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
Flashbulbs Pops
It is unfortunate that you printed an ill-informed report on tango night at El Meson restaurant. The reporter was under the erroneous impression that there would be a free tango lesson. Dance lessons are not given at restaurants. Also, asking someone to give you a lesson on the floor is not advisable because it interferes with the flow of the dance.
Tango is complex and difficult, but that doesn't mean the dancers aren't enjoying themselves, as are the people watching. The dancers do not appreciate having flashbulbs popping in their eyes. The angry responses are therefore to be expected, unless permission is given, which it wasn't, at least not by the dancers.
El Meson is a fine Spanish restaurant, featuring tapas such as Tortilla Española and calamari in the Tango Room, and a full menu in the main dining room. All of us welcome the public to either dance or watch. It would be an enjoyable evening.
Bob Fein
Santa Fe
Keep on tangoing
The tango scene at El Meson can indeed be intimidating! But scratch beneath the veneer of that lovely though sometimes stuffy venue, and you will find a vibrant, welcoming and fun Santa Fe tango community. There are many opportunities to dance or take lessons each week in this sensual, exciting, exquisitely beautiful dance form.
Tango is all improvisation. Once one learns the language of steps, which like any idioma can take years to master, one begins to freely expresses oneself with one's partner through the music. The job of the "follow" is to hear what the "lead" is saying through subtle body motions and energy, moment by moment. Great exercise, fabulous people, intriguing music, El Meson's tango night can be glorious, but it is not the place to start—and don't let it stop you! Check out santafetango.org for a great listing of happenings in Santa Fe and Albuquerque.
Victor LaCerva
Santa Fe
Not just the heat
Yet another biased article regarding Wi-Fi and electromagnetic fields. True, lots of gadgets that claim to offer protection from electromagnetic fields are useless. These do not reduce fields. Manufacturers claim people are less stressed when they wear them based on heart and breathing rates. These include the "-Link" and other charms that are worn. On the other hand, there are fabrics, films that can be installed on windows and paint that can be applied to homes that reduce levels where high exposure is occurring near cell towers. Who needs a ZyXEL Wi-Fi finder? Anyone who's bought a computer in recent years knows that Wi-Fi hot spots and their signal strengths show up automatically when you turn on your computer. Does your phone have lots of bars? You've got a good signal.
The reason people buy these gadgets is because they believe in prudent avoidance. And in absence of any public health organization providing guidance, they seek their own. True, Wi-Fi and your cell phone can't heat your body. But your phone doesn't work by sending heat waves through the air. So why is heat the only health effect being studied? Where's the rest of the story, Reporter?!
Dan Stih
HealthyLiving Spaces
Santa Fe
Skeeples
I just finished the Zane's World article on the ski hill road. I applaud his invention of a new word (skeeple) but I see a need for a reality check here.
I have devised a rating system that is designed to put one in the front of the lift line right before it opens. The key is to go online early and check the amount of snowfall in the past 24 hours and the past 12 hours (overnight).
Category 1 storm: 0 to 2 inches of overnight snow. Take one hour to drive to the ski area. You have time to stop at Dunkin' Donuts: toasted coconut, large coffee, tip the cashier. Leave "hitching post" by 8, making lift line by 9.
Category 2 storm: 3 to 10 inches of snow overnight. Take two hours to drive to the ski area. Small stops usually required beyond Hyde Park. Don't stop on a hill! Leave "hitching post" by 7 am. (Pick up a hitchhiker, you need the weight.)
Category 3 storm: 11 to 20 inches of snow overnight. Take three hours to make it to the ski area parking lot. Be sure to avoid New Mexico Department of Transportation snowplow driver headed down to Dunkin' Donuts for his second morning break. Leave "hitching post" at 6 am.
Category 4 storm: 21 to 41 inches of snow overnight. Can happen in Wyoming, usually not in New Mexico. If DOT can locate one of those monster snowblowers designed to remove 4 feet of snow you may be in luck…tomorrow. Leave "hitching post" the next day at 7 am.
Oh, one more thing: After the spring equinox, March 21, lifts open at 9:30 am, so adjust your departure times accordingly.
Barney Magrath
Ski Instructor
Ski Santa Fe Ski School
SW Extinction
Finally, someone is brave enough to challenge the "localvore" and "green ranching" myth! Most environmental groups are afraid of the well-financed, politically supported livestock industry in the West. As a consequence, millions of wild animals are poisoned, shot, burned and trapped by government agents (at taxpayer expense) by so-called Wildlife Services (formerly Animal Damage Control). This is one of the livestock industry's dirty little secrets, hidden behind slick marketing terms like "green" or "humanely raised" meat.
Hundreds of species across the West are in danger of extinction, primarily due to livestock production. The livestock industry doesn't support reintroduction of endangered animals. Recently, an Associated Press article reported that the Center for Biological Diversity proposes large areas of land in the Southwest as critical habitat for the rare jaguar. The New Mexico Cattle Growers' Association opposes it.
As long as livestock grazes in the arid Southwest, successful reintroduction of endangered species is impossible. In fact, we will continue to see the slaughter of wolves, prairie dogs and other wild species deemed a "threat" to this environmentally destructive industry.
Rosemary Lowe
Santa Fe
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