Salon | Letters to the editor

_______________MAIL ROOM DISPATCH ...

The new year began slowly for Salon's letters department. It seems most of our readers were too busy enjoying holiday cheer to direct many missives our way.
No holiday, however, could squelch the wrath of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, who contested Salon columnist Joe Conason's claims that the SCV is a "white supremacist and neo-Confederate" organization.
Laura Tyson, former chairwoman of President Clinton's Council of Economic Advisors and wife of novelist Erik Tarloff, set straight the record on her husband's new novel, "Face-Time," about a fellow whose girlfriend is sleeping with the president. Tyson says the book is in no way based on any real-life experiences, as Salon's review of the book implied.
Opinions varied over what constituted 1998's best entertainments. Many of you took our critics to task for their choices of the year's best films, books and shows.
And finally, Michelle Goldberg's mixed review of Marilyn Wann's book "Fat!So?" evoked responses (published below) from advocates of fat pride, as well as an opponent, who says obesity is a preventable health risk.

_______________"FAT!SO?" BY MARILYN WANN REVIEWED BY MICHELLE GOLDBERG (01/05/99)

I was thrilled to learn that Marilyn Wann has published a book based on her superb zine, Fat!So? I have long been an admirer of Wann's guts, good humor, compassion and common sense. May every fat person in America run right out and buy her book -- Wann deserves to be rich and famous, and her message is desperately needed in our fat-phobic society.
Despite the reviewer's ginger disbelief, some of us fat folks truly do love our big bodies and the bodies of those around us, fat or no. It occurs to me that perhaps the reviewer doesn't realize that lean peoples' bodies display as much variety as do the pictures in Fat!So?'s Anatomy Lessons (and believe me, "skinny" does not translate directly to "attractive"). Further, she's sorely mistaken that we don't have our own subculture. Seattle's 201 Club (a social group for women who weigh more than 200 pounds) is hugely popular (pun intended), and is about to invite our local Sisters of Size (a group of fat dykes) for a girls' night out.
Get over it, folks! Love your body, however it looks -- it's the only one you've got.
-- Angie Kantola
I read Michelle Goldberg's review of the book "FAT? SO?" and to put it bluntly, I disagree. I can only speak from my own experience, but all the overweight people I know have only themselves to blame. My best friend is a good 150 pounds overweight. While I am eating a grapefruit and toast for breakfast, he is eating a bag of Fritos and a two liter of Coke. He will not walk around the block, and refuses to exercise. Being fat should be a taboo. If a person doesn't care enough about himself to exercise and eat right, why should I care about him? Beyond that, there is a litany of health problems associated with being fat. I'll agree to this: I will accept fat people being fat, if they can accept the fact that they will get diabetes, heart disease and clogged arteries.
-- Chip Chism
Fat guys and gals are at the bottom of the totem pole, and have been for years. Ask any fat guy or gal how many times he (or she) has heard those words, "I just want us to be friends." The response I have used since high school has been: "I may be fat, ugly and brilliant -- so you asked me to help you with your homework, but wouldn't dare date me. Well, my revenge is to someday be fat, ugly, brilliant and rich. Then I'll date your daughter." Thank heavens for money, because without it do you think the average fat person would ever get much of a life?
I like my physically fit self: I hike up Squaw Peak here in Phoenix regularly, and I carry my 40 extra pounds easily. I have found a few women who like me the way I am, but our "thin at any cost" society sure doesn't have much in the way of tolerance or support. Put Drew Carey and Rosie O'Donnell in a romantic comedy like "You've Got Mail" and have it be a smashing success, then I'll say we've had a good start on a long road toward fat acceptance in this oppressive country. Till then I am going to work on getting more money, and resist my inclination to tell the next person who suggests a diet to go fuck themselves.
-- Allen Malanowski

_______________MACHINE DREAMS BY SCOTT ROSENBERG (01/05/99)

Scott Rosenberg's piece on Steve Jobs got it almost right. The engineers in Dilbert would recognize him as a "marketing guy" through and through; so do those of us who've had to compete against him. The original Macintosh was a triumph of "marketing" over the premature introduction of a product with an underpowered processor, a pokey disk drive, a monochrome display and no useful application software -- in addition to other liabilities cited in your article. But Jobs pulled it off by diverting attention to what he did have: a graphical interface, a mouse, bold industrial design and extensive pre-introduction hype, including a much-buzzed (and very expensive) commercial.
While positioning the Mac as "the computer for the rest of us," the commercial's portrayal of IBM (read "business") buyers as mindless drones managed to alienate the largest PC buying segment and to accelerate the process of Apple's marginalization, something compounded, a year later, with the even more offensive and equally short-lived "Lemmings" commercial. Whatever emotional satisfaction Jobs gained from sticking his thumb in the eye of the growing numbers who failed to recognize that the Mac was "insanely great," it cost Apple dearly. With the early success of the iMac, it will be interesting to see whether Jobs' insistence on being "different" matures into Apple's salvation, or degenerates once again into self-indulgence.
-- Charles E. Pankenier
Ridgefield, Conn.
N E X T+P A G E+| High hopes for Jerry Brown's Oakland; the myth of Cuba's "education and literacy"

_______________MAIL ROOM DISPATCH ...
	The new year began slowly for Salon's letters department. It seems most of our readers were too busy enjoying holiday cheer to direct many missives our way. No holiday, however, could squelch the wrath of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, who contested Salon columnist Joe Conason's claims that the SCV is a "white supremacist and neo-Confederate" organization. Laura Tyson, former chairwoman of President Clinton's Council of Economic Advisors and wife of novelist Erik Tarloff, set straight the record on her husband's new novel, "Face-Time," about a fellow whose girlfriend is sleeping with the president. Tyson says the book is in no way based on any real-life experiences, as Salon's review of the book implied. Opinions varied over what constituted 1998's best entertainments. Many of you took our critics to task for their choices of the year's best films, books and shows. And finally, Michelle Goldberg's mixed review of Marilyn Wann's book "Fat!So?" evoked responses (published below) from advocates of fat pride, as well as an opponent, who says obesity is a preventable health risk.
_______________"FAT!SO?" BY MARILYN WANN REVIEWED BY MICHELLE GOLDBERG (01/05/99)
	I was thrilled to learn that Marilyn Wann has published a book based on her superb zine, Fat!So? I have long been an admirer of Wann's guts, good humor, compassion and common sense. May every fat person in America run right out and buy her book -- Wann deserves to be rich and famous, and her message is desperately needed in our fat-phobic society. Despite the reviewer's ginger disbelief, some of us fat folks truly do love our big bodies and the bodies of those around us, fat or no. It occurs to me that perhaps the reviewer doesn't realize that lean peoples' bodies display as much variety as do the pictures in Fat!So?'s Anatomy Lessons (and believe me, "skinny" does not translate directly to "attractive"). Further, she's sorely mistaken that we don't have our own subculture. Seattle's 201 Club (a social group for women who weigh more than 200 pounds) is hugely popular (pun intended), and is about to invite our local Sisters of Size (a group of fat dykes) for a girls' night out. Get over it, folks! Love your body, however it looks -- it's the only one you've got. -- Angie Kantola I read Michelle Goldberg's review of the book "FAT? SO?" and to put it bluntly, I disagree. I can only speak from my own experience, but all the overweight people I know have only themselves to blame. My best friend is a good 150 pounds overweight. While I am eating a grapefruit and toast for breakfast, he is eating a bag of Fritos and a two liter of Coke. He will not walk around the block, and refuses to exercise. Being fat should be a taboo. If a person doesn't care enough about himself to exercise and eat right, why should I care about him? Beyond that, there is a litany of health problems associated with being fat. I'll agree to this: I will accept fat people being fat, if they can accept the fact that they will get diabetes, heart disease and clogged arteries. -- Chip Chism Fat guys and gals are at the bottom of the totem pole, and have been for years. Ask any fat guy or gal how many times he (or she) has heard those words, "I just want us to be friends." The response I have used since high school has been: "I may be fat, ugly and brilliant -- so you asked me to help you with your homework, but wouldn't dare date me. Well, my revenge is to someday be fat, ugly, brilliant and rich. Then I'll date your daughter." Thank heavens for money, because without it do you think the average fat person would ever get much of a life? I like my physically fit self: I hike up Squaw Peak here in Phoenix regularly, and I carry my 40 extra pounds easily. I have found a few women who like me the way I am, but our "thin at any cost" society sure doesn't have much in the way of tolerance or support. Put Drew Carey and Rosie O'Donnell in a romantic comedy like "You've Got Mail" and have it be a smashing success, then I'll say we've had a good start on a long road toward fat acceptance in this oppressive country. Till then I am going to work on getting more money, and resist my inclination to tell the next person who suggests a diet to go fuck themselves. -- Allen Malanowski
_______________MACHINE DREAMS BY SCOTT ROSENBERG (01/05/99)
	Scott Rosenberg's piece on Steve Jobs got it almost right. The engineers in Dilbert would recognize him as a "marketing guy" through and through; so do those of us who've had to compete against him. The original Macintosh was a triumph of "marketing" over the premature introduction of a product with an underpowered processor, a pokey disk drive, a monochrome display and no useful application software -- in addition to other liabilities cited in your article. But Jobs pulled it off by diverting attention to what he did have: a graphical interface, a mouse, bold industrial design and extensive pre-introduction hype, including a much-buzzed (and very expensive) commercial. While positioning the Mac as "the computer for the rest of us," the commercial's portrayal of IBM (read "business") buyers as mindless drones managed to alienate the largest PC buying segment and to accelerate the process of Apple's marginalization, something compounded, a year later, with the even more offensive and equally short-lived "Lemmings" commercial. Whatever emotional satisfaction Jobs gained from sticking his thumb in the eye of the growing numbers who failed to recognize that the Mac was "insanely great," it cost Apple dearly. With the early success of the iMac, it will be interesting to see whether Jobs' insistence on being "different" matures into Apple's salvation, or degenerates once again into self-indulgence. -- Charles E. Pankenier Ridgefield, Conn. N E X T+P A G E+\| High hopes for Jerry Brown's Oakland; the myth of Cuba's "education and literacy"