Whole Life Times: Surviving the streets

November 2006 | Letters from Readers

Surviving the streets

Thank you so much for publishing “The Art and Grace of Being Doored” by Charles Shaw (WLT 10.06). As a bicyclist in LA, I too battle daily with potentially life-threatening situations and unsympathetic drivers. Thanks to Shaw for sharing his story on behalf of all of us.
—Stephanie Winn, Los Angeles

9/11 controversy rages on
I just want to thank you for doing an interview with [David Ray] Griffin (9.06, “The 9/11 Credibility Gap”) and covering this subject. I’m the news editor for a Christian website, The Watchman Report, watchmanreport.com (non-denominational), and we’ve been working to try and get the truth out to Christians in America about this issue for over a year. I have also been in contact with former government officials like Paul Craig Roberts and Ray McGovern, trying to bring this issue to light.
—Michael McKnight, Durham, NC

Thank you for your interview with David Ray Griffin. Anyone who questions the “mainstream” is automatically labeled as a “conspiracy theorist;” however, most of those doing the labeling have not examined the evidence. David Ray Griffin and his fellow 9/11 Truth activists need to have their voices heard. Unfortunately, questioning the party line makes people uncomfortable, especially the traditional media. I appreciate WLT’s effort to continue providing an independent voice of inquiry.
—Jolene Rae Harrington, Los Angeles

Regarding David Ray Griffin’s conclusion that “whatever struck the Pentagon could not have been a Boeing 757,” how insulting for him to say such a thing, and how disrespectful for WLT to print it. Perhaps Mr. Griffin or your interviewer would like to explain to the families and friends of the 58 passengers and 6 crew members aboard American Airlines Flight 77 where the Boeing 757 crashed. Surely the Dulles Airport ground crew, baggage handlers and gate agents have testified that the plane serviced, fueled and boarded by the passengers and crew was indeed a 757. Unless Mr. Griffin and WLT believe that the surviving families and friends are part of some huge cover-up, you have desecrated the memory of the 64 victims.
—Alan Guttman, Los Angeles

Mr. Griffith suggests the official story just doesn’t make sense. But his alternative version is a thought experiment, unsupported by reality. He suggests that buildings were brought down by controlled demolition. But in the real world, real buildings are taken down by a process that takes weeks of physical preparation, including stripping away of all interior partitions, precise cuts through structural steel elements and the placement of hundreds of charges linked by thousands of feet of wire. And all of this took place in secret in three different buildings behind the walls while they were continuously occupied. Ridiculous.
—David Eisenberg, Seiad Valley, CA

Ed. reply: If readers would like to accept David Ray Griffin’s invitation—“Read my three books, write enough back to me to show me that you’ve read and understood them, and then tell me you don’t have any doubts about the official theory”—we will be happy to forward your correspondence to Dr. Griffin.

The bag is a drag
I recently participated in coastal cleanup day at a local arroyo in my community. I helped to extract trash ranging from as small as bottle caps to as large as shopping carts. The item most prevalent by far was plastic grocery bags. Personally, I’ve been using these types of bags, then taking them back to my local grocery store to be recycled. However, as a result of picking up so many of these bags in the arroyo, I’ve realized that I must make more of a consistent effort to haul my canvas bags whenever I get groceries. By the way, [please ask your readers not to dump] used car tires in arroyos. Take them to a local tire store, or contact your local city government to find out how to dispose of them.
—M. Thompson, Simi Valley, CA

Burn baby, burn
(In response to 9/6, “Don’t Bring Your Business Card to Black Rock City,”) Burning Man is about many things to many people, but one thing I find to be consistent is that it’s about change in the most expansive sense. When burners (and media) complain that it’s “not the same,” then maybe it’s time for them to find another learning experience.

When you learned all there was to learn in kindergarten, did you stick around and tell all the incoming 5-year olds that kindergarten’s just not the same anymore? That the snacks aren’t as good, the hokey-pokey is so played out and counting to 10 is so easy? I’m not saying that Burning Man is juvenile—there are incredible opportunities for evolving beings of all ages to create, express and expand.

When you’re over it, stop going; you’ve probably learned all you’re capable of learning there. When you find yourself complaining that it’s grown too big or too tame or too much of whatever it is you resist, then you’re probably not open anymore for the business of expansion that can happen there. That doesn’t mean the opportunity to grow and expand is lost for everyone else, or that your opportunities to grow elsewhere in your life are lost either. Just know when to move on so the ‘newbies’ can create new experiences that aid their expansion and expression. Please don’t stick around to insult others who haven’t experienced anything like it before, or those who still manage to find newness in every changing moment.
—Emily Liolin, San Francisco

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