Letters for January 9, 2003

Weave this into your story

Re “When Women Attack” by Deidre Pike (SN&R Cover, December 26):

WEAVE has services for men—what a joke! I had occasion to contact WEAVE for help with an abusive ex-wife. I left several messages for people in charge. None were returned. Finally, when I spoke with a crisis counselor, I was told that WEAVE had no services for men. The referrals WEAVE offered were equally ineffective. Let’s face it: WEAVE is exclusively for women.

Based on my experience with the Sacramento County district attorney, WEAVE and the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department, women have carte blanche to use physical violence without fear of reprisal. I have taken to heart the sage advice of a female deputy sheriff: “Don’t put yourself in a situation where she can say you did something to her because you will be taken to jail, no questions asked.”

Still, thanks for an enlightening article.

Ken Erestu
via e-mail

Pained Down Under

Re “When Women Attack” by Deidre Pike (SN&R Cover, December 26):

I am writing to thank Deidre Pike for having the courage to highlight some of the truths about domestic violence.

I was never physically assaulted by my wife but endured four years of a different kind of hell. The reason I was subjected to this abuse was because I was a faithful husband who was serious about the vows made in church at our wedding. I was going to stick by my wife through any hard times because I thought this was the right thing to do. Long story, but the bottom line is now I am being rewarded for my honesty and integrity by having all of my assets, home, car, furniture and every other material possession I had and my children be taken away from me piece by piece.

The Family Court of Australia is guilty of the most horrific crimes against humanity that are seen in a civilized society. Their crimes will not be tolerated any longer, and there are many strong forces arising to ensure they change their ways. We believe that the judges must be accountable for their decisions, and we are going to fight until the day we die to achieve justice. So thank you, Deidre, for choosing truth over fashion, and helping our cause. We are eternally grateful on behalf of our children and ourselves for the assistance we get from enlightened people like you.

Craig Grant
Shared Parenting Council Of Australia

Down Under part two

Re “When Women Attack” by Deidre Pike (SN&R Cover, December 26):

I want to congratulate Deidre Pike and SN&R on the recent article concerning violence toward men by their intimate partners.

Despite an almost wholesale censorship by mainstream media and by all pervasively influential radical feminists (who absolutely do not want this story told), the reality of domestic violence is beginning to seep out into the wider world. Domestic violence, whether physical or emotional and psychological, is a widespread phenomenon that has almost equal victims and perpetrators in both genders. Until we move beyond the social myth that only women can be victims and only men perpetrators, then we have little hope of really confronting and eliminating this social scourge.

Michael Gray
Australia

Missing math

Re “Grinch steals 2003” (SN&R Editorial, December 18):

The sharp drop in capital-gains-tax revenue when the stock market slid partly led to the state budget deficit. This predictable outcome was a matter of math.

The stock-price-to-corporate-earnings ratios reached historical highs during the late 1990s. Stock prices could not continue to defy history. Governor Gray Davis’ budget director chose to ignore the math of the stock-market bubble. For more details on how such experts dropped the ball, see “Dangerous Minds: The Track Record of Economic and Financial Analysts,” www.cepr.net/dangerous_minds.htm.

Seth Sandronsky
Sacramento

Oak Park nostalgic

Re “A Down Market” by Chrisanne Beckner, (SN&R Cover, December 5):

It saddened me to read this story because the corner of 37th Street and 2nd Avenue hasn’t always been this way.

I spent nearly half my life growing up on that corner. I played in that store, then known as Early Bird Market. It was built and opened in 1925 by my grandparents Biagio and Barbara Mannina and enjoyed an excellent reputation in the neighborhood. Fresh grocery, produce, meat and deli items rivaled anything sold in the city at the time. Though not as large as Charlie and David Arata Brothers Market on 34th Street (the first “supermarket” to open in Sacramento), a few blocks away in Oak Park, its reputation was the equal.

My grandfather prided himself on service, even extending credit to those in need with only a handshake and a promise to pay later with no interest! The store name reflected the long hours and dedication of the early pioneers like my grandparents. My mother grew up in the living quarters in the back of that store and, after marrying, lived in the house next door on 2nd Avenue until she moved away. All together, she lived on that corner for 50 years and took great pride in saying she was from Oak Park, as I do today. The area is showing signs of resurgence, with the coming of the Shriner’s Hospital, expansion of the UC Davis Medical Center etc., but it needs assistance from the city to clean up the criminal activity and foster more entrepreneurs like Kevin Johnson to invest in the area. Only then will those good neighbors who still reside there see the Oak Park that I remember once was and that I know can be again!

Tim Taormina
Sacramento

Perversely misled

Re “Sexual Perversity in Chicago” (SN&R Theater Review, November 14):

I don’t know what Patti Roberts was smoking the night she reviewed Sexual Perversity in Chicago at the Geery Theater, but it seriously muddled her judgment. My husband and I bought tickets for Saturday’s show based on her review, and, when we left (in stunned silence), we both damned Ms. Roberts and your paper and wished we’d just had hot pokers put through our eyes rather than have sat through that 85-minute, horrifyingly bad, high-school-quality performance of what could have been a good play.

We thought Ms. Roberts saw the original cast and that we were treated to the F-list cast because it was the weekend after Christmas. Imagine my surprise when I found her original review citing the exact cast we suffered through.

Rachel Evans, who was to have acted as “optimistic Deborah,” laughed and mugged her way through her scenes. She was like a schoolgirl laughing at how naughty she was being, using goofy faces when she missed lines or as filler for the director’s lapses in judgment. Sara Becker, who was to be “burnt and jaded,” was juvenile as well. Her idea of bitterness is to roll her eyes and sit sullenly.

As an ensemble, this cast couldn’t act its way out of a wet paper bag. The directing was equally dreadful. Long silences, dialogue that should have been snappy but was filled with significant pauses, and wooden staging were the best of it.

What was most pathetic was when the audience applauded for an unenthusiastic five seconds, and the cast sheepishly bowed and ran off the stage—but not before the audience had begun to run for the exits.

Sidney Sweeney
Sacramento

Musty garage-band shtick

Re “Ooh La La!” by Ned Hammad (SN&R Music, December 19):

I recently suffered through a Pretty Girls set at the Blue Lamp.

Contrived, obnoxious and boring are a few of the adjectives I used to describe their show. After reading the article, it’s not surprising to note that they have swelled heads, as well. Figures. Perhaps this letter can relate to them that the Small Faces/garage-band shtick was musty in 1996, let alone 2002. Don’t quit your day jobs, boys!

James Garcia
via e-mail