EDITOR’S NOTE
LETTERS
New age, old age Welcome to this week’s Reno News & Review. I guess it’s appropriate that we’re running an “aging sex” story on the cover because my little column this week is somewhat age related. It’s like this: For going on 10 years I battled with my weight and blood sugar— borderline diabetes, insulin resistance, whatever you want to call it. Finally, I overcame the problem— for the moment— bringing my glucose down to where my A1c is probably lower than yours. Great, congratulations to me. Because the moment I solved my blood glucose problems, my blood fats— triglycerides, cholesterols, what have you— freaked out. The HDLs are low, the LDLs are high, blah, blah. You know the drill. My doctor, bless his heart, says, “You have to go on a statin. People who are on statins live longer.” It’s not like he was pussyfooting around. If I don’t go on this drug, I will die sooner. Well, my dad starting having heart attacks when he was younger than me. I remember a triglycerides result I got back in the ’80s that was over 400. I always figured it was an anomaly. But there we were, two months away from my 50th birthday, and another screwed result from the genetic crap shoot. I should also mention this conversation was woven into a discussion of my first colonoscopy. Well, I agreed to take the statin. He prescribed 20 mgs of Zocor (Simvastatin) a day, and it drove me crazy. It took a few weeks of gradual decline, but man, decline I did. I became prone to anxiety and muscle cramps, bloated with gas, and moody, forgetful, and irritable bordering on angry.It even caused me to have a temporary weight gain. I’m in no way trying to be disrespectful when I say that I can’t believe I waited 50 years to have my first period. The doc took me off the drug for two weeks. I guess my metabolism is supposed to reboot. But once I start again, I’m stopping if I feel a twinge of side effect. Spending the next 30 years feeling like I’m on the wrong side of the looking glass doesn’t feel sexy to me at all.
Send letters to renoletters@newsreview.com consider the value we are receiving for our tax dollars. Some things, like the safety of the family who lives in that house, are worth far more than a dollar amount will ever represent. Thank you, Reno Fire Department. You are our heroes.
Bob the Potato
Shel Davis Reno
Free country
Audrey Brust, 7 Reno
The sexual counter-revolution I believe many of our societal issues are directly related to the use of contraceptives because they allow the sexual act to be performed without accountability. It reinforces personal gratification detached from natural law, which states that sex between a man and a woman can produce a child during fertile days if all is well physiologically. By circumventing this law, people are objectified because it takes the person out of the equation; it becomes solely an act of gratification. If a particular act produces something as significant as creating another human being, doesn’t it seem logical that there would be responsibility attached to that act? Married couples often have the most issues surrounding sex. Women often feel unappreciated and men often struggle with pornography. Could there be a direct correlation between this and sex without responsibility? I think so due to this objectification. Single people struggle with sexual issues as well. Women will involve themselves in sexual encounters/relationships often in an effort to feel loved and valued. Men will participate in the same type of relationship mostly for physical gratification. This
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may not always be true, but most will agree they do not feel a sense of responsibility when it comes to sex. Why should they? Contraceptives take accountability out of the situation. Women are fertile a few days out of each month. If instead of using contraceptives, people did not have sex for those few days, value would be restored to the people rather than the sexual act. I believe there would be a reduction in sexual perversions that eventually lead to reduced rape, human trafficking, child pornography, abortion and single parent households. And women would develop other ways of finding value rather than through their physical beauty and sexuality. If you do not agree with me, try it. Dawn Harris Reno
Racist slur Re “Sheila Leslie: carpetbagger” (Right to Your Head, Feb. 23): Sean Cary knows neither the English language nor American history. “Carpetbaggers” were Northern teachers, doctors, missionaries, and railroad engineers, who came South after the Civil War to help rebuild the Southern states, and to bring education and other life-sustaining benefits to former
Editor/Publisher D. Brian Burghart News Editor Dennis Myers Arts Editor Brad Bynum Special Projects Editor Ashley Hennefer Calendar Editor Kelley Lang Photographer Amy Beck Contributors Amy Alkon, Megan Berner, Sharon Black, Sean Cary, Carol Cizauskas, Matthew Craggs, Mark Dunagan, Bob Grimm, Michael Grimm, Audrey Love, Casey O’Lear, Jessica Santina, K.J. Sullivan, Bruce Van Dyke
— D. Brian Burghart brianb@newsreview.com OPINION
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FEATURE STORY
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ARTS&CULTURE
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IN ROTATION
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ART OF THE STATE
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Design Manager Kate Murphy Art Director Priscilla Garcia Associate Art Director Hayley Doshay Editorial Designer India Curry Design Brennan Collins, Marianne Mancina, Mary Key, Skyler Smith, Melissa Arendt Art Director at Large Don Button, Andrea Diaz-Vaughn Advertising Consultants Gina Odegard, Kelly Funderburk, Matt Odegard, Bev Savage Classified Advertising Consultant Olla Ubay Office/Distribution Manager/ Ad Coordinator Karen Brooke
FOODFINDS
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slaves. Southerners invented the pejorative word. Cary’s ugly rant is pure hate-mongering. He crosses the line of decency and of journalistic ethics. “Carpetbagger” is a racist term designed to perpetuate racism. Valerie P. Cohen Reno
Thanks again, firefighters
Vicki LoSasso Reno
Last night the unimaginable happened and in the middle of the night, the house across the street from us was on fire. Doubly unimaginable because the house two houses down from us burned nearly to the ground a year and a half ago. I saw the same response as before: Reno’s finest, and they were once again professional to the hilt. There were four engines, including a ladder truck from Station No. 1 downtown and a truck from Station No. 8 on McCarran Boulevard. I didn’t see the numbers on the others. They had the fire out within an hour. In the time I have lived here I have been continually and profoundly amazed at how good our police and fire departments are. It is one of the reasons why Reno is a very good place to live. Before we cut taxes and services in these desperate times, we should Executive Assistant/Operations Coordinator Nanette Harker Assistant Distribution Manager Ron Neill Distribution Drivers Sandra Chhina, Jesse Pike, John Miller, Martin Troye, David Richards, Warren Tucker, Matthew Veach, Neil Lemerise, Daniel Golightly General Manager/Publisher John D. Murphy President/CEO Jeff vonKaenel Chief Operations Officer Deborah Redmond Human Resource Manager Tanja Poley Senior Accountant Kevin Driskill
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Re “Sheila Leslie: carpetbagger” (Right to Your Head, Feb. 23): Newsflash: If you run for political office, you can never again do anything for any reason that isn’t political. What a jaded point of view! In Nevada, where we have citizen legislators with real lives and day jobs, I find it extremely cynical to suggest that all major life decisions are based on political motives. State Sen. Sheila Leslie, like all of us, has the right to live and move where she chooses. Unless she stated she was moving for political reasons, it is you who are indulging in bold classless moves by making that assumption as a public accusation. The condescension with which you end your article speaks volumes about you, but little about Sen. Leslie. In my experience, she has always been more respectful than that, even to her opponents.
The little co-op Re “Organically grown” (Feature story, Feb. 9): Regarding the question of the Washoe Zephyr Co-op of years past, they are two completely different business entities. Other than the fact that they are food cooperatives there is no connection, one to the other. Much effort was made to keep the Zephyr open, but in the end, the options weren’t there. The current co-op, the Great Basin Community Food Cooperative is open to the public. Shop local, support our local farmers, put money back into our community, Reno! Marigael Morris Reno
Credit and Collections Manager Renee Briscoe Business Zahida Mehirdel, Shannon McKenna Systems Manager Jonathan Schultz Systems Support Specialist Joe Kakacek Web Developer/Support Specialist John Bisignano 708 North Center Street Reno, NV 89501 Phone (775) 324-4440 Fax (775) 324-4572 Classified Fax (916) 498-7940 Mail Classifieds & Talking Personals to N&R Classifieds, Reno Edition, 1015 20th Street, Sacramento, CA 95814 or e-mail classifieds@newsreview.com
THIS WEEK
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Web site www.newsreview.com Printed by Paradise Post The RN&R is printed using recycled newsprint whenever available. Editorial Policies Opinions expressed in the RN&R are those of the authors and not of Chico Community Publishing, Inc. Contact the editor for permission to reprint articles, cartoons or other portions of the paper. The RN&R is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts. All letters received become the property of the publisher. We reserve the right to print letters in condensed form. Cover design: Hayley Doshay Feature story design: India Curry
MARCH 1, 2012
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