Readers respond to Michelle Shocked’s “story,” kids doing yoga and the MAH’s innovative staff.
Digging Deeper
Re: “Michelle and Me” (A&E, April 3): The more Michelle Shocked said, the deeper the hole she was digging for herself. Her act may play well in ultra-conservative areas, and so be it. It does not play well here.
I don't understand why gender can be a barrier to the love between two people, regardless of their faith. I would have walked out at Yoshi's, too. Free speech is awesome, but intelligent folks know there is a reason we have two ears and only one mouth.
How about my right to listen to what I chose to hear?
Brett Cross
Saratoga
Museum of Yes
Re: “Big Ideas” (Cover, March 20): What a thrill to see the article on the MAH and Nina Simon. We are all in love with the MAH at our house, not least because of all the innovative, creative, and interactive experiences we have had there over the years.
I wanted to include a huge shout out to MAH Programs Associate Emily Hope-Dobkin (and indeed all the fabulous staff and volunteers that make the MAH such a wonderful place). Emily is doing great things with and for teens in Santa Cruz, including her new program, Subjects to Change. The MAH is a hotspot for teens—a great alternative for wholesome fun in our small town!
Emily became the star in our sky when she agreed to help nine teenage girls, including my daughters, facilitate the event LunaFest, on March 8th. We had inquired at many venues in town about their hosting the film festival by, for, and about women, and Nina and Emily at the MAH were the only ones who gave us the emphatic YES! That's just what kind of place it is, run by people who are, as you said, truly on “the cutting edge of Santa Cruz cool.”
Gayle McCallum
Santa Cruz
Simple and Safe
Re: “Mind Over Scatter” (Wellness, March 20) As the author of books on teaching yoga, including to children, I agree that yoga can benefit kids of all ages – so long as it’s developmentally appropriate. Many postures fit for adults can cause life-long joint instability, nerve damage and other problems when done by children, whose soft bones are growing and nervous systems are in their formative development (the process of myelination).
The pictured posture depicting a little girl suspended by a yoga teacher is extremely dangerous for kids (and for many adults) because it’s hyper-extending the girl’s neck, which can separate the disks from the vertebral end plates and cause cervical disk herniation and spinal cord impingement.
Kids’ yoga should keep it all very simple, allowing kids to have fun while learning about themselves and others through expressive sharing and easy postures within safe ranges of motion right for their age.
Mark Stephens
Santa Cruz
FROM THE WEB
What’s the Story?
Re: “Michelle and Me” (A&E, April 3): OK, you’ve got my ear, Michelle. What is ‘your side of the story’? Were all the people who walked out of Yoshi’s NOT understanding what you were saying? I want to make space for you to tell me what really did happen… would you please tell us your side of this? Having made a large portion of your career from LGBT people, I’m sure you can understand that we are shocked and dismayed at what we have been told. Please tell us otherwise, if we have been mislead. Otherwise, you cannot be too shocked and dismayed at this outcome.
Lynn Jacob
