Objectification Remains Offensive

This is response to the “Hey, Baby” column by Jaimie Seaton. I was raised in the ’60s and ’70s. I am the mother of three grown daughters. They were encouraged to use the gifts of their intellect and creativity, and I am proud of the women they have become.

The fact that we are still talking about the objectification of women after decades of focus on “Girl Power” and “Yes, my daughter is beautiful, but she is also very smart” makes my heart hurt.

As I turned 50, I was a graduate student in writing classes at Dartmouth College. One of my younger male classmates wrote an essay about rating women’s breasts (observations of young women on campus). It was painful to read and I said so, only to be challenged by several young women in the class. “You don’t understand. It’s a different time. . . .We aren’t offended by this.” All I wanted to say to them was, “Our fight for equality for women had nothing to do with tolerance of crudeness, vulgarity and reducing women to the sum of their body parts, rather, it is about the power of our intellect, and wanting to be taken seriously as contributors to the conversations in science and academia, politics, industry and the arts”

I applaud Ms. Seaton for her candor about how statements made to her as a young woman led her to speak out and remind us of how far we have to go with regard to the guardianship of the dignity of our daughters.

Carrie Caouette-De Lallo

Chelsea

European Model of Drug Treatment

Jim Rubens’ fine piece on drug addiction approaches omitted a significant part of the European model for treatment. Europe provides intractable heroin addicts with safe unadulterated heroin treatment. This allows heroin addicts to be able to reflect on their condition and possible weaning process by removing the need to continually plan ways to lie, cheat, steal and manipulate to support their addiction.

This, of course, is not a politically correct approach here in New Hampshire, where the war on pot will continue given the state’s political decision to keep pot illegal. Pot is everywhere — probably used more than alcohol. Legalize and tax it and provide addiction care from the money it will provide.

John Earl

Bethel

The Best of the GOP Field?

Now that the primary season is over, what are we to make of the Republican candidates who ran for the nomination? Given a process that is long, tedious, contentious and expensive, why would anyone want to engage in it? Is it the power, influence, status and connections that motivate? Do the candidates really believe they have the competencies required to carry out presidential responsibilities?

Think of Donald Trump, the bombastic bully who says anything that will seal a deal; Ted Cruz, the snide, sneering, radical-right individual hated by most of his political colleagues; John Kasich, a serious, sanctimonious, though wimpish, person who lacks any kind of charisma and attracted little attention. It’s hard to believe that we are getting the best people available in the field (of politics). We’re probably not!

Despite the candidates’ mean-spirited behaviors, (Cruz branded Trump a “pathological liar” and “serial philanderer;” Trump connected Cruz’s father with John Kennedy’s assassination), what is more important is to know what lies beneath the skin of each. How can we gauge their values and moral views toward others and society? The last three Republican candidates seemed blind to the many problems plaguing society today and the adverse consequences for most citizens. 

Now there is one left. Is he blind to circumstances surrounding the presidency? Being a bully seems an advantage in business. Being president of a country with enormous population diversity (gender, racial and ethnic characteristics, economic circumstances, geography, social and moral attitudes) is a different matter.  A recent New York Times editorial underscored my worry when noting Trump’s “brutish agenda, narcissism, capriciousness and most of all, the inexperience paired with intellectual laziness that would make him a disastrous president.”

Bob Scobie

Hanover

Teaching Second-Grade Is Tough

Sometimes there are stories within stories, greater truths beneath the surface. Such was the case in John Gregg’s article, “Post-Hanover, Laramie Worked Briefly As Sub.” The surface story was about a former principal being hired as a second-grade sub without being fully vetted. Yet the underlying story is his quitting the subbing after just four days, reportedly telling the superintendent, “This is way more than I thought it was going to be.”

The underlying truth is that preschool through third grade is the most difficult to teach, most important to teach, and most underpaid in the preschool through post-grad academic world. As a sub, I know my limitations; give me teens! I am woefully inadequate to take on the heady task of second grade.

Marcia Tomlinson

Bradford, Vt.

Honor Densmore Workers

I would like to thank people for the wonderful response I have had for Hand of Brick, the film I made about the Densmore Brick Co. in Lebanon. Local history is very much alive and well in the Upper Valley.

As Lebanon is the city of fountains, I would like to see Lebanon build a fountain remembering the men and women who worked there. It would be built with Densmore bricks. I am looking for any help I can get to help make this happen. You can contact me at 603-643-2889.

Stefan van Norden

Hanover