Letter from Larae Essman
Colorado Central – December 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine
Editors:
If I were not in such a slump because of the nomination of Scalito to the Supreme Court, I am sure I could compose an ode that would compliment you elegantly for writing and publishing your interesting, thought provoking, and amusing magazine.
I’m usually at least one issue behind so I’m frequently too delinquent to comment, but I must express the pleasure I garnered from reading the October and November issues. I had just come off the November Harper’s Magazine, and was in genuine pain from just the first three articles when I noticed the October and November Issues of Colorado Central in our stack on the kitchen/dining room table.
Your magazines brought me some desperately needed pleasure. I thought, for example, that the Ray James “makeover” in the October issue was both unusual and very well written, and I congratulate him on his persistence and would wish him further success. I particularly appreciated Mr. James kind words for librarians. I believe that librarians never receive as much applause from the public as they should, so I will share this piece with the extraordinary men and women working at our excellent Estes Park Public Library.
Martha, thank you for your “letters.” I have the November “Deadly Delusions” well underlined in almost every column of nearly every page. Certainly I know that my brain is “warped” and “thought processes … limited” but it is hard for me to swallow the “snob'” designation.
It is true that I do not watch television, or read romances or go to Nascar races but I never thought about those items causing brain damage or death. Actually I think old age is doing the trick quite efficiently. And I certainly do not think that the “good old days” were better in any way, except perhaps in the area of excess, or commercialism.
And I would also like to thank you both for your book reviews. I know our library has a copy of Western Voices and I have noticed it at our book shop, but with stacks of books awaiting attention, I might have missed reading it. But thanks to your review, I will make it a point to pick it up.
And last, I noted today that Ref C has been approved by the voters. I remember when I read your piece, Ed, in The Denver Post in which you reluctantly backed the measure, I thought you did a bang-up job of pointing out what the public could not only understand, but also apply to their own family. I believe that you made a difference. So I would like to thank you for that. Thank you for Colorado Central.
Larae Essman
Estes Park
Dear Larae,
Thanks for the kind words.
After seeing a PBS special on Las Vegas last week, it wasn’t too hard for me to recognize my snobbishness. Prostitution, pasties, feathers, slot machines, and lounge singers? Why is that popular?
Snobbery, however, is not my primary worry. In fact, I suspect it’s all too human, and probably inevitable. People just naturally tend to think that what they like is superior and what they don’t like is barbarous.
What I object to is the politicalization of disdain. The purpose of politics is not to pick a prom queen; it’s to establish a system that’s fair and equitable. Thus I don’t think politics should be about what we like or don’t like. It should be about how we can make our system work better — for more citizens.
Yet our political discourse is awash with denunciations about each other’s motives, families, youngsters, religion, morality, intelligence, understanding, and knowledge.
Jay Leno and Jon Stewart are comedians, and thereby entitled to humiliate people. But senators, congressmen, and party spokesmen should probably refrain from such tactics, because it puts too much focus on people and too little on the issues.
I noticed it last weekend at Headwaters. Although the Headwaters Conference tends to be a very civilized and friendly gathering, the powers that be have already reduced the immigration issue into two camps, which are only divided on whether Tom Tancredo or illegal immigrants are more distasteful.
Tom Tancredo says illegal immigrants should go home. While George Sibley says that we should thank those immigrants for doing all of the work we hate. Yet neither position addresses America’s growing reliance on underpaid servants who can’t afford adequate food, shelter, child care, or medical services.
Surely, we’re not, as Tancredo suggests, supposed to deny social services and medical care to immigrants – unless we hanker for a tuberculosis, measles, or AIDS epidemic.
But on the other hand, are we supposed to just accept the conditions described by participants at Headwaters? (Which included desperate migrants suf focating during transport; and eighteen Gunnison residents crowded into a two-bedroom trailer; and children who have to sleep under, on, and around the kitchen table?)
Instead of addressing all of the problems and ramifications involved, however, most Headwater speakers neatly severed the issue into two opposite and unworkable solutions: A) stop the immigrants or B) welcome them.
Perhaps we could come up with a more workable plan by focusing less on who’s wrong, and more on what needs to be accomplished – eg. maintaining a healthy regard for human life; improving immigration policies; financing medical care for the working poor; encouraging liveable wages in Mexico and the U.S.; etc. etc. etc.
But first, I think, we’re going to have to try harder to keep the issues in the forefront, rather than let them be overshadowed by flamboyant personalities or even justifiable animosities.
Optimist that I am, however, I am sure that Colorado Central readers do have most of the answers. And despite the contentiousness of modern politics, or perhaps because of it, I believe that citizens can make just as much difference as corporations, money, and/or political hacks.
Martha
