I cried my way through [Cover, "The Wrong Place," Brian Hickey, May 4, 2006], and at the end, I felt relief. You gave those of us who grew up in Fairmount a voice. You captured the atmosphere in a neighborhood where families with deep roots watch their children move away when faced with the costs of homes. Yuppies move into these overpriced homes with no parking only mere blocks away from "bad neighborhoods." They don't understand the blue-collar people who grew up here and what they mean to each other. They don't know what it means to feel relieved that your son or daughter is only right down the corner where you can find them. They are friends with kids whose parents grew up together. They are not inside reading a book or eating organic food. They are outside, and no matter what mistakes they may make, they are kids with good hearts.

Melissa Dunn
Fairmount

It's about time someone had the courage to tell the truth, but you know that if a group of white kids were trying to rob a black person, it would be a hate crime.

F. Coyle
Fairmount

I beg to differ. Since I used to reside at 28th and Girard [for 12 years], I know that it is a racist community. The corner of 27th and Poplar is known as the "Mason Dixon" line and African-Americans know what we are in for when we dare to venture across it. You people are always painting Caucasian youth as "angels" and African-American youth as "thugs."

Linda Bryant
Brewerytown

In critiquing the reaction of "new" Fairmounters, you take it for granted that the kids who hang out on Fairmount's corners never cause any trouble other than occasionally scrawling "FMT" on the sides of houses. Those of us who live here know that some of those kids—a small minority, no doubt—cause considerably more trouble than that. They vandalize cars, throw things at passers-by and have on occasion assaulted people who passed them at the wrong time. So how about a nod of recognition that gangs of teenagers standing at a corner isn't an unmitigated good just because they happen to live a block away?

Niel McDowell
Fairmount

Rob is gone and nothing can change that, but we need to get these damn guns off the streets!

Tara Buck
Fairmount

Thank you so much for clearing up the true reason why this happened. My mother still lives at 27th and Parrish; Rob was my cousin's son. I have never seen so many people come together to show their respect to the family. The new people in the area need to realize the reason for Rob's death was an illegal gun. We need to get all of the guns off the streets. Let's work on that, and not worry what a tragedy like this is going to do your property value.

Peggy McGinn
Morgantown

It is about time the story was told from both sides, revealing the truth. I was a close friend of Rob's. You really captured how great of a person Rob was.

Heather Pownall
Manayunk

It was nice to have someone write an unbiased, compassionate article concerning this. Robert was my nephew and loved dearly by all. He didn't deserve the paper-selling journalism in previous articles written by our so-called popular newspapers.

Mary Gladden
Lindenwold, NJ

The only way a child has time to get their hands on a gun, and most of all has the time to take someone's life, is if their parents are not involved enough. If everyone takes the time out to make this a public issue, maybe someone else's life can be saved.

Nikki (Pierson's cousin-in-law)
Via e-mail

People should learn to respect one another, no matter of race or creed. There are bad people in every race, so don't forget that whereever you may live. If parents were to teach their children when to walk away from a confrontation instead of running toward them, that would save some of our children. We can't always be there to protect them, but we must remind them before they go out the door more than often. If one of the kids went home to get an adult, maybe this could have been prevented. I hope you give the "new Fairmount folks" a chance instead of shutting them out. That's why the kids are so quick to judge: The parents don't set a better example.

Ursula Joseph
Darby

I just want to say that the article about Robert Pierson was absolutely beautiful. Rob was my best friend while I attended Franklin Learning Center. He was the first person that befriended me when I was a new student here. The poster that his friends from school signed was made by me. The pictures that go along with this story are beautiful. My classmates and I are reading the article in class right now, and we all agree it is indeed better than any article [previously] written. Rob is sadly missed every day in the FLC community. He was popular among all races at our school and our star baseball player. The senior class is stressing right now knowing that Rob will not attend our senior prom on May 25 or our graduation on June 16. Rob will however get his diploma, which will be given to his family. We just wanted to tell you that your article was beautiful, and that Robert Pierson will be greatly missed by everyone.

Lauren McCabe
Fishtown

I have long been reading your liberally viewed online paper for interesting, open-minded, and rational news articles and was perturbed to see [Food, "Whole Hog," Trey Popp, April 27, 2006]. It was disturbing that the author acknowledged that these are slaughtered babies, yet quickly threw this compassion aside to discuss why eating babies is far superior to eating an adult. I don't care where this tradition came from: Sacrificing baby animals for the mere tenderness of their meat is no reason to support this.

Nicole Heleny
Rittenhouse Square

You sick, no-good louse. I hope you get food poisoning from eating pigs. Only cannibals eat animals. Stick that in your butt and BBQ it!

Olympia St-Auguste
Manayunk

Is Popp a hard-boiled, unfeeling carnivore or a courageous writer subverting everything that lifestyle represents? No matter. As difficult as the images in his article are, they may do more good than harm. We hope many people will read the review carefully and draw their own (now better-informed) conclusions about the little tykes who never make it beyond 6 weeks of age, then talk with their friends and loved ones about how they celebrate eating and friendships, and express their thankfulness for being alive.

David Odell
Center City

Only humans feel pain. And we are soooo much more important than animals that their suffering is just a hoot! I think it says that somewhere in the Bible.

Beverly Rolfsmeyer
Roxborough

I will make sure not to recommend this place to any of my compassionate friends. There are many variations of healthy alternatives to meat these days and you actually go out to meet your meat? I'll pass.

Katherine Lopez
Lansdowne

Your narrow-minded sarcasm is propaganda in itself [Philly Blunt, "Call Him the Midnight Bumbler," Brian Hickey, May 4, 2006]. You pay attention only to the part of the message that the reader will associate with previously existing negative connotations. You ignore the facts of the matter and encourage readers to do the same.

Anonymous
Arkansas

Kudos to Shaun Brady for his continuing coverage of jazz, particularly Philadelphia jazz. His articles, always well-written and insightful, really get me excited about the burgeoning music scene here.

Bart Miltenberger
Germantown

Re [Music, "Bones Brigade," Brian Howard, April 27, 2006]:

Philly needs a lot more of Eyeball Skeleton!!!

Robby Ringwald
Philadelphia

[Loose Canon, "Socket Puppets and Press Whisperers," Bruce Schimmel, May 4, 2006] incorrectly identified Pedro Ramos as city solicitor. Ramos formerly held the post; the current city solicitor is Romulo Diaz. City Paper regrets the error.