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.
TRANSLATION IRE***image1***
I applaud the Reporter for using Spanish in its articles; however, if you're going to do it, do it right. In your article "
" [Cover story, April 25], the Spanish injected throughout the story read as if someone who knows little about the language wrote it.
I found more than 20 words without their proper accent marks. Here are just a few: Álvaro, Juárez, órale, César.
The grammar was atrocious. One woman in the article sounds silly because she's quoted using an adjective instead of a verb at the beginning of her sentence. Use
está
(it is) instead of
esta
(this).
And I've never seen
quinceañera
spelled with two i's.
Finally, the immigrants' voices in this article are lost because their Spanish, it seems, was poorly translated and clichés like "gay tendencies" and "a labor of love" were used.
If an article in English carried this many mistakes, the reader would have thrown it away before getting to the end of the first paragraph. Do the Spanish-speaking community a favor; next time please hire a copy editor skilled in Spanish.
AM Hernández
Santa Fe
WAR ABOUT PEACE
It is extremely disappointing that the Los Alamos Study Group, Citizens for Environmental Safeguards and Stop the War Machine seem to have chosen to be at odds with the peace event [Outtakes, April 25: "
"].
I don't quite understand how it prevents them from making their point, which is of course very significant (about Los Alamos weapons production and the resulting state income). In fact, it seems they're capitalizing on the situation, and that's great that they used the opportunity. But, in the interest of cultivating peace, why couldn't they have done so without insinuating that the World Peace Conference is being hypocritical or that the event is a "waste of time and money"? I can't see how that can be assessed before it has even happened, anyway.
Such an attitude is mean-spirited, violent in nature, might just raise doubts as to the credibility and sincerity of these accusatory organizations themselves, sets a miserable example and, worse, harms the public's perception of the motivations behind peace orgs in general.
I have no affiliation or connection or acquaintance with this group coming into town (other than being part of the same species and sharing a desire for world peace), but it makes me sad that there seems to be this resistance, this cold, rigid lack of reception toward a group that is promoting what it seems like it couldn't hurt anyone to learn more about: how to practice being peaceful.
Is there such a thing as too much peace? It seems to me there's definitely such a thing as too much conflict. Can we pleeeeease decide to learn how to rise above ego-driven behavior?
MC Davila
Santa Fe
LEVELS OF IRONY
I find it fascinating that people who proclaim that they are for peace would wage war against a peace conference. "I'm for peace, but if you don't do it my way then it's war."
While it's very comfortable to preach to the choir, if you want to actually make a difference you have to reach out to those who don't agree with you or are on the fence. New Mexico is an excellent place to hold a peace conference. Next year we should hold it in Los Alamos. And the peace conference of 2009 should be held at the Pentagon!
Lenny Krosinsky
Network of Spiritual Progressives
Albuquerque
JUST GETTING BY
I thank Mark Clark for his opinion piece, "
" [First Person, April 18] and, being married to a musician, I'm adding an opinion or two of my own, along with a couple of facts. The issue that strikes home for my husband and me is compensation.
My husband earned nearly $250,000 the year he graduated from high school doing a solo gig on a cruise ship. That was almost 35 years ago, and he's still playing. Musical gigs are really the only jobs my husband can accept because I am physically disabled and he is my full-time caregiver.
We "live" on my disability income of barely more than $750 a month. When my husband comes home from a gig and proudly announces he made "63 dollars!" believe me, it is a very sad lesson on relativity.
By definition, a "professional" is one who is paid for a job well done. I'm just glad there aren't degrees of professionalism based on income in Santa Fe.
Dorothy Ross
Santa Fe
LOUDER THAN WORDS
I attended the presentation hosted by Tony O'Brien at the College of Santa Fe on the ethics of war photography [SFR Talk, April 11: "
"; Zane's World, April 18: "
"].
There was much discussion on whether it is ethical to take the photos of war, and yet do nothing in the moment. One US soldier stood up in the audience and said the killing of people has greatly impacted his life, and asked if they too are not impacted by these events, specifically their hearts. There was an indifferent response by the panel that it was "their job," and that it's often difficult to think in the moments of war.
A fundamental difference between Christianity and Islam is that Islam states if you bear witness to an atrocity and do nothing, it is as though you yourself have committed the crime. Yet in Christianity, you can commit any crime you like and be forgiven for your sins. This is why the West has a great problem with Al-Jazeera TV: Not only do they take the pictures, but they hold everyone behind each picture accountable for their actions. They stir uprise and a movement for justice.
I have no doubt that with every photo of a dismembered Iraqi child that TIME Magazine prints, the Iraqi community of that child is outraged…it perpetuates the crime rather than bring peace, because TIME Magazine is doing nothing to resolve the wars it reports (rather, it makes money on them). Yes, the photos of any report are important, but more important is what is morally and ethically done, in the moment and after print.
Lena Hakim
Santa Fe
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.
Santa Fe Reporter