A little essay in our April 27 issue brought a big response from folks who love talk-radio station WTKK and those who love to hate it. We also heard about premature babies, Mars, and history lessons.
Arriving Too Early
Dr. Adam Wolfberg’s article (“Extreme Preemies,” April 27) was balanced, fair, and truthful without being too scary or gruesome. Fifteen years ago, my preemie twins were considered “extreme” at 25 weeks gestation. Today one has severe autism, and one is a pretty typical kid. I know how tough making that resuscitation call can be, and I also know how hard life is with a major disability that affects the entire family. I think about the what-ifs a lot, but I still don’t know what, if anything, I would have done differently. I think maybe I’d be a little more prepared.
Joyce Worsley
Baltimore
My husband and I recently lost our baby girl at 22 weeks. Wolfberg’s article brought back the painful reality of premature delivery. It is difficult to comprehend that two weeks could have been the difference between a full life and death for her, and I so badly wish my body could have held out for her. I find that way too many people do not understand the magnitude of a late-term loss or the complexity and stress of the decision you are faced with and are quick to term it a miscarriage.
Nancy Hill
Marblehead
My wife is an OB/GYN resident at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and I often hear about the struggles that doctors and parents alike face with preterm pregnancies. Wolfberg presented the concerns that both share and the points at which they diverge with empathy and clarity. One criticism, though: Why no discussion of the impact that an earlier gestational age for viability would have on malpractice insurance? With due respect to the physicians who worry about the effects that (spurious) evidence of earlier viability would have on the abortion debate, I think most obstetricians are more concerned that changing expectations for early fetal survival will influence how both patients and juries assess adequacy of care.
Ray Ward
Brookline
Tuning In, And Out
Thank you, Charles P. Pierce, for a clear and accurate description of WTKK (“Pierced,” April 27), especially Michael Graham and Jay Severin. They appeal to the lowest common denominator.
Ted Rabidoux
Dedham
The beauty of the radio, like the newspaper, is if you don’t like what you hear or read, change the station or turn the page. I turn past Pierce’s page many Sundays.
Tom Amaral
Hanson
I listen to several talk stations, including NPR and TKK. Thank God there is an option other than the dronings of NPR. Even if you don’t agree with the views or enjoy the programs, it is indeed an “evolution” - one away from the omnipotent Boston liberal media.
Michelle Reid
Wakefield
That was a nice hatchet job on WTKK. Pierce must have slaved over that paragraph all week while his masters stood behind him screaming, “Not sarcastic enough! More cowbell!” and lashing his naked, bleeding back with a soggy copy of a Noam Chomsky screed.
Les Arbuckle
Dedham
Pretty funny. But the idea that talk radio is “cheaply produced cheese” is completely off the mark. Talk shows cost far more than commercial music radio. Why do you think so much of it is syndicated? Also, whatever solution Pierce may hold for WTKK was unstated. What would he prefer from a talk station?
Johnny Angel
Los Angeles
Mission: Mars
Nancy Zaroulis’s story of Percival Lowell (“The Man Who Invented Mars,” April 27) was enjoyable reading, and Zaroulis is right that he was a prime mover behind the public fascination with Mars that persists to this day. But I searched the story in vain for a straightforward acknowledgment of the single most salient fact about Lowell: The visual observations upon which he built his magnificent structure of Martian engineers and Martian civilization were wholly illusory. Subsequent observations have proven him wrong in almost every detail. As a scientist, he was a complete bust.
Andy BairdLivingston, Texas
Zaroulis wrote, “[The Phoenix] will begin the task for which it was designed - a task that has never been performed before. It will extend its robotic arm and scoop up dirt and ice from beneath the Martian surface for analysis.” You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that in 1976 two Viking spacecraft landed on the surface of Mars. A robotic arm scraped the Martian soil and placed samples into sealed containers for chemical and biological analysis. Although some of the tests were positive for signs of life, they were inconclusive. That is why we’re going back again!
Harris Miller
Sharon
Updating History
I enjoyed Tom Keane’s “Perspective” (April 27). I am a nine-year veteran of the Boston Public Schools. Grade 5 is the big year for the Revolutionary War, yet there are no textbooks offered to teachers, and almost no teacher has time to teach history, or so they say. I thought this was a shame and so I signed up for an optional professional development course called History Alive! What a breath of fresh air! The lessons are interactive, and each day history was welcomed by all my students. Some of the great activities were to build a slave ship, write a campaign convincing people to move to your colony, and participate in the Continental Congress. I wish this was required curriculum for elementary schools.
Bridget Galvin
Hingham
Trying to cram a vast amount of information into a short amount of time can be the best way to bore students. As a professor of history at Fitchburg State College, my favorite classes to teach are more focused courses on topics such as the Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide. On the other hand, history teachers face other pressures: Fitchburg State College students who are training to become teachers need to prepare for the Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure. Also, if we know that a given student may never again take another history class, to what extent do we focus on topics and questions that will spark that person’s interest in history, and to what extent do we try to make certain this person will go out into the world with a good working knowledge of the most important historical events, figures, and trends?
Ben Lieberman
Maynard
Dining With Purpose
Scott Haas’s essay about politics not belonging in the restaurant business (“Perspective,” April 20) is a slapdash piece of work, the equivalent of fast food that provides no real nutrition. Most egregious is his notion that the use of politics to market a restaurant is a cynical profit-driven tool. Since when is a missionbased business - one that invested heavily in sustainable materials and energy-efficient lighting and appliances, sacrifices margins to source organic ingredients for its menu while trying to maintain competitive prices, pays more than its competition, and provides healthcare to its employees - cynical?
Daniel Goldstein
Jack Kutner
Co-owners, Clear Conscience Cafe Cambridge,
