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PASS ON FAIL
As a professor who sets high goals for my students, I certainly have earned a reputation as a tough grader. Seldom, however, have I given students a failing grade, for failure connotes a complete lack of motivation, concern or effort. As both an academic and an active organizer and member of the peace movement, I was greatly inspired by the motivation and effort of countless individuals who organized for peace and would never assign a failing grade, even if the movement waned in days following the start of the war. Unfortunately, readers of Will Swaim's “Grading the Peace Movement” (May 2) most likely got the impression that the actual grading was conducted by the sources quoted, rather than by the OC Weekly itself. GRADE FOR JOURNALISTIC CLARITY: C-minus.
Jarret Lovell
Cal State Fullerton
Will Swaim responds:Apologies for the confusion; consider me admonished. I ought to have noted that I assigned the grades. And while we're on the subject of me, let me give a shout out to the “anonymous feminist” at UC Irvine: you're right. I should have interviewed women who participated in the peace movement in addition to the three men I spoke with. But I'm still a little weirded-out by your assertion that women would have offered “a totally different perspective on the peace movement.” I mean, I get the whole Venus/Mars thing, but “the anti-war protests were organized by women and espoused strictly female values”? That's another universe. Now please come back to ours.
TSANG TSINGS
Daniel C. Tsang's “Sanitized for Your Consumption,” (May 2) gave a very insightful and balanced review of Saigon, USA. I watched the film up in San Francisco, and I knew I wasn't truly impressed with it, but I didn't know why. I had no idea Vu Nguyen has written many critical pieces addressing the politics of this community. I bought into the way he was portrayed in Saigon, USA as some punky, trendy teenager who couldn't care less about what the “adults” are doing as long as he has his music and video games. The film totally played to the stereotype that all young people are apathetic and rebellious to what the bitter older generation are doing. I also really liked how Tsang acknowledged the few jewels in the film, such as Suzie Xuyen Dong-Matsuda's portrayal, and how the documentarians left out quite a bit of essential facts.
Tram Le
via e-mail
Great piece of critique there! I am a USC pharmacy student who is currently involved with the Vietnamese American Arts N Letters Association. I've been reading Tsang's writings since 1999, including most of the articles he has written about Little Saigon politics in the past few years, and found them very helpful in shaping my overall view of my community. In my opinion, Tsang is the only mainstream journalist I know who really understands the Vietnamese political landscape in Little Saigon. I have even talked to Vietnamese activists mentioned in his articles. I must admit that his descriptions of these personalities are very sharp and shrewd!
Co Lai
via e-mail GIRL STUFF
Commie Girl! Don't be that gal! I've read it for years now: the humor, the dry wit, the satire, the sarcasm—oh, the sarcasm. Yes, you could say I've been drinking your Kool-Aid for quite a while, so to speak. I've even dealt with the biased, left-wing pabulum spewed from the pens of some of your cohorts on my journey to that sacred last page. And I've loved every bite! Or is that sip? We've laughed; we've cried. We've drunk, and, hell, we've even soothed our hangovers together. We've visited bars, concerts, dance halls—we've been stymied by stupid bouncers! We've ogled guys and girls from Santa Barbara to San Clemente, and I, too, have a special place in my heart for the go-go dancer! But when I read your last column (“Don't Be That Guy!” May 2), well, it really took the cake—or is that “let them eat cake”? Tell me where to go, what to do and even how to do it, but, please—as in “Repeat after me: Have you ever traveled to Tavarua?”—don't tell them what to say!! A) It helps those far less quippy and eloquent, who should suffer their idiocy alone, but B) it is much too pompous for one so charming and lovely as you, Commie Girl.
James Auten
via e-mail
Okay, our bouncers gave you a hard time and you had to go back to Long Beach for your ID (Rebecca Schoenkopf's “Irk Day,” April 25). Don't you, like, go to clubs all the time? Isn't bringing ID a good idea? Our bouncers have been trained by the Alcohol and Beverage Control in Santa Ana not to allow in anyone without ID who looks under 30. We understand from the infamous Joel Beers (being our source of info) that you look like a hot version of a much younger woman. Yes, you would have been legal if you were checked out. But what about the poor girl who isn't as blessed as you—she's 20 and looks 30. Using your policy, we should let her in and then get busted. Using your vernacular, our bouncers would rather be the Fucker than the Fuckees (on that note, no one deserves Joel Beers).
Sandy Kates
Back Alley Bar N Grill
Fullerton REQUIEM FOR A GASBAG
Your indictment of former Laguna Beach Councilman Paul Freeman (Anthony Pignataro's “Diary of a Mad County,” April 18) was a revelation. I never did trust that thin-lipped guy with a red face that made him look like he was ready to explode, like he was repressing his true views and feelings. However, Village Laguna embraced him like he was the White Knight. I guess it proves you “can fool some of the people.”
Andy Wing
Laguna Beach
