LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

 

Compiled by Meredith Litt*

 

Life is a Highway

 

As a driver of a mid-size SUV, I wanted to applaud you for "Women Take the Power Back, Highway-Style," your breathtaking article in April. After centuries of oppression by the male race, we have finally been given the keys to the pearly gates, complete with air conditioning and dual airbags. All of these right-wing zealots assert that many females who drive minivans and SUVs are aggressive. Well, why shouldn't we be? Cutting off some macho man or passing a father of four in a no-pass zone is nothing compared to the eons we spent bearing their children and being forced to let them provide for us financially. Kudos to you for empowering women everywhere to unleash years of pent-up frustration on America's highways. I've just renewed my subscription for another year and taken my Nissan Pathfinder in for neon lights. -Jaime, Tennessee.

 

 

 

Bullies Bite Back

 

 

I read "I Was Bullied in High School" (May 2004) and was appalled by how you portrayed the "in crowds" in America's high schools. Like it or not, we are the way of the future. Having spent my entire life at only the elite lunch tables of this world, I was appalled that your magazine (one that prides itself on virtues of fashion, vanity, and extrinsic beauty) would glorify the "plight" of the pond's ugliest duckling. All the girl had to do was ride her bike over to the drugstore and invest in some Maybelline stock. I'm tired of magazines glorifying the ugly women of this world and trying to make those of us who spend hours on our appearance feel inferior. It's this kind of oppression that keeps womankind at bay in the working world. As a wise woman (me) once said, "One ugly duckling contaminates the entire pond." Shame on you for selling out and catering to the fashion proletariat. -Kerri, Michigan.

 

 

 

Reading "I Was Bullied in High School" made me remember my high school days with sadness. I was tortured in high school to the point of tears (oh, how I envy those popular girls who never had reason to be sad about anything) because I refused to bathe. I felt as if bathing was pointless: why wash it off when, the next day, another layer of dirt would be there to replace it? It's not like I was endangering the public with toxic fumes; it was just some natural body odor. Thank you for showing me that I wasn't the only teenager who has ever been depressed. I thought that I was the only angsty adolescent in the history of the world. -Penelope, via Internet.

 

 

 

Matrimonial Bliss

 

 

 

Thank you, thank you, thank you for your feature on how to plan your very own celebrity wedding (May 2004). All of the bridal magazines I've read have been so run-of-the-mill, so imagine my joy when I found weddings featured in your magazine that were in my elevated price range. After seeing the success of celebrity marriages, I am convinced that the more expensive the wedding, the longer the marriage will last. My parents eloped at city hall the day after my mom learned she was pregnant with me, and their marriage lasted five years. What more proof do you need? While brides across America are chowing down on buttercream icing, I'll be enjoying my 24K gold glazed saffron cake. I am so glad that there is a magazine out there with enough class to showcase REAL weddings instead of the bourgeois parties girls these days are throwing. -Jenna, Maryland.

 

 

 

Note from the editor: Thank you for writing, Jenna. We, too, thought that today's pedestrian weddings are too heavily featured in today's magazines. It is only fair that we shed equal light on ceremonies that cost upward of $1,000,000. If we cater to the poor, we must also cater to the rich. Look for more features in the future on upper-class wedding rituals and more fabulous diamond-encrusted gowns from the world's most treasured designers. That's what the wedding is all about, after all!

 

 

 

Correction:

 

In May's issue, we listed a pair of bridal shoes with diamond studs at $650. The actual price of the shoes is $6500.

 

* This piece was written by Meredith Litt but we didn't want to spoil the illusion. We also didn't want anyone's head to spin off and land in a puddle.

 

©2004 Meredith Litt

 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

 

Meredith Litt recently graduated from Quinnipiac University with a bachelor's degree in English and sociology minor. She works in retail management and freelances as a writer.