Letter of the Week
Re "Mugging the Minutemen" [Nat Hentoff, villagevoice.com, November 3]: The leftists in the institutions of higher learning today most certainly do believe in free speech—for them, but not for others of opposing views. It is sad to behold. Could it be what is taught to them, and who is teaching it? Such sorrowful antics make me glad I did not obtain a higher-learning degree, or even a high school diploma. Actually I am quite content, maybe even a little smug, with my seventh-grade education—that and what I have learned since on my own hook. As a young man back in the 1960s, I was inspired to obtain knowledge from the life and writings of Eric Hoffer, who believed in freedom. I fear for the future of America when such closed-minded and totalitarian young people in today's universities are to be tomorrow's leaders.
Roland Chambers
Topock, Arizona
Outta comptrol
Tom Robbins and Wayne Barrett deserve a strong salute for "A Hevesi Heresy" [November 1–7]. Finally, after days of a media feeding frenzy on Hevesi's supposed misdeeds, someone took the time to report about the unethical head of the ethics commission and the ethically challenged governor who appointed him.
John Turchiano
Long Beach, New York
Hevesi's performance as comptroller outweighs any poor judgment he committed while protecting his ailing wife. Hevesi reimbursed the state, admitted what he did, and apologized to his constituency. What else do you want, his blood? Where were you moralistic bastards when Bush used poor judgment by attacking a sovereign nation that had nothing to do with 9-11? He didn't apologize to anyone, and he lied to everyone. Hevesi's so-called crime didn't cost the state one ounce of American blood, whereas Bush's crime cost the blood of thousands. Republicans talk about family values. Hevesi valued his wife's health and safety, and anyone who votes against those values deserves a less-qualified Republican for state comptroller.
Barbara Walker
Jamaica, Queens
Sexual hip-hopcracy
Re Rosa Clemente's "All Eyes on Her" [ November 1–7]: Oh, the irony. As the editor in chief of The Source, Kim Osorio helped perpetuate the sexual objectification of women in the magazine, and now she gets 15 million smackers after crying about how badly she was treated at the hip-hop publication. What next? Eminem suing his record company for being offended by vulgar language?
Brian Mitchell
Fremantle, Australia
Sure you wright
Please pass along my thanks to Michael Feingold for almost reviewing Wrecks ["Unnecessary Evils," October 25–31]. I'm sorry that he didn't enjoy it any more than he did, and I hope he enjoys the next play a bit more (it has "jerks" and "twists," so he should, as it takes one to know one). As for me, I'll wait happily to see his next translation/adaptation of a more suitable play for the New York theatergoing public.
Neil LaBute
Los Angeles, California
Shots in the dark
Re Sarah Ferguson's "New York Indymedia Journalist Shot in Mexico" [ Power Plays, villagevoice.com, October 28]: It's all well and good to sit in New York City and bemoan the death of a reporter in Mexico and blame the powers that be. However, most U.S. residents have so little knowledge of Mexico that their comments, good or bad, are woefully misdirected. People in America reside in a completely different environment and do not really understand what occurs in the minds of people in other countries. Certainly there is every reason to have some sort of a revolution in the U.S., but it's a nation of laws—sometimes subverted— and when people believe in the system, they tend to try to work it out peacefully. Latin America is not so blessed.
Ellis Glazier
La Paz, Mexico
Wait a minute, man
Re "Mugging the Minutemen" [Nat Hentoff, villagevoice.com, November 3]: Nat, the Minuteman Project is not anti-immigration, as is routinely written in the media. The Minuteman Project is a multi-ethnic immigration law enforcement advocacy group. That is the precise description of us. Thank you for writing your opinion piece about my loss of freedom of speech at Columbia.
Jim Gilchrist
Founder, Minuteman Project
Aliso Viejo, California
No laughing matter
Rachel Sklar's article on SNL ["That '70s Show," November 1–7] didn't explain why the skits aren't funny anymore. Her story read like a big, fluffy pat on the back for the show. SNL's sketches are so safe now— no edge. Where's the critical bite in The Village Voice that I knew so well? Toward the end of Flip Wilson's life, an interviewer asked him why he stopped doing comedy. His reply: "I lost my funny." I think that happened to SNL a few years ago.
Don Rauf
Seattle, Washington
Right of refusal
Re Rachel Kramer Bussel's "Pure and Simple: The Case Against Having Sex" [ Lusty Lady, October 25–31]: This virginity issue is hilarious. In 1980 I decided to go to San Francisco on holiday. While I was there I watched a news story about the Chastity Club with total bemusement and incredulity that people could be so loopy. They even had badges and pillowcases with cartoons that said "NO!" Weeks later I met this gorgeous woman named Barbara, and we went to the Exotic Erotic Arts Ball on Polk Street, where I was entertained by an unbelievable gamut of exhibitionists. We ended up at her apartment, and to my horror she had one of the "NO!" pillowcases. Not my lucky night.
