The Go-To Paper
I read with pleasure your 35th anniversary issue. Congratulations! I particularly liked the story on Jordi Herold, who is responsible for so much good music in the Valley.
However, it is ironic that the Advocate no longer publishes Iron Horse ads. The Advocate was the place to go to find out what was coming up at the Iron Horse (or Pearl Street or the Calvin). Now we have to go to the Internet. That's a shame.
Francis Juanes
via email
Special thanks to the Valley Advocate for continuing to support the incredible local music scene here in Western Massachusetts. I publish a weekly online-only newsletter named The Weekly Band E-Mail. Each week I scour band, musician, and venue websites and MySpace pages to find out the latest info on Massachusetts music, along with a day-by-day listing of who is playing where at some 50 venues in the Bay State. To read the Weekly Band E-Mail, go to hampmusic.com and click on Weekly Band News.
Brian Anastasi
Amherst
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More on Panhandling
I'm not sure that Kathy Grey's well-written letter in support of panhandlers [Sept. 25, 2008] is as well thought out as it could be. It's true that Haiti has very little social support network, so begging for money is the social support system.
Here in the U.S.A., rich in social support systems, we can consider begging for money commercial speech. It's a financial matter, which allows us to regulate it. Thus Northampton may ban panhandling.
Grey says, "…most homeless people have mental health issues…" That's only true if one counts alcohol and other drug addictions as mental health issues. Last I read, at least a third of the chronically homeless people were addicted to alcohol or other drugs. I count drug use (which should be legal) as a personal choice issue, not a mental health issue.
Grey advocates stopping begging by "giv[ing] them some money, dammit!" I advocate failing to reward beggars, refusing them money. If everyone refused to give beggars money, they'd stop asking for it.
Homeless folk in liberal Noho or Brattleboro have several options for getting free food. Let them dumpster dive for most of their food, as I do. If someone's asking for money, they're really asking for money to buy booze.
Hubey Folsom
Brattleboro
