I don't believe that garishly girly toys and "pink software" are what young girls clamor to play with, despite Margot Mifflin's assertion that "numbers confirm that pink software satisfies an enormous need; according to PC Data, girl games' sales increased by 250 percent from 1996 to 1997, while overall software game sales went up only 22 percent."

In this case, the need satisfied is that of the purchaser: usually a deep-pocketed parent, doting relative or friend. Rarely is the young girl in question shelling out the $20 to $40 the program costs. A similar argument can be made for many of the regular toys bought by the hundreds of millions for little girls and little boys.

My 4-year-old gasps with excitement over seeing "Barbie" software in the store, but the programs that keep bringing her back are unisex software giving her creative outlets. Her Barbie dolls sits idle while we indulge in artwork or concoct elaborate action-adventures with a host of animal friends.

In my daughter's stories, she is an explorer, healer and scientist who performs deeds of derring-do and rescues the world. Now that's the spirit of young womanhood we need for 21st century!

-- Janice Liedl-Myatt

I grew up in the '70s and early '80s and never once owned a doll or a fighting action figure. We played with blocks, Lego, stuffed animals, a few Fisher-Price sets and, most important, our imaginations. A cardboard box can be enough to keep a kid occupied for hours. My sister and I, and our (male and female) friends, would commonly spend afternoons making papier-mâché or popsicle-stick people, making up skits or otherwise engaging our creativity. My advice to mothers concerned with gender gaps in toys is not to buy gender-specific toys. I never missed them.

-- Miranda Nell

Give your children the respect that you wish for yourself, instead of trying to change them. Politically correct toys are like having an evangelist at your breakfast table.

-- Andrea Sparling

TV 1999
BY JOYCE MILLMAN
(12/13/99)

When did Joyce Millman begin monitoring my VCR recording habits? I was amazed and thrilled to find that I watched, and agreed with, every one of her choices for 10 best TV shows of 1999. Any television critic (and, actually, most of them) can stand up for "The Sopranos" or "The West Wing" (my favorite show of the year) or even "Everybody Loves Raymond," but how many of them can see past the WB's demographics and appreciate "Buffy," "Roswell" and "Angel"? Or the frequently trashed "Sex and the City"? Or the sheer bravado and joyful "what's next?" style of "Now and Again"? (Dennis Haysbert deserves an Emmy for bringing to life the most intriguing character on TV.)

My only disagreement with her worst show choices would be "Family Guy" -- which is genuinely awful less than half the time and truly creative and funny the other half. I also must honor her R.I.P list, which was amazingly up-to-date, and went beyond the actors and actresses we've lost to include producers, directors, voice artists and journalists. It made me think about the various ways individuals contribute to the television medium. Bravo.

-- Scott Hoenig
Washington

Y2K: The Vatican fix
BY EUGENE FINERMAN
(12/13/99)

Don't blame the Vatican for the fact that you adopted the infidel (Arabic) number system. The computers of the faithful will have no problem turning from MIM to MM.

-- Todd Hanneken

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