I love the fact that Detroit's culture engine is alive whether the natives know it or not. ("Motown on our minds," Metro Times, July 18-26) Why? Because a week ago I was at Area One, Jones Beach, N.Y. In the Ford Focus tent (which might have drawn its influence from the first DEMF festival), backstage watching Carl Cox spin, chatting with Amir and his posse and watching a bunch of jaded New Yorkers move to a Motor City vibe. —Geoffrey Hayes, New York, N.Y.
Problem solved
Thank you for this article ("What’s your problem?," Metro Times, July 25-31). Thank you for putting into words and supporting with statistics the argument I have been feeling boiling inside for so long. The comparison to Elvis made a particularly fitting point to one friend of mine I e-mailed your article to. Thanks again. —Rebecca Dorn, Wayne State University Family Medicine, Detroit
Animal acts
Gary Yourofsky is a friend of mine, but like others, I disagree with some tactics he advocates to advance animal rights ("Activist for the animals," Metro Times, July 11-17). That being said, I totally agree with his goals, as do most people who take the time to look beyond corporate and governmental facades.
For instance, a normal person justifiably reacts with horror and anger in cases of reported animal abuse. However, 97 percent of all animal abuse goes unreported. Factory farms routinely use long-term intensive confinement in repugnant facilities. Billions of sentient animals are forced into small cages and stacked in warehouses so that feces and urine soil the animals below. The air soon becomes so acrid and intolerable that workers can stay for only short periods.
Animals raised for food or fiber are left unprotected by the U.S. Animal Welfare Act. I have seen hours of undercover videos on so called farms and in slaughterhouses that would disgust and anger even the most callous observer.
Sadly, in all of these cases of animal abuse, our government condones and even encourages it through protective laws, price supports and subsidies.
As the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) has written many times, humans have no nutritional need for animal products. Our bodies thrive, even excel, without them. For your health-minded and compassionate readers they can call PCRM at 1-888-260-8458 for a free vegetarian starter kit. It’s time we all learned to live a better way. —James Corcoran, Madison Heights
Compassion and change
Thanks to Jack Lessenberry for his article on animal activist Gary Yourofsky. Lessenberry adds support to the efforts of Yourofsky and other animal activists by telling the truth about the current plight of animals in our culture. The mass denial engaged in by the general public is fueled by the corporate mentality promoting lies such as the necessity of meat eating in order to get enough protein in one's diet, the constant posing of the question "Got milk?" from billboards and magazines, newspapers making profits from the advertising of fur coats and television programs which gain viewers by asking contestants to butcher live animals for purposes of a staged "survival." Gary Yourofsky is working to bring compassionate change to the lives of our fellow creatures on this planet. Jack Lessenberry has furthered that possibility via compassionate journalism. —Kim E. Johnson, Livonia
Errata
Last week’s introduction to the Metro Times 2001 Summer Fiction Contest should have said that poems by David Welper, Steven Rydman and Catherine Minolli-Oudin and prose by Vince Cousino Anila were available at metrotimes.com. Also, the name of the winner of the guest enrollment at Walloon Lake is correctly spelled Shelley Keller.
Additionally, the caption for the photo accompanying the review of the South Shore Grille should have mentioned mesclun lettuce.
