‘We Are All in Trouble’
To the editor:
Re “Provincetown Fights Back Against Anti-Drag Laws” [March 30, front page]:
Whether it is bingo, karaoke, a fundraiser, or a regular show, my favorite activity in Provincetown is to see drag. Apparently, the state that recently had a fatal shooting of three children and three school employees, Tennessee, was the first to sign this form of what I consider prejudice into law.
Instead of worrying about drag, people in Tennessee could have spent their time reforming gun laws. The shooter in Nashville last month had legally purchased seven firearms. Who other than law enforcement personnel needs seven guns?
I am morbidly sick with total kidney failure. One of the few pleasures I still can enjoy is seeing someone like Thirsty Burlington perform as Cher, because I love her powerful voice, her glamour, and the added camp that makes me smile.
The subtitle of comedian Judy Gold’s book Yes, I Can Say That is “When they come for the comedians we are all in trouble.”
Georg Deyab
Hingham
A Necessary Conversation
To the editor:
The Nauset Regional High School administration recently allowed the slogan “All Lives Matter” to be displayed on a banner at school throughout Black History Month. That decision was tone deaf to the real concerns that the phrase “Black Lives Matter” expresses. The addition of the words “All Lives Matter” to the banner acts to avoid a necessary conversation about white supremacy, institutionalized racism, and the treatment of Black Americans in the U.S.
The message detracted from the celebration of a month focused on Black lives, not “all lives.”
I encourage the high school administration, and all of us, to learn about the Black Lives Matter movement and the ways in which systemic racism continues to affect our communities. Let us not forget that the current administration at Nauset High followed an administration that failed to address long-running anti-Semitic harassment of a student. I hope the new staff development programs described by Supt. Brooke Clenchy will encourage and enable staff to support children of color and of all faiths. The Anti-Defamation League (www.adl.org) provides resources to learn about anti-Semitism in our communities and ways we can address bigotry.
The Black Lives Matter movement (blacklivesmatter.com) and the Anti-Defamation League can help us begin to repair the damage wrought upon generations of Black and Jewish people and honor their lives in our communities.
Eileen Hickey
Truro and Cherry Hill, N.J.
No Immunity for Dogs
To the editor:
Re Bruce Monteith’s March 30 letter, “Dogs as Family Members”:
I don’t think of my dogs as my children, but they are important to me and significantly enhance the quality of my life (which, as it happens, is not true of some family members). More to the point, nobody thinks being “a member of the family” affords a child or a dog blanket immunity for misdeeds.
If a child stole my sandwich (or, worse, urinated on my beach things), I would talk to his parent. If necessary, I suppose I could seek redress under existing laws against theft and public indecency. In truth, I would probably just get over it, as I do with other unpleasant experiences.
I would not prohibit children from the beach or subject all dogs and dog owners to unnecessary regulations because of a bad episode with a bad parent.
Liam McElhone
Truro
Now for the Nitpicking
To the editor:
Two things: First, the Independent is a delight to read every week. I read every obituary, the cooking column, and I love the Graveyard Shift. You are not just reflecting community — you are helping build community.
Now for the nitpicking: Several times I’ve seen references to nor’easters in the paper. For most of my life, and I’ve seen more than a few sunrises, they’ve been called no’theasters on Cape Cod, not nor’easters.
English is said to be an evolving language, and I’m OK with that, but there are a few remaining regional traits here, and dropping the “R” is often one of them. Perhaps in print you might use the full term, northeaster; we of a certain generation could read it as no’theaster, and the younger, evolving ones could read it as nor’easter.
In any case, thanks for a great paper.
Tom Burns
Westminster, Vt. and Wellfleet
