Friday, March 11, 2011

Letters to Editor

Dear Editor,
I could not disagree more with RB in your recent letters section.He did not like Random Thoughts in the old Tribune, and I thought it was one of the few things worth reading in that publication. Of course the writer of that column was on the liberal side, but then so are most educated people who read extensively. A recent study in the US showed that people with high IQ’s tended to be liberal and not very religious. I am wondering if the R in RB might stand for Right of center.

Cheers,
Dan Swisher
Bucerias

Hello Dan,
We published an article about that study 2 issues ago (Feb.20th) on page 19. Check it online if you missed the issue www.vallartatribune.com. I once again agree with you as far as the results of the study but Letters-to-the-Editor are to voice different opinions and everybody’s voice will be heard whether I agree with them or not. I believe it´s healthy to get people to voice their opinions and share their point of view. I strongly feel that we ( the human race) don´t have to always agree on everything and yet share the same space without going into rants and raves or even war. Life is so much more interesting being more colorful.
Best Regards / Saludos Cordiales
David Plotz


Hi David,
I have just finished reading your newspaper for this week and as usual, I have enjoyed it immensely. I would like to comment on two of your articles.
On page 8 is an article by Krystal Frost (isn’t that a wonderful name, by the way) about acupuncture. As you know I am a Canadian physician trained in the, old school, Ivy League, traditional way that always poo pooed the legitimacy of such modalities as Chiropractic Medicine and Acupuncture.
In this last decade of my professional life, as I have allowed my mind to expand past dogmatic teachings, I have come to know that both of these modalities have huge value to all of us in our health care. Acupuncture works. I’ve seen it with my own unbelieving eyes. It is completely foolhardy to try and argue with success and at the same time try to maintain credibility. The other point I’d like to make is in reference to your article on page 16 regarding Marcella’s dance classes. Sandi and I have been taking Salsa classes from Marcella for months and we are having a blast. Not only are we learning how to salsa, we are meeting a whole bunch of new friends. Andrea’s brownie recipe on page twelve though – holy crow, I can’t wait to try that. I’ll have to sign up for a whole lot more dance classes.

Michael R. Lee
B.Sc., M.D., M.C.F.P. (E.M.), D.A.B.E.M., F.A.C.E.P.
Sure Results Weight Loss

Hello Michael,
Thank you very much for your feedback, we aim to make the Tribune interesting and enjoyable for everyone regardless if you are a local resident, tourist, liberal, conservative, Mexican, Canadian, American or from any other part of the known Universe.

Dear Editor,
Congratulations on your two page spread on the Aztecs. I have read quite a bit about them, and that was an excellent short summary. May I suggest similar coverage in the future for other principal Mexican Indian tribes, say the Olmecs, the Toltecs, the Teotihuacans, the Zapatecs, the Mixtecs, the Chichimecs, the Otomies, and of course, the Mayas. That, for a start, should be of great interest to your Gringo readers.
Regards,
Dan Swisher

Thank you Dan, I am glad you liked it. I plan on publishing a lot more articles regarding Mexican History and Culture, I like your idea about the different tribes.


Dear Editor
I, for one, was dismayed to hear that Heather Wilson had left the post as Editor. I enjoyed reading Heather’s well written, chatty and newsy editorials in which she kept us informed of what was going on in Vallarta. However, I accept that she has moved on. What I find hard to accept is an editorial this week full of mistakes in punctuation, grammar and omitted words. Is it not a prerequisite for an editor to be able to write well or at least have someone proof his editorials before sending them to print?
I hope that future editorials of the Tribune are written with more care.
Regards
P

Hello P,
I very much appreciate your straightforward comments and yes, you are absolutely right. We are in a transition at this moment but well aware of the fact that some bugs need to be worked out, one of them being the way the text gets transferred form one type of format to another. This is where ran into a snag.

After all the spellchecking is done the editorial content gets sent to the design department who actually makes everything fit. The errors occurred in the process of copying the text from the Word Doc that I had sent in, to Adobe In-Design. There will be a statement addressing the matter along with an apology in the next issue. We are working to improve both the image as well as the quality of the content, adding 4 more pages within the near future to be able to offer more variety and coverage not only on the local level but also on México as a whole. Please feel free to contact us regarding any comments you may have, positive or negative. We don´t only publish but also answer all Letters-to-the Editor, both via e-mail as well as in print.
Julie Anne M.
The new Editor is a complete asshole to print those letters bashing Heather and ridiculing readers (“Last time I checked, I was a Sir”).
You, Sir, are no gentleman!
I don’t think I will read The Tribune any more.
;-(

Dear Julie Anne M.
Both the Tribune and as well as the Editor have the responsibility to publish reader feedback whether positive and negative, if we didn´t it would be censorship. Using the same criteria I am publishing your comments even though one could interpret them as “bashing me” resorting even to name-calling.
No one is bashing Heather, many readers including you, have contacted us asking what happened to her, the majority of the readers are welcoming the change, the minority which includes you, doesn´t. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and even though you may not agree, you may want to respect them, especially since the majority of the readers don´t seem share your opinion. As far ridiculing the reader; your letter was addressed “Dear Madam” and my comment was intended to let you know in a comical way that I was not a Madam, by no means to ridicule you or your intellect.

Having a sense of humor is like having good manners, you either do or you don´t, you can´t acquire either.

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