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CAN'T ALWAYS GET WHATCHA WAND
I would like to draw your attention to a serious ethical breach by Dan Savage, author of your syndicated Savage Love columns. Savage promised me (as well as many other readers) $5 in prize money if he printed a sexual fantasy I sent in to his column. I sent my fantasy in; he printed it. When I asked for my $5, he initially tried to ignore me, then told me he would send it, then ultimately he said he would prefer to give me a prize in person, and asked me to meet him at a book signing six months later. I agreed—as long as he paid me with interest.
When I went to his reading, Savage had nothing for me, but he promised to send me a Hitachi Magic Wand and three attachments to make up for his continual breaches of our constantly renegotiated agreement. Said Magic Wand has never arrived. I am currently mounting a worldwide, grassroots, virtual campaign to get Dan Savage to honor his agreement: the Magic Wand for Katie Campaign. (For more information about the campaign, go to www.magicwand4katie.com.)
Katie Surrence via e-mail GIANT SUCKERING SOUND
It's amazing the Weekly can still openly champion illegal immigration (Gustavo Arellano's “'Way Out There With Them!'” Dec. 6). Only the brain dead can read daily news of a $1.7 billion shortfall in education, hospital closures and massive housing shortages and fail to see the connection between mass illegal immigration and these grim headlines.
The 250 members of the California Coalition for Immigration Reform that came to hear Michelle Malkin talk about her book, Invasion, pay dearly for the lack of border enforcement her book criticizes. Perhaps those folks are not “fanatically anti-immigration”—as Arellano dismissively describes them—but rather deeply angered at being played for suckers by millions of foreigners living here illegally.
Tim Aaronson El Cerrito
PRAISE FOR A CHANGE
Our organization thanks you for your objective consideration of the recently released film Ararat by Atom Egoyan (Greg Stacy's “Look Back In Anguish,” Nov. 29). It's understood that quite a bit of political and social controversy surrounds this picture, more specifically its subject matter as it relates to the tragic Armenian genocide of 1915.
We appreciate the forthright nature with which you delivered your review and hope you will remain open to future films that may involve stories concerned with the Armenian genocide or the Armenian condition.
Peter Abajian Armenian Assembly of America Beverly Hills YO, YAOH!
I have much respect for Yaoh's raps because he does not resort to blabbering about hos and money, and he manages to keep his raps powerful, lively and relevant (Gustavo Arellano's “With the Name of the Warrior,” Dec. 6). There is a wealth of young, raw talent in OC that is just waiting to be tapped, so it is high time the people be made aware of who these artists are and where they can be found. Both Yaoh's music and the Cultural Center of Anahuac offer havens for many Chicano youth who may be questioning the values and assumptions of dominant culture.
Rosalinda Ramirez Anaheim ONE STORY, TWO DIFFERENT VIEWS
As registered nurses at St. Jude Medical Center, we found it outrageous that Velma Moore's sad plight is being linked to the lack of a nurses union (Nick Schou's “Critical Mass,” Nov. 29). The two have nothing to do with each other.
Hospice is an option for St. Jude employees. The nurses who cared for their co-worker, Velma Moore, did so out of friendship and affection, not because care was not provided by insurance. All St. Jude employees are covered by worker's compensation insurance. The California Board of Registered Nursing requires and mandates continuing education, not the hospital. As for the assertion that the nurses need to organize to have a voice, the management meets with the nurses and hears their concerns. The only intimidation we have seen is from people trying to get nurses to sign union cards.
Deborah Brannon, RN, OCN and 18 other RNs St. Jude's Medical Center Nick Schou responds: Thanks for your letter, but it fails to disprove anything the nurses alleged in my story—a story that included many of the facts you cite above.
It's about time St. Jude/St. Joseph organize to become a union of nurses. During the 14 years I have worked at St. Joseph's Hospital in Orange as a registered nurse, hospital administrators have taken away more than they have given. We have had cuts in our benefits, health-care packages and bonus pay for our special certifications. Our sick time, vacation time and two holidays are lumped together into one account. We have no pension plans. When we become too old and physically exhausted to work, we will have no medical benefits.
Over the past few months, with the threat of the union coming in to save our hard-working nurses, the hospital has finally stepped up and offered us the first cost-of-living increase in four or five years and added two more paid holidays. It's about time we organize together and receive the benefits we are entitled to. Please keep my name anonymous as the threat and pressure the management and administrators have toward the registered nurses is great.
Anonymous via e-mailWILDES' MAN
In our Scariest People issue (Nov. 1), we failed to credit former Surfing magazine editor Skip Snead for the cover photo of 5-year-old mohawked skater Quinn Wildes. Thanks, Skip!
