Letters to the Editor

Greetings
I have read some lame-brained and ill-informed movie reviews in my time, but your capsule for The Day the Earth Stood Still remake is just stupefying.

First, your writer refers to the 1951 original film as “camp,” which it is not, and then goes on to state that it is “a flick familiar to most more because of its mention in the Rocky Horror Picture Show theme than its own merits as a sci-fi gem.” Oh, really? The original The Day the Earth Stood Still tops most folks’ lists when you ask them what their favorite sci-fi film is. It was, and continues to be, an extremely popular revival and DVD favorite, and is widely considered a masterpiece.

Rocky Horror was a colossal flop upon release in 1975, only became a cult hit in the ensuing years and has surely been seen by far fewer people than those who have seen the 1951 film. Is your film editor the one from another planet, rather than Klaatu.
Peter Conheim
Albuquerque

Be nice in crisis
Was Corey Pein’s editor asleep at the wheel? First, I am deeply offended and embarrassed by the way Pein misrepresented me. But more importantly, I am absolutely appalled that such a well-respected and influential publication would accept a piece of writing that reeks of melodrama and ignorance.

I agreed to be interviewed by Mr. Pein under the false pretense that he was writing a story about recent friction between the College of Santa Fe and the Santa Fe Police Department. As I now see, Mr. Pein instead took three SEPARATE stories—increased contact between CSF and the SFPD, the college’s financial instability and an alleged rape—hacked them all up and pieced them back together within a sensationalized narrative about a party that got ugly. In conjunction with the cover art, especially, the resulting “journalism” is really nothing more than a poorly drawn caricature of CSF as a mismanaged cesspool of dumb, drunken demagogues, spoiled children and incompetent leaders. Anyone who really knows CSF knows that isn’t accurate, and it sure as hell isn’t helpful with the college’s future hanging so delicately in the balance.

Particularly now, when CSF’s public perception is so critical to its survival, this article seems to me like an overflowing platter of defamation, served cold.
Irina Zerkin
CSF ’09

Youth Shelters
Thank you to the Reporter for featuring our Street Outreach program in the SFR Talk section.

Last year Youth Shelters and Family Services provided services to 600 homeless youth, 400 of these youth accessed our Street Outreach program. This population of young people experience sexual exploitation, violence and extremely poor health while on the streets. They come from households where substance and sexual abuse is the rule rather than the exception. They may experience multiple failed foster-care placements. It is not uncommon to hear stories of youth being locked out of their homes or returning home to find everyone has moved away. A story that has always stayed with me came from a young person who returned home after a day at school and found all her belongings on the front porch and the locks changed. Her father had left a note saying, “You can’t live here anymore.” It is when the streets are safer than home that youth “choose” to become homeless.

Youth Shelters serves as a safety net for in-crisis, runaway and homeless youth and is powered by dedicated staff, a generous community and committed volunteers. Here they find adult support, counseling, housing, emergency shelter, street outreach resources—services that are tailored to the particular needs of this vulnerable and marginalized population. With assistance, youth change their circumstances and their lives. Homeless teen mothers find housing and return to school; teens work with their families and reunify when it is safe; they attend Workforce Development classes; they find employment and change patterns of unhealthy behaviors.

We are grateful to the community for the support of our programs. For more information to volunteer or donate, go to youthshelters.org or contact Heather Tanner at 505-983-0586, ext. 104.
Karen Rowell
Executive Director
Youth Shelters and Family Services

Chomp Chomp
Last week, concerning NMHU’s interest in CSF, Zane Fischer wrote that Highlands “is champing at the bit to gets its mitts on Santa Fe” [Editor’s note: Actually, the sentence reads, “is chomping at the bit to get its mitts on Santa Fe.”]

Aside from a grim mix of metaphors (for which we’ll assign Comp 101, if the deal goes through) how literally did he mean that sentence?

It sounds foreboding. One typically wants to get one’s mitts on something in order to exploit it. Is that what he meant? I hope not, because I’m excited by the idea of a university in Santa Fe.
Research online recalled Highlands’ recent troubles but those, in turn, revealed commendable actions by faculty. I found a lot of data that suggested a pretty good school.

A university could galvanize this city. Does Highlands possess that kind of promise?
Robert Covelli
Santa Fe

Dire diagnosis
As medical professionals, we are extremely concerned about the health effects of another coal-fired power plant in northern New Mexico [Cover story, Dec. 17: “Down and Dirty”].

Hundreds of scientific studies performed over the past several decades link emissions from coal-fired power plants (nitrous oxides, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter and mercury) to numerous harmful health effects.

In addition, the long-term effects on public health from climate change must be taken into account. Threats to public health resulting from climate change include an increase in infectious disease, an increase in heat-related illness, devastation from extreme weather events, and unstable food and water supplies.

All northern New Mexicans are downwind from the proposed Desert Rock power plant, and our exposure to toxins will increase if this power plant is built. To add insult to injury, the energy produced at Desert Rock will be sold not to residents of the Four Corners area or to New Mexicans, but to Phoenix and Las Vegas.

Approximately 180 health professionals in New Mexico have already signed a petition opposing the Desert Rock power plant. Speaking for all of these health professionals, and for all New Mexicans, we urge that this power plant not be built.
Robert M Bernstein, MD
President, New Mexico Physicians for Social Responsibility
Santa Fe

The Reporter welcomes original, signed letters to the editor. Letters (no more than 200 words) should refer to speci?c articles in the Reporter. They may be edited for clarity and space. Include address and phone number for veri?cation purposes; these will not be published.