Letters

It’s 95-word fiction time!

Welcome to this week’s Reno News & Review.

Yeah, it’s me again. Returning this week to bring you our regularly scheduled announcement about our 95-word fiction contest. Full court press! It’s that time again! You’ve got two weeks. Sample:

Ronald “Smitty” Wolfe loved love. He loved the kissing. He loved the flowers and the intimacy. He especially loved the uninhibited sex, rolling around on clean sheets. “Maybe I’ll meet someone today,” he thought as he transferred a touch of Old Spice deodorant from his armpit to behind each ear. He combed his hair with a razor part that could have been made with a ruler and adjusted his pressed shirt as he slippered down the tiled hallway. “BURITTO DAY,” proclaimed the reader board at the entrance to the dining hall at the Shady Rest.

There it is: 95 words exactly! It’s 95-word fiction time. We, the editors of the Reno News & Review, ask you, the readers of the Reno News & Review, to send us your short fiction stories— preferably with a beginning, a middle and an end, and exactly 95 words. That’s excluding title, and as counted by LibreOffice, Google Docs or Microsoft Word. Your published story and the envy of all your friends will be your reward. We require you to add your name, email and contact phone number at the top of the stories. (Don’t worry, the names will be removed before judging.) Do not send as attachments.

To get an idea of what we’re looking for, and to size up the competition, last year’s winners can be found at www.newsreview.com/reno/biggest-littlestories/content?oid=15843656.

Send your entries for the 95-word Fiction Contest to renofiction@newsreview.com, with Fiction 2015 in the subject line. All entries must be received by 9 a.m. on Dec. 16. Selected entries will be published on Dec. 24. ***

Man, after having an unusual amount of time to watch the political buffoons doing their danse macabre over the Thanksgiving weekend, I can think of a couple of turkeys who didn’t deserve a pardon. —D. Brian Burghart brianb@newsreview.com

How useful?

Re “The Rusians are coming!” (“Let Freedom Ring,” Nov. 19):

Brendan Trainor recited arguments in support of Vladimir Putin’s actions in Syria and elsewhere. Similar thoughts have been expressed by Ron Paul and his retinue regarding Putin’s actions in Ukraine, and by Donald Trump.

Vlad Putin seems a strange object for libertarian admiration—he has reduced the Russian Parliament to a rubber stamp, Russian press and media to cheerleaders, set up puppet “people’s republics” in bits of three neighboring countries, fomented a war that has killed 9,000 people in Ukraine and counting, and has befriended and encouraged assorted crypto-fascists and neo-Nazis throughout Europe. Overall, Freedom Wrung Out rather than Ringing.

Odd, but there is historical precedent. In decades past, people who preached freedom, equality, brotherhood and peace praised and defended a regime worse than Putin’s Russia, because “the Soviet Union abolished capitalist exploitation” and “The Soviet People want Peace!”

That Left Foot Backward contingent were sometimes called “communist dupes.” That label won’t do today, because Putin is no communist and neither are most of his admirers. Putin’s predecessor Vladimir Ilyich Lenin admired and recognized the value of such people as Vladimir Putin surely does today. Lenin coined a more flattering, less restrictive term that seems equally appropriate today: “Useful idiots.”

Oleh Weres Reno

One side

Re “Leave your echo chamber” (editorial, Nov. 25):

Sadly, asking most anyone on the “right” to start listening to all sides of every issue is wasting your breath—or ink. I’ve tried time and again to reason with some of my GOP friends to just, please fact check something they heard on FOX news which I knew to be complete BS. It was like talking to the proverbial wall. When asked in downtown some local views of Syrian refugees coming to America, one view in particular was telling: “Don’t let them in, because they might be terrorists.” He continued as if reading from a Fox script, “You saw Paris. Those attackers came from Syria.”

True enough, but Faux news conveniently left out the part about the vetting process (at least two years of scrutiny) any refugee must endure before entering our country to begin a new life. Most of these unfortunate people would rather stay in Syria, but they are escaping a war-torn country besieged by a loony dictator and terrorists. It really is a shame so many folks will simply refuse to see another side of an argument just because it’s too easy to believe something your favorite talk show host or TV personality said.

I am not holding myself up as a shining example of a “fact checker” but I seldom agree with anything I’ve heard on air, regardless of the source, until I verify its content. Nothing could be more true—leave your echo chamber.

JR Reynolds Reno

Bipartisan?

When we talk about health care, it’s important to remember that even though more Americans have health insurance coverage these days, millions of people still struggle to find a place to go for regular preventative care. A key part of the solution lies in our nation’s Community Health Centers, which have provided quality, affordable care for 50 years. In 2014, the Silver State’s Community Health Centers saved Nevada’s health care system $98.2 million in reduced overall costs from preventable hospitalizations and avoidable emergency room visits. Sustained federal investment is critical to our success and survival.

Earlier this year, health centers barely averted a massive funding cut. Were it not for the broad bipartisanship support from Congress, 15,000 to 18,000 Nevadans would have lost access to care. This would have affected hundreds of families in our community. All too often we have been cynical about government and our leaders in office. We are grateful because there are working families in our health center waiting rooms getting affordable healthcare thanks to their vote.

Nancy Hook Carson City

Another idea

Re “Editor’s picks” (Best of Northern Nevada, Aug. 5):

I agree that the old Park Lane Mall property is a missed opportunity for developers. Instead of a casino or an amusement park, I would like to see a massive housing and shopping complex built on the site. It would probably have to be rezoned for mixed residential and commercial use.

I envision medium-rise apartment buildings with shops, restaurants, and services such as dry cleaning on the ground floor of each building. Parking would be underground and there would be green spaces with trees, benches, picnic tables, and playgrounds between the buildings.

They could even add a childfriendly fountain, like the one in front of the Sparks 14 Cinema. The rents should be affordable for working families. A shuttle bus that takes residents to their job sites would be a nice touch.

Karen Inda Sparks

Erik Holland

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Cover design: Brian Breneman Cover photo: Eric Marks