Mail letters to Letters, Santa Fe Reporter, PO Box 2306, Santa Fe, NM 87504, deliver them to 132 E. Marcy St., fax them to 505-988-5348 or email them to the editor.
Stronger Message
In response to your article, "If I Was Trying to Kill You, I Would Have", Paul Golding acknowledges that most domestic violence is perpetrated by men [Letters, Aug. 12: "What About Men?"]. He then insinuates that women are doing more of it than we know, and that this makes the Reporter story "inaccurate" and is in part an indication that we have a "one-sided agenda-driven press" dealing with this issue. But the statistics are what they are, and the reality is what some of us journalists see: a community that is, despite the best efforts of some, unable to send a strong enough message to men to get them to stop stalking, verbally assaulting and beating the daylights out of women. A husband throws his pregnant wife to the floor, smashes her face, tells her he's going to kill her, then gets probation. As long as some in the community (and somhttp://www.sfreporter.com/admin/story/story/add/e in the press) continue to treat this kind of thing as a "domestic disturbance," after which the man just needs a second chance to control himself, the message is fairly clear: Boys, you know where to put your rage. If exposing this is one-sided and agenda-driven, then count me in.
Jim Williams
News Director, KUNM 89.9 FM
Santa Fe
Get a Clue
Your article on domestic violence did a remarkable job of catching some of the essence of this complicated matter while entirely missing the point. Your reliance on the irrational "expertise" of the so-called "advocates"—those strident harpies who routinely have no credentials aside from a self-righteous victimhood and a rigid adherence to the party line and especially to its central creed that there can be absolutely no personal responsibility assigned to the (female) victim—had the intended effect of severely altering the reality of the cases presented.
I don't expect to disabuse anyone in a brief note, but here is a clue: The worst violence portrayed in the article was performed by a woman. Had a man perpetrated this disembowelment on a woman, he would have been immediately jailed on attempted murder charges, regardless of provocation.
Kenneth L Kast
Santa Fe
Queer Quandary
As a queer Santa Fe resident, I was dismayed to read Wenda Watch's comment that "we have little to no Queer Community."
One of the main reasons I moved to Santa Fe two years ago was the large LGBTQ demographic. I moved here without knowing a soul, and immediately found a warm and welcoming queer community. I see it still at queer-owned and/or queer-friendly spots such as Back Road Pizza, Max's and Aztec Café, at events such as Santa Fe Gay Pride, dance parties thrown by Wenda Watch, performances by local queer performance troupe the Gender Offenders (of which I am a member), events at RainbowVision and Wise Fool, and Equality New Mexico benefits and rallies.
Could the queer community be better, stronger? Absolutely. We need a forum for discussion about building bridges between gay men, lesbians and trans folks. We need a safe space such as a queer community center and more services for queer youth (though the Mountain Center does a wonderful job). And a gay nightclub would be great.
Though there's room for improvement, the existing queer community in Santa Fe is beautiful and thriving, and should be acknowledged.
Katy Medley
Santa Fe
Bull Market
The founder of Sunflower "Farmers Market," Mike Gilliland, was quoted saying, "our customers…want value and don't care if that food is natural, organic or what." I think a lot of Santa Feans do care if their food is natural, organic...or WHAT?
Sunflower is the worst case of green washing since hybrid SUV's that get 19 mpg. Is it really a farmers market? Is there really value in selling your community artificial flavors and hydrogenated oil? Circus peanuts and liquor?
There ARE other grocers in town that offer affordable natural foods. Let's not fall for the used-car fever pitch, balloons and flag flapping hype.
It reminds me of that saying, "If your grocery store has a natural foods section, how do they explain the rest of the store?"
Valerie Collins
SouthSide Santa Fe
Workers, Rise up
Zane Fischer's "Bull Markets" was interesting for what it said and more for what it did not say.
About Sunflower Farmers Market, he did not mention the large picket sign outside. The carpenters' union is protesting Sunflower's unwillingness to meet area labor standards when it hires substandard wage contractors.
About Whole Foods, he did not mention that its CEO is using his money and position to lead the fight against single-payer national health insurance or that he is also a leading union buster.
Yet the parking lots of these markets are full of hybrids and fancy imports sporting pristine Obama for president stickers.
Liberals! Going green and organic and fair trade and saving the planet while helping to screw the working class. Listen, if you can't get it at Trader Joe's, [La Montañita] Co-op or the Farmers Market, you probably don't need it anyway.
I remember the [Industrial Workers of the World], and I think the old Wobblies had it right: The workers can only be freed by the workers themselves!
Robert McDonald
Santa Fe
Aisle Shock
I'm left in a state of mild shock by the article on the Sunflower Farmers Market opening and Santa Fe's alternative-food-market scene. Frankly I've never seen Whole Foods as such a hot singles scene to wonder if they might sell vials of Caverject under the checkout counters. And then to read Sunflower's founder/CEO Mike Gilliland say he's after "crossover" customers who might be "natural-foods-curious." Hmm. And that Ziggy's International Market carries pestles big and textured enough to be described as "ribbed for pleasure." Does all this mean that we can expect to see Squeaky Fromme cruising Santa Fe organic market aisles now that she's out on parole?
Richard Dean Jacob
Santa Fe
Picking Up Papers
Thank you for bringing on John Photos. I recently took a hiatus from reading the Reporter because my favorite section was filled with fluff and poor writing. But now I have new reason to read my favorite weekly mag. It's nice to pick up an issue to find a writer who can communicate something real and meaningful about art, who is willing to enter into new and strange experience as a person and writer/critic—"Unmade in the USA"—and whose writing keeps me reading rather than forces me to throw the paper to the ground in frustration and disgust. WELCOME, John! I'm glad you're around.
Alexis Brown
Santa Fe
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