Letters to the Editor

by the Readers

Phil's Fan
Philip Poczik is one of the greatest educators I have ever had the privilege of meeting [News, "Sex, Drugs and Hip-Hop," Dan Keashen, May 26, 2005]. As a student and former employee of Drexel University, I have enjoyed working with him and have benefited tremendously from his diversity workshops. Poczik has an amazing ability to connect with, and build unity among, those he teaches. He is an asset to Drexel and I am proud of Dave Ruth and Phil Terranova for backing him. I only wish more people had the concern for other individuals and embraced diversity as much as Poczik. Thank you, Phil, for all that you have taught me.
Kevin Bennert
City Paper intern and Drexel class of 2008

Nancy, oh Nancy
I suppose it was a kind of obstinate refusal to be cowed by negative feedback that led to publishing yet another Nancy French valedictorian address [Slant, "Street Savvy," May 26, 2005]. Or perhaps the steady stream of these simplistic at best, but often gratingly stupid and offensive epistles have convinced every other opinion monger in the Philly area that Slant is for hacks, and so there's no one left but French to turn to. Well, serves you right. I for one will skip right over the Slant page from now on, anticipating that even a mere glance will result in one of Saint Nancy's platitudes leaping off the page and boggling my heathen mind. For instance, in "Street Savvy," Our Lady of Constant Moralistic Logorrhea paints a beatific picture of an urban peaceable kingdom where we all look each other in the eye and so forth, thereby making the bad people put down their guns.

Might we suggest that French could start making it a much more beautiful day in her neighborhood by ceasing and desisting in her mangling of religion into various exclusionary agendas, her passive-aggressive berating of others through advertisements for her irreproachable piety and, you know, just do her best to live a decent, tolerant life without feeling the need to count how times a day she prays?
J.B. Todsttoe
Center City

When did everyone become so intolerant of opinions other than their own? I strongly disagree with Nancy's opinions. Some of them are even a little bit shocking and unsettling to read and digest. Yet, I still find her opinions interesting. I do not believe that her thoughts and those of the Christian movement will shake or change our liberal city. They do not change or threaten my constitution, nor do they make me angry at Nancy or the City Paper.

They are, when all else is stripped away, just opinions. Each of us as individuals stands to become more enlightened when we can hear and tolerate another persons beliefs. To do so without assuming hatred is healthier for all.
Gail Silver
Society Hill

Back At 'Cha
Too bad that Betsy McCall of Kensington can't deal with the deep, dark ugly truth [Mailbag, "Take That, Di Giacomo," May 26, 2005]. Newsflash for Betsy: Hell is better than Kensington. A developer would have to be on crack (like the majority of the vermin on Kensington Avenue) to want to put anything in that neighborhood.
Donna Di Giacomo
Germantown

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