To the Editor:
This is the first time in my 77 years that I won’t be celebrating the Fourth of July. I won’t be wearing my stars and stripes shirt, playing patriotic songs, attending a parade or displaying my American flag.
Because in good conscience I can no longer celebrate a country that stands by silently and allows this lying, narcissistic president to dismantle our environmental protections, bribe a foreign power, urge reduced Covid-19 testing during a pandemic, denounce the free press, encourage voter suppression, applaud racism, protect Confederate statues and ignore reports of Russian bounties to kill American soldiers.
I pray that next year we will have a new president who believes in the rule of law, the Constitution and the premise that “all men are created equal.” Then I will once again be able to call myself a proud American instead of just a very ashamed one.
To the Editor:
Re “A Love Letter to the Epistle” (Critic’s Notebook, Arts pages, June 18):
Dwight Garner’s compelling billet-doux to the moribund missive struck a responsive chord, as we are still inveterate letter writers.
As retired professors of literature and history buffs par excellence, we know that most of our knowledge of people and events is based on epistolary communication. Furthermore, letters are for saving, rereading and rethinking, and often cause the recipient to laugh, levitate and exult.
Think about your child’s first scribbled note, love letters exchanged with a spouse, sparkling missives we sent to our parents telling how much they meant to us, or your sons’ and daughters’ written request for money from college. Compare the aforementioned with a hastily written email.
Succinctly, there is no substitute for words written or typed on a sheet of paper and sent through the mail.
Mel Yoken
Cindy Yoken
New Bedford, Mass.