Dear Prime Minister Modi,
Heartiest congratulations on your recent election and historic win; a phenomenon that reaffirmed our democratic beliefs! Obviously, several things in India need to change; and if there is one person who has the courage, dedication and vision to put our country on the path to greatness, my hope is that that person is you. The entire country seems to be galvanized by the speed at which you seem to want to turn around age old practices of sycophancy and corruption, and create an bustling economy with your ten-point agenda that focuses on education, health, water, transparent governance, energy and infrastructure.
However, we were disappointed when we noticed nothing about women's safety issues -- unless you count health and education as closely related issues...
Lifestyle
Dear Mr. Cathy,
I love Chick-fil-A. I truly do. And I have great respect for your values and your decision to be closed on Sundays and Christian holidays.
I also love my gay friends. I really do. And I am convinced that loving Chick-fil-A and loving my gay friends do NOT have to be mutually exclusive.
I read recently that you have acknowledged your company's financial support of "traditional family" organizations which actively oppose the protection of rights of our gay neighbors. Understandably, the LGBT community is very upset.
However, I will not be forced to choose between my favorite fast-food and my beloved life-long friends who happen to be gay.
I was raised, and am still, a Baptist. You too, I understand, were raised Baptist. Several of my gay Christian friends (yes...
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Dear Christina,
I know, I know. You must be getting tons of advice about pregnancy, motherhood, and everything else right now. You get the bump, and suddenly everybody feels like butting in. So my apologies straight off for joining the choir. Let me also say that making babies, having babies, not having babies -- it's all about choice. So the way you give birth is ultimately your choice to make, and you have that right.
I'm writing this letter because I hear you've chosen to schedule a cesarean section... I hear this from the online gossips (admittedly, not the most reliable source of information, but they are even reporting a date: January 10). And because I presume you are a healthy woman, and because I am journalist who spent years researching childbirth, I feel obliged to tell...
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Dear Backwards, Homophobic Church People Who Continue to Twist Scripture:
Yes, I know you have a biblical objection to homosexuality. I have no investment or interest in trying to change your views on the issue (it's sort of like a Republican trying to convince a Democrat that his party is the "best," or vice versa -- it's a fruitless task) but in the spirit of Christian brotherhood, I offer you the following:
If your objection to homosexuality is based solely on scripture, I'm just wondering if you also have an objection to: Slaves who try to free themselves or speak out against their masters (Colossians 3:22, Ephesians 6:5); women who are preachers or speak in church (Corinthians 14:34); men who eat lobster or seafood (Leviticus 11:10; Leviticus 11:7); people who wear cotton and/...
2,601
Dear Hannah,
I hear you've been accepted to the prestigious Iowa Writers' Workshop. USA TODAY reports that, while that MFA program's director found your acceptance "a complete surprise," she "mentally added [you to] the list of people to call" as she talks with incoming students. Some people doubted your writing talent and seriousness, but you've shown those naysayers. Congratulations!
Now, though, the University of Iowa on the whole doesn't actually want you around. You probably understand concerns that you would be a distraction -- sometimes you probably like being a distraction -- and, yes, you might portray the university inaccurately. This rejection may lead you to think about whether an MFA is right for you and, if so, which program is the best fit. These are matters that any...
2,525
Dear Bob,
It was Dwight Howard that motivated me to write you. I think that all men who are given the responsibility of caring for children should read this.
About a year ago you sent me a birthday card c/o my mother. I could never understand why you did that. I've had no contact with you for over 30 years yet you suddenly remember a birthday? I'd no idea you were even still alive. Surprising you would send a card and not even know my name. How could you imagine that I would have kept the name of my childhood, a name that included your name. I would never have carried around a daily reminder of your existence.
At one point in my life I would have cared; I would have wanted a card.
When I was very young I very much wanted your love, I wanted you to be my father, or at least...
3,148
Dear Cathedral High School (CHS) in Springfield, MA:
This may come as no surprise, but I didn't really like you.
Perhaps much of this sentiment comes with the nature of any awkward, pubescent boy in high school -- enduring a slow, four-year term of strange proportionality, a squeaky voice and not totally fitting into the stereotypical jock/nerd/insert late '90s high school clique.
Quick refresher on me, as I know you've graduated thousands: I'm class of 2002, a good student, average athlete and had an underperforming popularity quotient -- punctuated by accidentally making a female classmate cry during our annual Model Senate, dashing any long shot hopes of my dark horse candidacy as her prom date. Ah, now you remember. I doubt my experience is unique in your 131-year history of...
2,271
Dear Sir Elton John,
There have been a lot of open letters this season, but I'm not here to criticize you for twerking up against Robin Thicke on the VMAs. I am here to talk seriously to you about a performance on another music awards show that was far more inappropriate and damaging: your 2001 performance with Eminem at the Grammys. Eminem had appropriately come under scrutiny for lyrics like, "Hate fags? The answer's yes," and you chose -- against the wishes of GLAAD and many in the LGBT community -- to perform with him, embrace him, and issue statements absolving him. Recent events have made me realize that your actions over a decade ago are even more problematic today and can't be ignored. I think you owe the gay community an apology, and it's time that you stood up and denounced...
4,350
Dear "Joe",
You recently published an open letter to the families of the Isla Vista shootings, stating that their murdered children didn't trump your constitutional right to bare arms.
Does your constitutional right trump someone else's right to simply go about their business and live? Because that's what these victims were doing. They weren't provoking anyone; they weren't threatening anyone, they weren't carrying out any criminal acts that would put lives at risk.
They were shopping at a deli and going into a sorority house. This was not an act of self-defense or protection of property. This was cold-blooded murder, and three of those murders were carried out with your constitutional bullshit.
You want to shoot at deer and empty beer cans go right ahead; no one is trying to...
2,315
Dear Izz,
The hardest thing to do, as a parent, is to let your kid go out into the world on his own, even if it’s just to kindergarten. Dad and I may talk a tough game about loving that you guys are getting bigger, but if we’re honest, it’s pretty scary.
See, we were here before you. We remember when there was no you at all, and then one day we watched the teeniest flutter on a screen when you were just 9 weeks into being something other than ether. You were only a few millimeters long, but we already loved you.
And when you were born, you were a mysterious and helpless little lump who needed us so entirely that you weren’t even conscious of yourself as an entity yet. And that was a heady experience for Daddy and me. Never before had we known what it was like to create life,...
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