Today is my husband Steve’s birthday. We don’t have any big plans, but I’m sure we’ll go out to dinner with family and celebrate quietly his 61 years on this planet. Happy birthday, honey; I love you.
Letters to the editor and commentaries seem to be flying in these days. In my opinion it’s a good thing to hear from our readers no matter if they correspond to say they agree with us or another letter writer, or whether they write to chastise us for one reason or another. This week we received an email regarding what one of our readers considers a faux pas on our part. Although we have rarely made comment about letters we run— we feel compelled to respond to the one written by Brandy Perera. (See below.) The writer was obviously upset about Vicki Paris Goodman’s review of the play Rent. Given the recent situation regarding Proposition 8, and our insistence on staying neutral with our political feelings, I can understand the writer’s concern. At the same time I can also understand Vicki’s point, as described below. Here now is Vicki’s response to that letter:
It has come to my attention that a statement I wrote in my review of Rent was misinterpreted as an ignorant and insensitive condemnation of the gay community. I wrote, “Paying the rent is the least of their woes as they deal with drugs, sex, homosexuality and the inevitable HIV positive status that their lifestyle promotes.” In this statement I did not intend to refer generally to the gay lifestyle. I was commenting on the very specific lifestyle of the characters in the play, a lifestyle characterized by the taking of street drugs (presumably also the sharing of needles) and sleeping with others who are doing the same. Some of the characters in the play are indeed gay or bisexual, but I do not believe that this aspect of their lives inevitably results in contracting HIV. I do believe, however, that the drug culture does tend toward this result, and that is what I meant to convey. I am sincerely sorry that some readers misinterpreted my intent and were upset by the review.
We want to thank all of our loyal readers who have sent in donations or “voluntary subscriptions.” Newspapers far larger and further reaching than ours are facing tough times during this time of economic uncertainty. Some are cutting the size of their pages or the number of pages, or just plain calling it quits. We appreciate our readers and are happy that we seem to be meeting their news needs. As Wendy Steelhammer recently wrote, “I enjoy reading your weekly paper from cover to cover! thank you for publishing a paper that I look forward to opening every week.” You are welcome, Wendy.
