre-race.
Several of the eleven horses that died or broke down at Del Mar were labeled collapsed. I believe that deaths that were labeled breakdowns really collapsed. Drugs are a cause of a runner’s legs folding. It takes ten months for drug-test results from Del Mar’s current and future dead or mangled thoroughbred racers, and it could be found that the same drug was administered to all.
- Name Withheld
- via email
Destroyed by One Man
I’m upset about SD on the QT. What was done with the pictures from Comic-Con and from Pride was disrespectful to both the Comic-Con people and to the Pride people. The pictures and the captions are completely messed up. Those are movie characters and costumes from comic books!
This is not appropriate. The pictures are completely backwards. It’s presented as satire, but it’s not even satire. Most people aren’t even going to read the article because it’s so messed up. It’s basically saying not to dress up as a comic book character because you’re going to be confused with someone from Pride, and don’t dress up for Pride because you’re going to be confused as a comic book character.
The part about “Marvel heroines Dazzler and Spider-Woman” — those aren’t even the costumes for those two! That’s just a random picture from some random party at Pride. Those were not comic book characters at all.
And Peekatchu ... really? Peekatchu is a character from a cartoon for children. To put it in the Reader as a furry suit? It’s just wrong.
I read the Reader every time it comes out, and to find this in here is not even proper. It’s really sad that this was taken and destroyed. Two very popular events that happen in San Diego have been destroyed in one page, by one man.
This needs to be fixed. It needs a retraction, and an apology to the people he made fun of.
Half of the people at Comic-Con don’t even come out in public until Comic-Con because they’re embarrassed. The reason they go, and hide behind those costumes is because it gives them the confidence to be something when they don’t have the confidence to be what they are as a person. It gives them a mask to hide behind. And to have it laid out as something from Pride?
The second picture, the three women who were labeled as bondage enthusiasts, those are Princess Leia costumes! And the “gimp suit,” as you guys call it, is not a gimp suit; it is a Japanese animation character!
I understand the Pride people — they love to dress up as anything and everything, but to label them as people from Comic-Con? No. Those were people who were in the parade. As for the Palm Springs Pride, I’m not sure what’s going on with that. That’s on them. But it’s not even San Diego. Those pictures should have been labeled properly.
It really needs to be retracted. It’s not even “almost factual news” — it’s just downright disrespectful.
As a person who goes to both of these events, my picture could have been put up there! I could have been labeled as something other than what I was, and I would not have appreciated it.
Almost factual means almost factual. At least get part of the facts right!
This needs to be fixed somehow. It makes people very self-conscious, and people have worked very hard to come out and be who they are. This just shuts people back up in the closet.
- Name Withheld
- via voicemail
Lift the Small Boats
Re: News Ticker: “Sorry, Minimum-Wage Workers,” July 27)
I’d like to know if going the route of a city vote on the minimum wage would have been veto-proof by the mayor. With passage by the city council, I think the wonks knew it would be squashed by the mayor. That way they could appear to be supportive, and at the same time reassure their corporate donors it was DOA. If it is killed by mayoral veto, then perhaps a push to get it on the ballot would be the way to go next.
To those who say that if you can’t afford to live here, then leave, I say this: If your profits are more important than your people, then go to Texas, where you’ll fit right in.
We don’t want or need companies who choose to pay slave wages and could care less about the lives of their employees. That’s the difference between a city with vibrant, healthy neighborhoods, and one with groups of working poor living paycheck to paycheck. When people are paid well, they live well, and the whole city benefits as a result.
The conservatives have always said, “a rising tide raises all boats,” when referring to the need for higher corporate profits. Well, I say let’s raise that tide by paying a livable wage, but this time we lift the small boats. Those in yachts will be able to fend for themselves, I’m sure.
- Joe Piluso
- via email
Anywhere but San Diego
Your cover story “Shape and Sound,” was right on. As a long-time sax player and jazz fan I was very pleased when I learned that two of my favorite sax players, Charles McPherson and James Moody, were living in San Diego.
The first time I heard McPherson was back in the 1980s. It was a concert at the East County Perfuming Arts Center. As I entered the nearly empty concert hall I was surprised that I found such a wonderful seat. Featured that evening were the Grossmont College Symphony and Charles McPherson playing a perfect version of “Charlie Parker with Strings” from a very famous be-bop album. The room was almost empty. There were more people performing than in the audience.
I was excited when I heard that Dizzy Gillespie was scheduled to play in San Diego at Humphrey’s. Unfortunately, due to low ticket sales, the show was canceled.
At that time Grover Washington Jr’s band was scheduled to play at SeaWorld. After hearing about the cancellation, Grover invited Dizzy’s band to join him at SeaWorld with James Moody on sax. It turned out to be an excellent concert.
I always look forward to any opportunity to hear good jazz. So when I heard James Moody was appearing at the San Diego Street Scene I got my ticket to go. James Moody was on a small stage right next to a large stage with Wilson Picket. While a thousand people watched Wilson Picket I was one of the ten people watching James Moody.
It is sad that there are so few true jazz fans in San Diego. It’s no wonder that good jazz musicians play anywhere but San Diego.
- John “Hoot” McDonald
- El Cajon
Who’s Counting?
Re: “World-Class Brazil,” News of the Weird, August 7
Chuck Shepherd is WeiRD! Seemingly he knows a spider from a fly by opening with “Arachnophobes (and their snake-fearing cousins, the ophidiophobes),” but he continues with “Brazil seems to be one giant incubator of the scariest insects and vipers on the planet.”
Hey dude, next time count the legs when a mosquito lands on your arm but don’t — I repeat don’t — hesitate long enough to count legs on a Brazilian wandering spider on you anywhere — you might not reach eight!
- Fred Crowe
- via email