Tag: readers

First Readers’ Comments of 2012!

By
The Eds.2
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Readers, we’ve enjoyed your great and plentiful comments of late. The site keeps us busy, but we love to make the time to sip a coffee and review some of your favorite reactions of recent days, in this case, the first feedback of our new 2012 year.

Marion Winik’s “Against Coming of Age” got plenty of viewer applause, with “Jen” noting that she admired the piece on the bittersweet challenges of raising a tween today, despite the fact that Jen’s not a mom. Naomi Nye bragged, “Marion, you are just a super wizard and I love your tenderness, your delightful evocation of your fabulous daughter, and all the eras we live through — you are the best!”

Sue wrote, “Love this one, Marion, especially the Ellen DeGeneres line. My advice, if you’re really afraid [Jane will] do things you did, is to give her the undetailed version of your stories. Daughters are driven to be the opposite of their mothers.”

Regarding “Against Coming of Age,” Summer said, “I can totally relate! I always was so blasé about buying the explicit versions of top 40 songs, liberally explaining that it’s art, and we shouldn’t buy altered versions and taught my kids not to say the obvious bad words at other kids’ houses. I thought it was cute when they thought ‘milk in my coco puffs’ was about cereal. Then my daughter hit puberty and suddenly every song and Glee episode became a lecture and I became some prudy conservative mom I didn’t recognize, with the urge to make sure my sordid teen years remain unknown.”

Stephanie Shapiro’s My Real Life Modern Family, “A History of Leavings,” garnered good vibes from two anonymous readers.

“This is brilliant. An award-winning work. More, please!” wrote the first. And the second: “Thanks for this piece, Stephanie. I’ve always seen my mother’s parents as anomalies — one a drifter, the other the madam of what was likely not the best little whorehouse in Texas. My mother was a madwoman, which I figured made sense under the circumstances. But the link to my own skittish tendencies wasn’t apparent until I read this.”

The latest Hot House, “Beaux Arts Victorian Mansion,” by Cynthia McIntyre got “Jo” typing away: “Am dying to read the ‘realtor blog’ you mentioned…guess you can’t list it and still remain fair and impartial? By the way, l.o.v.e. your Fishbowl column.”

“Lunch with Ina,” a post by Amy Langrehr proved a favorite quick read. Lisa offered some advice, “You should try her Baked Shrimp Scampi…one of the best dishes to serve at a party. I love her cookbooks and use them at least weekly!  What a fabulous experience to have lunch with her.”

“Bending the Rules” by Joseph Martin looked at the commercialization of the ancient art of yoga. Isabella Binny shared this wisdom: “Yoga is an ancient, difficult practice that goes deep. Today we prefer a struggle-free, gleaming surface with minimal details. Not too hard, never too deep.”

“Why Maryland Grocery Stores Should Sell Wine,” a post by Rachel Monroe, had our Friends on Facebook commenting in total support. “Completely agree,” wrote Bob Villanueva. Contributor Leslie F. Miller did, too, using more colorful language than we tend to print at this site! LOL.

Your Comments and Recommended Reading

By
S. Dunn
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After reading “Don’t Sweat the Chicken Soup” yesterday (which quickly became our most read story ever) by Bohemian Rhapsody columnist Marion Winik, another BFB writer and Hot House columnist Cynthia McIntyre suggested we recommend to you, dear reader, “How To Land Your Kid In Therapy,” from The Atlantic Monthly. “It addresses what lots of us have been thinking as we look around at kids (other people’s, naturally). Best line? ‘Our children are not our masterpieces…'” Cynthia wrote in her email to us.  I proudly reported back to her that associate editor Rachel Monroe already wrote a post on the article last week. 

Speaking of Bohemian Rhapsody, the column regularly generates some of our favorite comments from you, like this one from Mary about “Scrabble, and Other Secret Languages.”

“Nobody plays Scrabble or works the NY Times crossword unless they are driven to it.  My sister can’t wait for me to set down my suitcase when I ‘go home’ before she gets out her deluxe board.  After many years of regularly losing to her, I’ve decided there are two kinds of Scrabble players: competitors (my sis and my late husband who I once discovered upstairs in the bedroom reading  a dictionary just before a family match) and nice guys (suckers like myself who plunk down low-count words to keep the board spread out and open in case we get enough letters to make a high-point word).  I’m going to work on those two-letter words before my summer trip home.” 

You are were greatly moved, too, by “Where are the Coffee Shops” by Rachel Monroe.  We especially liked this practical response from Andrew Hazlett:

“In recent years I’ve spent many a day trying to get work done in Hampden while our car gets serviced at Brentwood. It’s a wifi desert! There are plenty of other places in other neighborhoods that fit the bill for coffee-fueled freelance work, but Hampden seems to be missing an opportunity here. Most people who will sit and spend a few hours working understand they have to ‘pay their way’ in purchases, so I don’t understand why Hampden seems reluctant to add this crucial service to good customers.”

Hampden, take note.

And lastly, this insightful comment from chirper47 about “Do Extroverts Really Have More Fun?” by senior editor Betsy Boyd:

“I had a friend with a child at a local girls private school who was told that she should hold back her child a year because the child was shy. Huh? Since when does that warrant an extra year in school? Lately, shyness has been looked upon as a pathology.  Weird. Not everyone can be the life of the party, thank God. Wouldn’t that be an obnoxious world?”

Thanks for reading. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Your Comments

By
The Eds.2
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We read your comments! Some of the best below…

Marion Winik’s “The Boomer and the Boomeranger” was uniformly well-received.  Both in comments and privately everyone told us they loved this great tale of a child coming home after college.

Said one: “Thank you, thank you, thank you.  Real people, real life, real emotions.”

That sums up our thoughts exactly. You’ll be happy to learn that Marion Winik will begin writing a column for us soon. Stay tuned.

Getting In, our column about the college admissions process received this comment about the post “It’s Not All About Resume Building”:

This is a wonderful story.  I think that there is a certain segment of Baltimore parents who buy into the Ivy  League or Walmart syndrome (that is, if my child does not get into an Ivy League school, they will invariably end up working at Walmart), that colors the way we raise our children to be endlessly scheduled with little or no free time to relax.  Yet, it is in those times of relaxation that they can connect with their inner selves, and cultivate their distinct personalities (that is, if they are not sitting on Facebook whilst doing so), and discover their true passions.  

And this, from a reader baffled by the concept of the co-ed sleepover, a subject whose post continues to draw interest as we enter into high-prom-season:

My first thought when reading this was: I cannot believe there is such a thing as a co-ed sleepover! I am certainly not naive, or over the age of seventy and I am astounded! I am completely in the camp of your husband that the co-ed sleepover is the opening up a huge door of opportunity that is not necessary to be opened.  

I am having trouble understanding how a pre-prom party, the prom itself, a post-prom party and a post-post prom party is not enough time to hang out with friends. I also do not think you have deprived your daughter of any experiences (quite the opposite) that would cause her to rebel or overindulge in the snack drawer. You can trust your child, respect your child and fully believe they would make wise decisions and still say no situations or environments that implicitly condone (or at least facilitate) certain behaviors.  As far as the argument regarding safety,  I find it hard to believe there wouldn’t be parents willing to pick their kids and friends up from various spots. You have to sleep at night (especially the night of the prom) with what you allowed for you daughter. For some people, that night’s sleep would be just fine (or fine enough) while their kids were at the co-ed sleepover. For you, knowing that it was an unpopular decision was easier to sleep on than allowing her to attend.  Popular or not. 

Our Marco Polo asking “Who is Your Best Baltimore Celebrity Sighting?” got the below response:

Clint Eastwood at Mt. Washington Tavern, Julia Roberts in Whole Foods (in) Mt. Washington, Renee Zelwegger and Nicole Kidman at The Maryland Athletic Club!

We couldn’t help but think, “Are you sure that was Clint Eastwood and not someone’s dad?”

Happy Memorial Day. If you have a chance, view the PostSecret video in honor of Memorial Day on the home page. 

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