Mail letters to Letters, Santa Fe Reporter, PO Box 2306, Santa Fe NM 87504, deliver them to 132 E. Marcy St., fax them to 988-5348, e-mail them to editor@sfreporter.com, or use our online form.
MORE THAN ZERO
Readers of your recent article about St. Elizabeth Shelter [Cover Story, Nov. 23: "
"] could get the mistaken impression that it is standard practice for programs that serve the homeless to have a zero tolerance policy on drugs and alcohol. In fact, St. Elizabeth Shelter is in line with what is now considered the best practices for helping homeless people with substance abuse problems. Several award-winning agencies have pioneered a method ***image3***known as the "Housing First" model, where homeless people with mental health and substance abuse problems are placed in housing and then helped to conquer their substance abuse and treat their mental health problems. At the heart of this model is the notion that having a relapse doesn't mean that someone must automatically lose their housing. This method recognizes that it is hard to stop drinking if you live under a bridge.
St. Elizabeth Shelter has gone through some tough times, and I think that we should all be grateful to Nancy McDonald and the rest of the staff for keeping the services going while the board did its search for a new director. Now that Deborah Tang has been hired as the executive director, it is time for Santa Fe to renew its support for this important program.
Hank Hughes
Executive Director, New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness
Santa Fe
FOOD FASCISM
The reason we love Kasasoba and Trattoria Nostrani [Total Pig, Nov. 30: "
"] is because they are JAPANESE and ITALIAN. If I want chile I know where to get it.
In Santa Fe, we are blessed with great places to eat all kinds of food. Why not let each be what they are?
***image2***It's typical that you would spin something positive into a snotty Reporter rant to promote food fascism.
Brian Knox is doing what you praise Michael O'Reilly for, but he gets dissed because he doesn't use enough chile.
How very Santa Fe Reporter.
Michael Motley
Santa Fe
DARK LINING
I once had a friend who was smart, tenacious and creative-sort of like your newspaper. She had the uncanny ability to see the dark lining to any silver cloud-exactly like your newspaper. When she was having a good time, there was always a better time had last year or to be had tomorrow. She pointed out every fault of her friends who had achieved success or popularity. Nothing was ever quite good enough.
Every issue of the Reporter is full of dark linings. Your Total Pig of last week is a prime example. After years of persistence in serving up inventive food in an exemplary manner, three long-time local restaurants are finally finding some measure of fame and success. Aqua Santa, Trattoria Nostrani and Kasasoba were recently featured glowingly in Gourmet and The New York Times. Rather than toast their success, Total Pig spent the entire column berating them for being not New Mexican enough.
This is not an isolated instance. Local businesses and organizations struggling to make it in Santa Fe-a hard enough proposition-routinely are subject to biased, sensationalist Reportage. Why? To sell papers? It's a free newspaper!
My smart friend with the jaundiced eye? I gave her up. Life's too short to spend in the company of people like that-or newspapers like yours, for that matter.
Duke Klauck
Santa Fe
PIGNORANCE?
Once again Total Pig demonstrates her ignorance and arrogance. The management of Trattoria Nostrani truly understands local produce. Through the summer of '05, we not only served local produce but we grew it as well: eight varieties of heirloom tomatoes, string beans, eggplant, cucumber, zucchini, thyme, rosemary, sage, parsley, basil, cherries, etc.
You foolishly perpetuate the myth that restaurants can use local produce year-round. We live in the upper-Chihuahuan desert, which is zone 4 and has a growing season of 140 days, giving us only 8 to 10 weeks of actual food production.
Your juvenile journalism also disparages and discredits three very talented chefs, Nelli Maltezos, Christian Geideman and Brian Knox, and for what reason? Simply because they offer something other than chile.
You tell your readers, when they go to a restaurant in Santa Fe, to look at the menu and ask themselves, "what about this restaurant acknowledges it as being in Santa Fe?" This is a town that attracts culturally diverse and well traveled people. People who attend the Santa Fe Opera do not read the program guide and ask, "What about
La Traviata
is Santa Fe?" or go to Riva Yares Gallery and ask, "What about Morris Lewis or Milton Avery is Santa Fe?" The diversity we offer is what appeals to them.
What I find most ironic in your self-righteous "what comes from Northern New Mexico?" attitude is that your absentee owner lives in Portland, Ore., and your cover designer works out of St. Louis using stock photography and illustrations.
Eric Stapelman
Santa Fe
***image1***
BIRD REVENGE
The manner in which we treat all birds [Cover Story: "
"]-from the horrors of factory farms and battery cages to exotic parrots and other breeds being ripped from their homes to the arrogance of keeping them as "pets" confined to cages with clipped wings-leads me to believe that for humans, avian flu is just chickens coming to roost.
Dax Riner
Santa Fe
CHICKEN POWER
I would like to express my shock and dismay at your choice of cover image for your Nov. 30 issue. This reckless and irresponsible portrayal and perpetuation of stereotype is not only morally reprehensible but frankly inexcusable in this day and age of enlightenment. Chickens have been friends, neighbors and indeed cornerstones of our community, not to mention our nutritive infrastructure, for as long as we have been on this planet, and will continue to be so far into our collective futures. The reckless representation and implied negativity put forth by your cover imagery not only presents chickens in a gross and dangerously inaccurate light, it diminishes and negates the boundless benevolence these feathered friends have provided over the course of each of our respective lives. Because of the unfortunate paths of a small percentage of these God's creatures in other parts of the world, and the subsequent illnesses visited upon them, should the entirety of the species be condemned to be feared and hated, indeed to be portrayed as an enemy? I can only hope that your insensitivity will not instigate any similarly reckless and malevolent behavior directed toward any such innocent and generous chickens within our friendly community, and that the deep and respectful relationship that has been cultivated over the years between our worlds continues to thrive.
Emmet Milliner
Director, Kinsmen Vying for Ethical Treatment of CHickens (KVETCH)
The Reporter welcomes original, signed letters to the editor. Letters (no more than 200 words) should refer to specific articles in the Reporter. They may be edited for clarity and space. Please include address and phone number for verification purposes; these will not be published.
