_______________ CHANGING PARTNERS BY CAROL LLOYD (05/11/98)
	I am writing to tell you how much I enjoyed your article and interview with Arianna Huffington. It was well written and revealed a side of her I never knew. In fact, I am surprised how similar her views on the political morass, er ... I mean process, and the stratification of American society are with mine. It is a pleasant experience to see someone you perceived as rather one-dimensional to be a much more complex individual. -- Jason Hanson
_______________ REVENGE OF THE EARLY ADOPTERS BY ANDREW LEONARD (04/29/98)
	As a decided non-early-adopter of video hardware (my TV and VCR are each 10 years old), I found Andrew Leonard's Divx article an interesting overview of this upcoming format war. But I think he left out an important part of the analysis: By sabotaging Divx, the early-adopter videophiles are actually hurting mainstream video-renters. Consider me as a microcosm of the average VCR user. I like movies, but I'm not fanatical about them, for the most part. When I want to see a movie, I schlep down to the rental palace and hope they have it in stock. The idea of owning movies strikes me as somewhat strange -- I can't think of any movie, even favorites like "Blue Velvet," that I'd want to watch over and over and over again, so it takes a very long time to amortize the retail price of $90 or even $20. I think Divx would be cool. First, because I don't have to worry about getting that video back to the store by 6 p.m. the next day, which I invariably forget. Second, because I can keep the movie around if I like it and watch it once a year or so for cheap. Third, because finally I can rent movies by mail order without having to pay an arm and a leg for shipping back and forth. Does my local Wherehouse carry "Eraserhead"? No chance. But I can get it from Facets and have it around to watch whenever I'm in the mood for weirdness. All this is now being sabotaged, apparently, by video fetishists who will cede their right to watch "Top Gun" on their Home Theater System for free twice a week forever only when their cold dead hands are pried off the remote control. Groovy. This is, actually, just a preview of what's going to happen as we try to get real content (music and books as well as movies) onto the Internet. The only feasible way to do this is via pay-per-view with the option to buy. By their devotion to cool shiny discs, the videophiles are driving away the even cooler future where any movie is available at the mere press of a button. -- Jens Alfke
_______________ COMMUNISM ON YOUR COFFEE TABLE! BY BARBARA EHRENREICH (04/30/98)
	Barbara Ehrenreich's review of the chic, new Verso "Communist Manifesto" is just another manifestation of the post-communist irony that she decries. In her treatment, Marxism becomes a mere trope for a vague liberal dissatisfaction with unequally distributed wealth. This reading fails to take Marx seriously as a thinker who sought to destroy German idealism by realizing its aspirations concretely. Recognizing the impossibility of doing this within any humane limits distinguishes the great liberal caution of thinkers like Kant and Hegel from Marx and his ardor for fundamental transformation. Anyone who is inclined to take Ehrenreich's advice and read the Manifesto today as a sort of "daily inspiration for liberals" should also read Lenin's "What Is to Be Done" to find out what Marxism means "objectively." The triumph of "capitalism" has given us the irony not only of those who might use a tiny, disastrous pamphlet as a kitschy prop, but also those inclined to nostalgia for a humane, liberal Marxism that has never existed. -- Matthew J. Feeney Washington
_______________ MOTHERS WHO THINK
	Today, as I was completing some of those mundane housewife-type chores (which, quite frankly, I hate), I realized that I am fighting a daily battle to keep my brain from becoming completely mush. I logged on to AOL and went to one of my usual haunts: Moms Online. This visit seemed extremely unsatisfying. I thought: "Don't these women think about ANYTHING besides diaper rash and how to control their kids' bodily fluids? Am I a rotten mother because I have become almost totally uninterested in this pabulum?" Just when I had decided that this would be my last visit to that area, I saw the banner for Salon. (Hey, those big marketing bucks were worth it!) My response to seeing Salon is that, yes, there are some "moms who think." These moms actually use their brains for something other than getting those bargains at yard sales or manipulating toddlers into being "potty trained." Salon treats moms as if they actually do think and are valuable contributors to society. While wiping little butts is necessary work, every day moms work at grooming the next generation to be competent, caring and successful individuals. If we let ourselves become content to be treated as if what we do and think is unimportant, then we become the invisible people we don't want to be, and nobody wants to be us either. Who wants to be a hausfrau whose greatest concern is how "white she can get those whites?" How satisfying is that? Salon is an oasis in the desert of motherhood pabulum on the Internet and in virtual print. Thank God I finally found it. -- Leah King SALON | May 13, 1998