Westword, April 10
For many years now, I have been coming across variations on the word "snark" in journalistic pieces, used by scribes writing for a wide variety of publications, ranging from Newsweek to Westword. Most recently, in the April 10 edition of Westword, Michael Roberts uses it in his Message column as an adjective in "set the tone for the snarky session that followed," and in the cover story, Alan Prendergast uses it as a verb in "...snarking about his nature-boy persona."
My challenge to these writers, and to the editor, is to define and defend this word, or cease using it. What can it possibly mean? As far as I can recall, "snark" was a noun invented by Lewis Carroll for an imaginary creature.
Bruce Kaufman
Longmont
Bar Back, Jon Solomon, April 10
Thank you for the read. It put a smile on my face, as I have sat at Moon Time Bar & Grill a few times and looked in wonder at the bumperstickers on the beer coolers. May you find your inner Panic this summer as the band rolls into Red Rocks.
P.S.: My favorite shows are the small theaters the band is still playing.
Mark Costlow
Indianapolis, Indiana
Ask a Mexican, Gustavo Arellano
I am filing a complaint. It is utterly ridiculous and repugnant what Gustavo Arellano writes about people who are of Hispanic descent, who respect and value American border policy and want to retain the sovereignty of the United States. Furthermore, his bashing of Lou Dobbs as a racist is just utterly and entirely sickening. Mr. Arellano fails to acknowledge our failing medical systems, as well as many other civil services that go towards people who do not pay into a tax system to support these same systems that they are draining. He can't acknowledge facts, and I find it irresponsible of Mr. Arellano to support this sort of ridiculous, truly inane reporting, even if it is tongue-in-cheek — and it looks like it is.
I just had to get that off my chest. I doubt that anyone cares, but thank you for hearing my concerns.
Name withheld on request
I enjoy the Mexican's column and would like to try to explain some of the conservative viewpoints about illegal immigration.
The last terrorists who struck our country came from Yemen and Saudi Arabia (World Trade Center, 2001). The ones before that came from Oklahoma and Indiana (Oklahoma City bombing, 1995) and the previous ones from Saudi Arabia (World Trade Center, 1993). Our manufacturing jobs are going to China, our computer programming and help-desk jobs are going to India, and North Korea is developing nuclear bombs. The U.S. is creating thousands of Osama bin Ladens every day in the Middle East. Therefore, all Mexican illegal immigrants are dangerous.
The ironic thing about the current fear of illegal immigrants from Mexico is that the vast majority of them are of Native American descent; they aren't Spanish. Most of the Spanish in Mexico are doing well enough that they don't feel the need to risk their lives to earn meager wages in the U.S. The "Indians" lived in North, Central and South America for thousands of years before the Europeans arrived. Upon arrival, the Europeans (English, French, Spanish, Dutch, etc.) proceeded to label all natives "savages" and to annihilate as many as they could aim their weapons at so that they could take their land. Talk about "breaking and entering" — try breaking, entering and murdering!
The other irony is that the western U.S. used to belong to Mexico. In the mid-1800s, the U.S. took this land from Mexico by killing several thousand Mexican troops. One of the American generals later wrote that this was "not a proud day in American history." Once again, breaking, entering, murdering and theft! A thinking person might ask himself how we attained the moral high ground in this immigration debate.
Those people who complain bitterly about illegal immigration need to read their history books and get a clue. If there is a God, we Americans should be asking "May God forgive America" — not "May God bless America." Any God who could bless this country, with its checkered past, is not one that I would care to worship.
Jesse Collette
Colorado Springs
