Letters

Little Faith

I’m calling in reference to Matt Potter’s article regarding Dr. Susan Little at UCSD and her HIV-testing campaigns (“Under the Radar,” June 2). I’d like to thank you for doing the article and also point out that one of the elements of the Lead the Way campaign that she’s involved in now is to send mobile vans door-to-door in the Hillcrest and North Park areas to get people to test for HIV on the spot. This was of great concern to me when I heard it from Dr. Little at her presentation at the Hillcrest Town Council on May 10, and it’s even more concerning now that Matt’s article has revealed that in previous studies she has been, shall we say, quite cavalier with the promised confidentiality of HIV test results.

Mark Conlan
via voice mail

Hop In And Help

There are many things to be learned from this story of heroism (“It Was Scary Up There,” “City Lights,” June 2). What makes this man a hero is the fact that, although he was on his way to work, although he, like others, had important things to do, he put all that aside for a situation that had an incredible ripple effect. What really was relatable for me here is that he went through this situation to help a desperate woman with no help of his own!

This is becoming all too common. Are we as a society becoming that desensitized to what is happening around us? A few weeks ago I had just dropped off my children at school and came up on a car accident. Since my children were not in the vehicle, I pulled over to see how I could help, since it had clearly just happened and there was no emergency crew there yet and no others appeared to have stopped. In the first car was a 20-year-old man with neck and spinal injuries, and he was in shock. The second car had major frontal damage and had two minors now on the side of the road in shock with their backpacks on. I grabbed the injured man’s cell and called for medical. The cars were blocking traffic and it was morning rush hour. Between directing traffic myself (so no speeding cars would rear-end the second car), keeping the kids out of the street and calm in their shock, and going back and forth to the injured driver to try and make him feel safe, I had my hands full!!!

A couple of drivers motioned to me that calls had been made, but still not one person stopped! Emergency crew showed up, and then I was on my way. I became sad and frustrated as I, also, replayed the situation. I went to the fire department with a treat to say thanks for their quick and professional response, as these are my neighborhood firemen. I also vented my sadness by how people took no time to assess what was going on and lend a hand.

Injury, kids, traffic, wrecked cars, and no care by many who were too busy to go out of their way. Years ago, I was a police officer who dealt with these situations. I do not think that makes me different on why I pulled over. This day I was just a mom on her way home. I thought at the time to write the Reader to remind the community to take a minute to help out but did not.

Thank you, Reader, for this article, and big kudos to Bryan for being such a stand-up guy! Thank you for the chance to follow through with my own opportunity to push the message.

Kristin Conrad
San Marcos

Gelato Keeps You Skinny

Too bad that off-duty foodie Brandon Hernández exposed himself as a rank amateur in the very first paragraph of his dining review, when he characterized gelato as having “high dairy fat content.” As someone who makes both Marcella Hazan’s gelato and my grandmother’s ice cream, I can vouch for the fact that gelato is not actually high in dairy fat. A simple check with Wikipedia would have given Hernández the facts: “Gelato typically contains 4–8% butterfat, versus 14% for ice cream in the United States.” Chevre, on the other hand, is a whopping 35% fat! I love them all, but gelato is the yummiest and the least fattening.

Patsy Campbell
via email

Jolly Nutcakes

Concerning Richard Siegel’s letter to the editor entitled “Religion 101” (June 2), perhaps religiously pious (uptight) Richieboy with his vituperative lecture, along with the folk described in Chad Deal’s article on the Twelve Tribes (“Welcome to Our House,” Cover Story, June 2), maybe should collectively go to the website whywontgodhealamputeess.com, and that jolly collection of religious nutcakes maybe can at least spend some time with the executive summary.

Ted Rodosovich
University City

Please Crawl Back

There’s no “Club Crawler” in this week’s issue (June 2)! Please don’t tell me you’re dropping the column. It’s the only thing in life that gives me structure. Now I’m just sitting on the couch, and I don’t know what to do or where to go. I am adrift.

Name Withheld
via email

Barnaby Monk responds: Wicked sorry about your couch-bound state. Took a holiday. “Club Crawler” resumes this week with beaucoup fun stuff t’do. Thanks for reading!

Drunk By The Mailbox

Sorry it took so long to respond to the story “One Ugly Thirst” by Bryan Varela (Feature Story, May 12), but after reading it, I was motivated to go on a three-week drinking binge, and I just ran out of alcohol and money, so I decided to write while waiting for my next unemployment check to arrive. The story had a great plot and a clever ending. It was one of the best stories I’ve read in quite some time. I think I have a much better understanding of the saying “Time flies when you’re having fun.” Or maybe I don’t. Thanks, anyway.

Al Stanko
Alpine

27-Year-Old Reader

I found a copy of the September 6, 1984, Reader in my saved magazines. It is the only one I saved because it has an article called “Mystery of the Lost Colony” in it by Jim Luntzel. This story is proof that no one ever forgets a good story because I was thinking about this story a week before I found the paper. I had even googled all I could remember about it, hoping for more information on it. I was shocked a week later to discover I actually kept a copy. As a frequent Baja traveler, I wondered if anyone has ever heard anything else about this underwater passage and the lost colony of people who live underground. Perhaps I kept it because once while on a Hobie Cat in the Sea of Cortez we saw a pod of killer whales emerge out of what looked like a rock cliff near shore. We hadn’t seen them anywhere until they came up under our boat.

Like it says in the article, “Maybe the old man was simply crazy. And maybe not.” Was there every anymore to this story? If so, I sure would love to hear about it.

Linda Jo Hunter
via email