Let’s Hear It for Pickles
Regarding Mark Roessler’s great article on pickles [“The Pickles All Around Me,” April 8, 2010], one comment: M & M Green Valley Produce is open year round. Their hours for now are nine to six, seven days a week. I don’t think they have the wonderful Polish dills he must have eaten, and probably won’t have their terrific dilly beans again for a month or so, but their sliced dills and sliced sweet dills are pretty darn good—as well as all the other things they make on the premises. They have a full line of produce, a lot of it local even in the off season, as well as breads and dairy products. Their hot dog stand will probably open soon; they use their own homemade relish there, as well as a meat sauce popular in Rhode Island, [used on weiners] called, for some inexplicable reason, New York system weiners. We love shopping there, and were thrilled to see them mentioned.
Sheila Hourihan
Leyden
Every Child Is Our Child
How did we get here? How did we as a country, a culture and a people get to a place where teenagers commit suicide because they cannot face being bullied any longer? How did we get to a place where teenagers and teachers stand by and watch a child being bullied and do nothing about it? How did we get to a place where we find reasons to justify this behavior?
This is not a political conversation. This is not a conversation about blame. This is a conversation about the need for each of us to wake up. This is a conversation about how we as individuals have abdicated our responsibility. This is a conversation about reclaiming our voice. This is a conversation about owning our individual power and ability to make a difference. This is a conversation about realizing we are all in it together. There is no inside or outside. No one is excluded. No one is left out. If one child suffers, then every child suffers.
This conversation does not exclude anyone. Every child is our child. We are undermining their futures.
Steven J. Falk
San Francisco
All Right, Already
I know you’ve gotten a lot of criticism for cancelling Tom Tomorrow and replacing it with Mild Abandon. I want you to know that I’m grateful for your decision! Tom Tomorrow hurt my head, making me think too hard about painful subjects like the end of democracy and the end of the world. Mild Abandon lets me know that you have figured out that your readers appreciate real wit and sophistication without the torture of painfully real subjects. I especially loved the cleverness of the punch line in the April 8 issue, “I poopied.”
I know that you are proud of the new heights of intellectual content to which you have brought the Advocate with this shining new star of the comic world. E.J. Pettinger’s profound thought is matched only by the skill of his pen, which my four-year-old cannot hope to equal.
Steve Harvester
Westfield
Reduce Fuel Consumption
During the past few years, Russian oil revenues have generated a surplus of $500 billion, and Russia is using this money to rebuild and expand its military after many years of neglect.
The refurbishment of the Russian military has been accompanied by a revival of the Cold War, and we are in the midst of a resurgence of Russia and its totalitarian machinations.
The foray into Georgia is an example of the mentality of the Russian leadership, and Russia may be rekindling a close relationship with Cuba, including the reopening of a sophisticated electronic intelligence gathering operation in Lourdes, Cuba. Russia has conducted talks with Cuba, Syria and Vietnam on the use of naval bases, has sent naval forces to visit Venezuelan ports, and has promised to help Chavez develop a nuclear “energy” program.
As the largest consumer of oil in the world, we have to continue to reduce our oil consumption, which will help our economy and the environment, exert downward pressure on oil prices, and decrease the revenue going to Russia and other foreign countries. We need fuel-efficient vehicles, more alternative energy sources, increased domestic oil and natural gas production, and more nuclear power plants.
Donald A. Moskowitz
Londonderry, N.H.
Profile in Courage
I write this in praise of a man of courage, Father James Scahill. It took a lot of courage and honesty to ask the Pope and other church leaders to admit what they knew about the abuse of children and when. Scahill said, “If the Pope can’t do this or won’t do this, then integrity should lead him to resign.”
For the past eight years, stories of priests sexually molesting children have shocked and sickened people all over the world. I think the part that shocked people the most was the fact that some bishops also molested children, including ex-Bishop Dupre of Springfield. Many other bishops were complicit by covering up the abuse. If anyone spoke up about the abuse, they were silenced. In Boston, Bishop D’Arcy wrote to Cardinal Law asking him to defrock Father Geoghan after he had molested many children. After writing that letter, Bishop D’Arcy was sent to Fort Wayne Diocese in Indiana. Law then reassigned Geoghan to a new parish where he molested more children. After Cardinal Law was forced to resign, he was given a famous basilica in Rome.
Now the sex scandal has slithered all the way up to the papal throne. Recent revelations from Germany and Rome involve Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, covering up scandals “for the good of the church.”
Recently we learned that several American bishops wrote to Cardinal Ratzinger asking him to defrock Father Lawrence Murphy, who had molested 200 deaf children, in Wisconsin.
Ratzinger did not answer their letters. So they wrote again. Finally, Cardinal Ratzinger answered the bishops and told them to be kind to Murphy because he was young. The future pope told the bishops to “consider the good of the universal church.”
One bishop in California wrote to Cardinal Ratzinger three times, asking him to defrock a priest who had molested children. Finally, the future pope answered the bishop, saying he would not defrock the priest because he was concerned about “the good of the church.” I ask, is the good of an institution more important than the abused children?
I hope that Bishop McDonnell and Scahill’s brother priests understand that he is speaking out because of his concern for the victims. Scahill is correct when he says that the sexual abuse of children is systemic and structural. It is the culture of clericalism which led to the coverup at all levels. Sometimes it is easier to shoot the messenger than to deal with gigantic problems. Sometimes the truth hurts. But there will be no healing until the truth prevails and church leaders protect children before protecting the institution.
John Sheehan
Southampton
