Letters

The Zinger Masters

I suggest that you hire Dewan Gibson (“The Imperfect Blog,” “Blog Diego,” March 15). He writes better than at least one of your staffers.

Siobhan Braun, who wrote “The Recruiter Loved Me” (Cover Story, March 15), gets an A+ for elegant writing. She writes like Mama used to cook during the Depression — she could whip up a perfect dinner from the merest of ingredients.

P.S. Touché and touché again for your response to the writers-in who complained that you left the story “Bad House” hanging (Cover, March 8). You got an actual, out-loud laugh out of me. I must admit that your talent for coming back with pithy, killer zingers is impressive.

D.R. Casey
San Diego

Over-Snarked

Just returned from an extended out-of-town trip and rushed to Barbarella’s piece to get my weekly dose of snark — and wasn’t disappointed, but got it in a truly overdose fashion (“Diary of a Diva,” March 1). We readers get it that Barb’s not particularly copacetic with calendar-challenged bunchkins. It’s good to know one’s limits. And, yes, she probably didn’t get to pick her “Stepping Out” assignments. Going into the “New,” the “Old,” or any establishment with the word “Children” above the door should be a tip-off of what she might encounter inside…and then to heap on more fuel by referring in her piece to the children reveling in their element repeatedly as “it,” when it was clear she was capable of discerning the albeit burgeoning primary sex characteristics of the small entities, is just gratuitous. I’ll break it down for her Hemingway style — she’s painting a bad picture for childless adults.

She’s written about her own relationship with nieces/nephews, so certainly she’s shown some capacity to coexist in familial settings and bond over the small part of the Venn diagram where their lives overlap. So no doubt she’s been exposed to a couple of the major faux pas when relating to child-ed adults, namely, never compare children to pets (although props to those who have translated comments to the piece into pet-owner speak for easier digestion), and never use gender-neutral pronouns when speaking of a specific child whose gender is known, or at least pretty obvious.

Sure, it helps Barb in her writing to self-identify as a kidless-by-choice adult so that others can recognize her and bond — but with these choices she takes the rest of us in the same boat down a notch with her. I implore her not to mistake this as some misguided attempt to squelch her free speech — she’s far too intelligent for that. It’s an appeal to common sense — words have meaning and don’t have to be as cruel and divisive as the N-word or the C-word to have negative impact and separate us even further.

Matt Thompson
A proud uncle
via email

Compassionate? Go Away

Regarding “The Dire Limits of Health Care,” March 8, “City Lights,” Mr. Carranza, by no fault of his own, has muscular dystrophy. This reality is apparently far from the cubicles of big-shot bureaucrats who think nothing of slashing his nursing-care support. The idea that former Medi-Cal director David Maxwell-Jolly thinks his case is sub-acute speaks volumes about the people Medi-Cal hires. I imagine one of the job requirements is to have a cold, calloused heart.

Name Withheld
San Diego