Letters

Contact us via e-mail le*****@oc******.com">(le*****@oc******.com), regular mail (Letters to the Editor, OC Weekly, P.O. Box 10788, Costa Mesa, CA 92627) or fax (714-708-8410). Letters will be edited for clarity and length. By submission of a letter, you agree that we can publish and/or license the publication of it in print and electronically. All correspondence must include your home city and a daytime phone number.

REGISTER OFFENDER

As a former Register reporter (1988-1993), I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed R. Scott Moxley's article on The Orange County Register (“Survey Says: You're Screwed!” March 15). Moxley should be happy to know that this article is now zipping through cyberspace to the many, many ex-Register reporters who have escaped from the warped rule of Tonnie Katz over the past decade. Back in the early 1990s, Tonnie used to hold mandatory “story idea” meetings with reporters at which we were instructed to toss out any idea, “no matter how far-fetched.” Tonnie would then write our ideas and hers up on a dry-erase board. Interestingly, it was only Tonnie's ideas that were selected for more in-depth discussion and assignment. Yes, the Register was a notoriously miserable place to work then, and I can see that some things never change. I'm sorry Kate Berry has to be the latest poster child of journalistic abuse, but as a new Register alum, she is in very good company! Welcome to the club, Kate!

Louise Woo
Pasadena
SO, YOU ADMIT YOU MAY BE A CLONE

It's good to know that the editors of OC Weekly are keeping up with a publication called UFO Digest, which I assume is real (Matt Coker's A Clockwork Orange, March 15). What is not real (as even you must have guessed) is the publication's assertion that I “requested the government's covert extraterrestrial evidence” and discovered a transcript of “a CIA wiretap of [Marilyn] Monroe's bungalow.” These goings-on were a good deal before my time; perhaps there was another Christopher Cox who worked in the Jerry Brown administration.

Congressman Christopher Cox
Newport Beach
FORTUNATELY, THEY CAN STILL TEST FOR SEXY

There is something definitely off when a man who claims to be looking out for his stepdaughter's interest not only allows a story about her private life to be published in a widely read paper, but also actually contributes quotations (Alison M. Rosen's “Textbook Love Affair,” March 15). Is this how most parents want to introduce their (step)daughter to Orange County? As a defiant brat who (supposedly) sleeps with 39-year-old men? Jerry's actions and the immature and irrational way he dealt with the situation make him the real criminal here. Steve Zicree was correct in saying, “It just didn't have to be so big.” What's sad is the punishment and ridicule that both Sarah Jansen and Steve have had to experience for something most of us are guilty of—falling in love.

Kendall McKenzie
Irvine

P.S. Would someone PLEASE tell Sarah's parents that a doctor can't “test” for virginity and that you can't “keep someone as a minor” after they're 18?

YOU KNOW WHAT THEY SAY . . . THE BIGGER THE ELLIPSES . . . THE SMALLER THE . . .

Just read the Commie Girl installment for March 15 (Rebecca's Schoenkopf's “Clubbed!”). I liked the article about babushka. Well, you see, that's my girlfriend. . . . I mean this literally.

I've spent the past few years at the Hub Cafe reading your very narrow-minded perspectives of Orange County Hot Spots, you know . . . where you have one drink somewhere and print your OC Register– (ohhhh . . . please let me get an internship there) wannabe journalistic account of your “whole evening there.” The socially inept people, as we are, count on your hapless views of OC nightlife to make meager meaning of our lives. Do us all a favor . . . take the time to actually get to know that drunk girl who “took over” your booth at the bar because I'm sure under any other circumstance, she could become your best friend. After all, I'm sure you've never been drunk at a bar, and thank God you didn't run into anyone that made a public spectacle of it. Print this if you're tough enough. . . .

. . . Josh
via e-mail
I LOVE LOONEY

Steve Lowery's review of A Beautiful Mind (Script Doctor's “Predictably Unpredictable,” March 15) is an amazing example of how a reviewer gets away with slurs. If you direct them against a member of the right group, they're okay, I guess. And you don't even have to bother with reviewing the movie if you tap enough popular prejudices. “Not Playing With All His Chips ,” “schizo” and “a man out of control” all may be useful terms for passing the Beavis and Butthead “cool [belch]” test for irreverance. But Lowery—who I hope wouldn't similarly label anyone for ethnicity, gender, religion or sexual orientation—applies these terms liberally.

Art Blaser
via e-mail

Steve Lowery, who sees a Vicar and a monkey dancing in the ink blot, responds: I argued thatA Beautfiul Mind made light of schizophrenia by suggesting that one could simply ignore the voices in their head. Those “slurs” were to point out that the movie didn't really care about mental illness, just that it made a fine vehicle for Russell Crowe to seem more sympathetic. I can assure you that I have nothing but the highest respect and deepest compassion for those in the loon community, as does everyone here at theWeekly. Why, I believe the man who runs this paper to be completely deranged or Irish—I'm not sure which, but does it really matter? The point is we love crackpots, nutcases and squirrel bait for their demented ravings and fashion choices. If anyone culled any other impression from my article, I suggest they see a psychiatrist immediately.

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