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_______________AMERICAN SQUIRM: THE GREATEST DEGENERATION BY SARAH VOWELL (01/13/99)
	Sarah Vowell's column highlighted the thin red line that we all have to walk when dealing with history. To forget or ignore the sacrifice and hardship the WWII generation went through would be a travesty of the highest order. But I also know my grandfather didn't spend three years in the South Pacific for his children and grandchildren to feel ashamed that we were born too late. To do so would be the worst form of self-flagellation and a backhand slap at the gift of freedom that he and others fought so hard to give to us. -- Michael R. Kraft I must applaud Sarah Vowell's strong critique of Tom Brokaw's ludicrous "opinions" regarding our generation. My maternal grandfather and granduncle both fought in World War II, and I know from conversations we've had in the past that both of them, being the no-nonsense and common sense-oriented men that they are, would find Brokaw's assertions ridiculous in the extreme. Vowell's arch rebuttal encompasses the exact point they would make: "Does Brokaw think that my uncle squeaked through the Depression (and quit school in the third grade to help work the farm) and somehow lived through the war only to come back and make a hard, cruel country?" If so, I can disabuse him of that notion by pointing out that first and foremost on the minds of my grandfather, granduncle and their contemporaries was the idea of working for a better life. This did not make them blazing leftists looking for a handout, and the fact that their grandchildren accept the world they made as a given does not make us lazy or unappreciative. Quite the contrary; I too have great admiration for what my grandparents' generation did but, unlike Brokaw, I have felt no need to fetishize it either. -- Robert Anderson
_______________MICHAEL JORDAN'S FINAL ACT BY DAN BREKKE (01/14/99)
	In response to Dan Brekke's closing paragraph, which asks what could be wrong with a script that ends with Jordan not retiring until losing in the NBA Finals: absolutely nothing, especially in the eyes of David Stern, Dick Ebersol and every basketball fan in the world who would love the opportunity to see the greatest ply his trade just once more. However, the man himself would never approve a script that called for him to depart the sport he single-handedly reinvented at anything less than his peak. The actual script could not have been written any more eloquently nor dramatically, and the time is right for Jordan to move on to the next phase of his remarkable life. He will indeed put his shoes back on, but they will not be Air Jordans. -- Greg Lief Salem, Ore.
_______________SECOND THOUGHTS BY SALLIE TISDALE (01/14/99)
	Is Sallie Tisdale serious in saying: "What if we sentenced other nonviolent criminals to do precisely this -- repeat high school? Offer it as an alternative to prison, even to community service"? I don't know what community she lives in, but I think most people would have a major problem with criminals in the local high school. We have spent millions of dollars trying to make our schools safe with metal detectors, picture I.D.s and other security measures, and now Sallie wants to bring convicted criminals in through the front door? I consider myself pretty liberal, but I have a major problem with this kooky idea. -- Chris Meehan SALON | Jan. 19, 1999

R E C E N T L Y+| EBONICS II BY LEE HUBBARD

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