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News could be universal

I was appalled at ombudsman Andrew Alexander’s column “Newsroom diversity: Falling short could be fa- tal” [Sunday Opinion, March 26], in which Alexander defines “diversity” largely by color. He and the people he quoted appeared to assume that black people are in- terested only in “black” news, whatever that is. Consultant Bobbi Bowman’s contention that “You

can’t cover your community unless you look like your community” is insulting to serious reporters as well as to the “community” and could be construed as racism. A little more balance and some shoe-leather journal- ism in the news section might rebuild your readership more than trying to conform coverage to your idea of what minorities want to hear. It’s just possible that Afri- can Americans, Latinos, Italians and Afghansmight all be interested in the same news.

Meredith Ellsworth, Alexandria

A better Metro profile

I was surprised at the rider profile differences

between Metrobus and Metrorail but also surprised that the income disparities are based on the median incomes, since the mean (or average value) is typically used to represent group income [“Riders see inequity in higher bus fares,” front page, March 29]. The median tells little about the greater sample population. The Metro rider profile presents the median and mean values for income: for Metrobus the median is $69,620, with a mean of $68,690; for Metrorail the median is $102,110, with a mean of $91,210. The Metrobus mean and median are very close, while the Metrorail me- dian is nearly $11,000 greater than the mean. Your selection of the median value left the impression of cherry-picking data to exaggerate a point of view. This is unfortunate, because a straightforward presentation reveals that Metrobus riders on average earn $22,520 less than Metrorail riders — a relevant point but less dramatic than the printed $33,000 difference in median income.

Mark Harris, Springfield

Working the oldest profession

With cutbacks and such, I’m sure that The Post’s editorial effort is stretched thin. However, I just can’t resist commenting on the description of the all too familiar video of the community organizing group “in which ACORN advisers posing as a prostitute and pimp gave tax tips . . .” [Federal Page, March 31]. Great imagery! But as many readers of The Post can tell you: Sooo not accurate! As long as you were going to blow it big-time, though, thanks for doing it in an entertaining way. The correct version of events, of course, was described by Lena H. Sun in the March 21 story on ACORN’s pending bankruptcy: “The community organizing group was embarrassed last fall after a video sting that showed ACORN housing counselors advising two young conservative activists — posing as a pimp and prostitute — how to conceal their criminal business.”

J. Eric Whichard, Columbia

Origins of a museum

We thank Marc Fisher for putting us on the District’s map of museums [“German-American museum doesn’t tell the whole story,” Style, March 20]. But we take issue with his insinuation that the German-American Heritage Museum of the USA was intended as an answer to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The German-American museum was founded and

financed by the German-American Heritage Foundation of the USA, an umbrella organization for German Americans in the United States. Its focus is on German immigration to the United States since 1607, and it operates in close contact and partnership with many American as well as German institutions, museums and some governmental agencies dedicated to the cause of fostering mutual understanding between our two countries.

Ruediger Lentz, Washington

The writer is executive director of the German-American Heritage Foundation of the USA.

The whether-to-hyphenate issue

Dave Shea’s hyphenation irritation [Free for All,

March 27] is unnecessary. Post editors quite properly hyphenate “health care” when it is a compound adjective (e.g., 4-year-old daughter, two-quarterback offense, cutting-edge technology). The hyphens unite modifiers that unconnected would be confusing or meaningless. It’s not health reform. It’s not care reform. It’s health-care reform. The exception: Compound adjectives are not

hyphenated when the first word ends in “-ly,” as in a mutually beneficial relationship. The hyphenated compound adjective probably eclipses the semicolon as our most misunderstood piece of punctuation. Just remember, a high-school student goes to high school.

Jay Ferrari, Washington

Watery prose

The March 27 obituary of Susana Walton described her as a “fluid English speaker.” Apparently neither your reporter nor his editor is a fluent English speaker!

Edwin Fountain, Arlington

A church united by two tongues

We greatly appreciated the

SUSAN BIDDLE/THE WASHINGTON POST

pictures that accompanied the article on unified services for English and Spanish speakers at Calvary Baptist Church [“Seeking prayers that speak to all,” Metro, March 28] that showed us worship- ing together, old and young, male and female, and Anglo, African, Burmese and Latino American. However, the arti- cle did not paint an accurate picture of our church family. Our English-speaking members see welcoming our Spanish-speaking members not as a burden but as a bless- ing for our community. Unfor- tunately, this article did not include the perspectives of English-speaking congre- gants who welcome the changes in our worship serv- ice as an expression of our commitment to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Some corrections: It was not “misery for all” nor did complaints rage when we added some Spanish in our worship service. While some of our members struggled with that change, the vast ma- jority embraced this as a tan- gible way to welcome our newer Latino members. Some of our newest members (both Anglo and Latino) joined our church because of our diversi- ty as expressed in the use of Spanish in worship. In addition to worshiping as one congregation, we act as one community: Members of all backgrounds met in a re- cent series of neighborhood meetings, turned out more than 40-strong at the March 21 rally for immigra- tion reform, journeyed to El Salvador and contributed to a long-standing scholarship for students from our sister churches there. And we have Latino members who have served on all church boards and on the church council. Change is not always com-

fortable, but this church fami- ly integrated racially in the 1950s and never looked back. We called a woman as senior pastor in 2002. This newest change is true to our understanding of what it means to be a Gospel people.

Amy Dale, Washington

The writer is moderator of Calvary Baptist Church.

Sexuality in Style

While I would love for my daughter to become a regular reader of KidsPost, I’m often disturbed by stories that run in its place when it’s not scheduled. The March 26 story was on

an art show featuring graphic paintings of an artist’s double mastectomy for a gender transformation [“Facing the raw visual facts at new G Fine Art,” Style]. Couldn’t you have found another place for this story? I suggest that you either run KidsPost every day in the same place or at least run kid- neutral stories or advertise- ments in that space on the days it doesn’t appear.

Beth Blevins, Ashton



Jane Morrison and Laurel

Becker [Free for All, March 27] complained that the recent ar- ticle on lesbian fashion was unsuitable for young people. First of all, the article was not printed in KidsPost. We should not expect the entire Style section to be written for children. Second, there was nothing tasteless about the article. Lesbians are part of our society. The deluded self- righteousness in those letters is much more harmful to chil- dren than any fashion article could ever be.

Rose Kelleher,

Gaithersburg

R

A9

I winced

AJ MAST/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Anastasia Pozdniakova of the University of Houston dives in the 1-meter finals at the NCAA Division I women’s swimming and diving championships in Indiana on March 18. She won the event and was named Diver of the Year.

Only basketball got a splash

I understand basketball taking up so much space this time of year, but I can’t believe that you men- tioned neither the women’s nor the men’s NCAA swimming and diving championships held in March. Both had excitement, awe- some athletic performances, sur- prising results and drama. Because of an outbreak of noro- virus among athletes on three of the top men’s teams — Texas, Stan-

ford and Arizona — their meet was postponed by a day, which might have affected the swimmers’ per- formances and the final team standings. Why is it that swim- ming gets attention only when there is a controversy (such as the now-banned swimsuits) or if we are in an Olympic year (How many medals can Michael Phelps get?)?

Natalie Seitz,

Mechanicsburg, Pa.

As an advocate for people living with mental illness, I winced several times while reading Petula Dvorak’s March 26 Metro column, “Running in hostile circles around the ‘mommy track.’ ” Her insensi- tive references to schizophre- nia and, at one point, to “schizo” were amazing consid- ering the column was in The Post and this is the 21st centu- ry.

A writer who prides herself on her articles on homeless people should be able to find a way to get her points across without language offensive to sick people.

Janet Edelman, Columbia

The writer is president of NAMI Maryland, an advocacy group for the mentally ill.

Political judgments that connected or missed

The March 30 front page featured

a story about questionable spend- ing at the Republican National Committee. Page A2 contained an- other treatment of the same story by your constantly carping colum- nist, Dana Milbank. (Why The Post runs commentary on A2 is a subject for another day.) It wasn’t until Page A8 that I found a story on the death threats made against the second-ranking Republican in the House, Eric Can- tor (Va.). After all the front-page coverage you devoted to congres- sional Democrats who were subject to abuses during the health-care de- bate [“Lawmakers targeted for van- dalism and thefts,” March 25], it’s hard to understand why you gave lesser treatment to the Cantor story and to an equally abusive phone call received by another Repub- lican, Rep. Jean Schmidt of Ohio. Well, actually, it’s not hard to un- derstand. It’s just hard to tolerate.

Mike Johnson, Crofton

The writer is a Republican lobbyist.



Dan Balz’s March 28 Sunday Take column about Sarah Palin cam- paigning for Sen. John McCain (R- Ariz.) cited a Post poll that found that 71 percent of conservative Re- publicans and 60 percent of Amer- icans who have a positive impres- sion of the Tea Party movement “view her favorably.” My questions for The Post:

 How many Americans have a positive impression of the Tea Party movement? Was this poll taken af- ter all the violence and racist rhetoric?

d

Regardless, 60 percent of a

letters@washpost.com. Letters must be exclusive to

The Post and should include the writer’s address and day and evening telephone numbers. Letters are subject to editing and abridgment. Please do not send letters as attachments. Because of the volume of material we receive, we are unable to acknowledge submissions; writers whose letters are under consideration for publication will be contacted.

minority is a still smaller minority.  In what context is Sarah Palin viewed favorably? As a dinner guest? Hunting companion? Some- one with an informed opinion worth listening to?

JOSHUA LOTT/REUTERS

Former running mates John McCain and Sarah Palin at a Tucson rally March 26 for his Senate reelection campaign.

Remember that Barack Obama

ran for president on a platform of health-care reform and was elected, along with a Democratic congres- sional majority. There is ample time before the midterm elections for Americans to learn the facts of the legislation. Their votes can send an even stronger message for a public option or single-payer system.

Brian Levin,

Camano Island, Wash.



With its front-page report that

Iowan Randy Millam is, in his own words, “not ready for outright violence yet,” is The Post egging on the Tea Partyers [“ ‘We have to make them listen,’ ” March 26]? Will your paper next profile a Klansman in robes at a rally or a Minuteman

patrolling the southern U.S. border in camouflage?

Grenville B. Whitman,

Rock Hall



Every once in a while you hit a home run with a piece, and “A letter to Obama, and a life touched in return” [front page, March 31] was still rising as it went over the center field wall. It was a good story made compelling by the skills of the writer, Eli Saslow. It had a lot to say about President Obama, about a suffering but gallant citizen, and about a bureaucratic mechanism that is administered in a thoughtful and caring way in the face of a daunting scale of work. Congratulations to everyone, but

particularly to Saslow, who worked hard on the details and thought- fully on the presentation. Thank you all.

Rob Nevitt, Washington



Your March 30 Style section made me see red. In the otherwise thoughtful

article about the brothers Levin [“The Bond of Brothers”], reporter Dan Zak took a low blow when he stated, “Carl, 75, took office in 1979, when his current commander in chief was a high-schooler rolling doobies in Honolulu.” This reference was totally irrel-

evant, out of context and in poor taste. Where were the editors who let this unnecessary comment pass?

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