Hockey horror!
Re Our Period Of Discontent (Jan. 6): You're kidding, right? I can only hope that calling the results of the world junior hockey championship "a numbing blow to the Canadian psyche" is your way of spoofing the whole "hockey is Canada/Canada is hockey" thing. But when Roy MacGregor tells me I've just received a kick in the teeth (So Near, Yet, So Far), I begin to wonder.
Perhaps you require your headline writers to do their work in a hyperbolic chamber. Or maybe you've hired Don Cherry for that job, with his own grad student to help with the big words like "numbing" and "psyche."
Bruce Walton, Ottawa
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In this house, we woke up dentally and mentally intact.
Martin Birt, Markham, Ont.
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All this Sturm und Drang over a group of teenagers losing a hockey game would seem to indicate what a sad little nation we are.
Charlie Earle, Hamilton, Ont.
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What a bunch of crybabies pictured on your front page.
Paul H. Newcombe, Victoria
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On the bright side, the entire team has probably earned a spot on the Maple Leafs' roster.
Jan Burton, Toronto
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For all the heroics of the comeback comrades, there are no goats on the Canadian team. Our kids played with superlative discipline, heart, skill and dedication. Their hockey was a joy to behold. I hope they all feel as proud as Canada is of them.
Maurice Yacowar, Calgary
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Dobry den, Russia. Dosvedanya, Canucks. I wish to congratulate Russia's junior hockey team for its stunning gold-medal victory over the arrogant Canadians. The Russians simply outclassed the Canadians with their aggressive speed and their magnificent stick-handling. Thanks for the memories, comrades.
Igor Chekhov, Toronto
Due diligence
It's astonishing that the RCMP's second-in-command would complain about the huge challenge of providing disclosure in criminal cases (RCMP Wants Easier Disclosure Rules - Jan. 6). Interestingly, the article appears next to a report criticizing the RCMP for failing to keep up with the times (Mounties Must Modernize, Government Panel Says). Complaining about filing paperwork in increasingly complex investigations reflects this culture.
These comments, from such a senior officer, send the wrong message to those who think disclosure obligations are such a bother. The problem is management and proper funding. One is the responsibility of the RCMP, the other of government.
Disclosure in criminal cases is as vital as X-rays before an operation; you don't skip over it just because it's become more difficult. The RCMP needs to rise to the challenges presented to all participants in a criminal justice system faced with increasingly complex and expensive cases. Asking to be relieved of one's duty amounts to failure.
William M. Trudell, Toronto
Merit shmerit
It's hard to escape the conclusion that the fundamental problem with the teaching profession is not that merit goes unrecognized, but that it's far too difficult to fire poor teachers (Handled Right, Teacher Merit Pay Could Work - Jan. 6). Justified job security improves morale tremendously and quality follows, while job entitlement - regardless of competence - produces the opposite result.
Paying teachers more for merit would entrench entitlement at the opposite end of the scale.
Brian J. Lowry, Fredericton
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As a teacher, I'm open to any idea that will improve student learning. But the idea of merit pay strikes me as a poor way of doing so. How will student learning be assessed? Standardized tests? Teachers wanting to improve their bottom line would presumably "teach to the test," forgoing the activities that make for a wholesome education.
Be careful what you wish for!
Jesse Lloyd, Guelph, Ont.
Appetizer update
I've eaten horse, as well as deer, moose, beaver, muskrat and rabbit (A Horse Is A Horse - letters, Jan. 6). Never had dog or cat (that I know of) and I don't think I'd want to, but I wouldn't object to other people eating it. The only animal most of us would agree is out of bounds is long pig.
Michael Moore, Toronto
Trendy trash?
Your article on architect Jack Diamond's brilliant New Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia (Bridge To The West - Focus, Jan. 1), clearly shows the value Europe places on a continuity of heritage in design. As so often happens in North America, heritage is trashed for the latest bit of stainless steel and glass architectural nonsense.
Mount Allison University, judged to be among the best in Canada by this newspaper, rejected Mr. Diamond's recommendation to save and integrate its classic Memorial Library into a new Fine Arts and Performing Arts Centre. The classic stone design of renowned architect Andrew Cobb was built in honour of 73 Mount Allison students killed in the First World War and, to some extent, paid for by their parents as a lasting memorial.
This building, which has largely influenced the pleasing tonality of the campus, is to be destroyed to allow the construction of a couple of stainless steel and glass boxes in the trendy architectural conceit of the day.
So much for heritage and a continuity of conversation a university promises its students. We now live in a time of the "best before" date, and it applies to both memory and commitment.
Graham Watt, Sackville, N.B.
Shadows of the past
Re Dinners In The Dementia Ward (Facts & Arguments, Jan. 5): Thank you, Antanas Sileika, for making me cry.
Paula McPherson, St. Catharines, Ont.
The inner voice
The homeless man with the incredible voice (Velvet-Voiced Homeless Man Gets Second Chance - Jan. 6) only proves the old adage that you can't really judge a book by its cover.
A good voice (especially in today's communication-obsessed society) is the customer service of the soul.
Douglas Cornish, Ottawa
The inner refuge
Re Book A Room. Stay For Some Inspiration (Life, Jan. 6): While some people might find inspiration in such rather mundane hotels as New York's Hotel Chelsea and The Plaza, Montreal's Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth, Switzerland's Montreux Palace and Hollywood's Chateau Marmont, the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo, Calif., is my inspiration.
Italian writer Umberto Eco once said of it: "The poor words with which natural human speech is provided, cannot suffice to describe the Madonna Inn. … Let's say that Albert Speer, while leafing through a book on Gaudi, swallowed an overgenerous dose of LSD and began to build a nuptial catacomb for Liza Minnelli."
James P.B. Kelly, Unionville, Ont.