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O’Grady conveyed a sacramental blessing on Beau Biden during his final hours. At least for Catholics, that blessing is a holy and ritualized process performed by a priest to better prepare a soul for death. Referring to this as merely “reading his last rites” makes the sacrament sound like a perfunctory legal declaration. A more acceptable description would be “performing last rites.” Though even that falls short of capturing the significance of the sacrament, it does, however, convey the sense that it is not merely a perfunctory process.
William Murray, Rockville
A French lesson at Dupont Circle
Thanks for the April 15 Metro article “Fountain’s renewed flow delights residents.” A beautiful, working public fountain is always such a pleasure to enjoy. Having visited many countries where public fountains are deteriorating and nonoperational, I was delighted to learn that the Dupont Circle fountain is now flowing again.
The article pointed out that the fountain, dedicated in 1921, was funded by the Du Pont family to honor Rear Adm. Samuel Francis Du Pont, a prominent naval officer; however, it did not mention the name of its famous American sculptor, Daniel Chester French. The Dupont Circle fountain was one of many of his works, which also included the monumental statue of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial and the Minute Man sculpture in Concord, Mass.
Timothy J. French, Bethesda
The poems selected for the April 16 Book World article “For National Poetry Month, verse from a range of voices” unfortunately were by and large prose — well reflecting the state of our poetic affairs. Powerful? No. Magical? No. Rhythmic? No. Instructive? No. We are adrift in shallow seas!
Dave Eberhardt, Baltimore
We wouldn’t advise throwing rocks near the Pentagon
Not to be one of those ridiculously needless and dying English major Conan the Grammarian word and writing nerds, as a former journalist with all due respect for The Post, I still must point out that calling Amazon’s Arlington HQ2 a “stone’s throw” from the Pentagon, as in the April 14 Metro article “Amazon seeks money for HQ2,” was worse than a lazy, shopworn cliche.
Good local shoe-leather reporters know the ground they cover. Amazon’s proposed location in Crystal City is almost a mile from the Pentagon. The longest javelin throw ever recorded is 104 meters (around 340 feet), which is only slightly more than the length of a football field.
Reporters should mind the cliches if their editors won’t.
Jeffrey Denny, Washington
An incomplete pass … er, past
The April 16 front-page article “From passion to pariah” deconstructed Daniel Snyder’s demolition of the city’s National Football League franchise. The article cited a recent “Washington Post-Schar School poll” to illustrate the diminished popularity of the team. It would be relevant for readers to know that the Schar School is named after its primary benefactor, Dwight Schar, who was a minority owner of Snyder’s team and who left that partnership amid great acrimony and litigation with Snyder.
Snyder is, in fact, a pariah who profited from his ownership of the team even as he ineptly managed it. The windfall he is about to receive from selling the team is the result of the sport’s immense popularity and comes his way despite his deficits. But that doesn’t mean it’s okay to be sloppy in writing about him.
Dan Armitage, Drayden, Md.
The disrespect was comical
The April 15 “Mike Du Jour” comic strip was so thoughtless and cruel that I will think twice about reading the strip on any “jour” in the future.
It’s clear that the author, Mike Lester, gave no thought to the pain this would cause transgender people and their families and supporters. In today’s world, where so many in the LGBTQ community are fighting for respect, acceptance and equal rights, it seems outrageous that not only was the strip submitted but also that it was published by The Post. By including rather than rejecting this strip, The Post is supporting and encouraging other unkind and uneducated offenders to continue spreading their hate.—
The trans community faces danger, violence and ridicule in public every day. At the very least, The Post should be a safe and respectful space.
A ‘small’ bone to pick
As a native of the Cleveland area, I was amused to see the suburb of Mentor, Ohio, labeled a “small town” in the April 16 Politics & the Nation article on culture wars in the city’s schools, “Pandemic changed parents’ view of schools — and ignited culture wars.” It might have helped with the narrative, but it’s the equivalent of calling Rockville a small town.
Elephants and ethics can coexist
I was glad to see the April 16 Travel article on the unethical treatment of elephants and other animals for tourist rides [“Animal rides are cruel, advocates say. So why are we still doing them?”].
For too long, travel books, magazines and websites have covered every aspect of tourism, from the cost of hotels to the quality of the local restaurants, with pretty photos of quaint cobblestone streets and beautiful people walking on beaches, with barely a mention, if any, of the questionable ethics of activities tourists can engage in while visiting.
I’ve been interested in the subject ever since a visit to the Elephant Nature Park in Thailand opened my eyes to the hidden cruelties behind the elephant tourism industry. I admit I wondered how thorough the report would be, but the article brought up every point I would have, save one: the founder of the ENP sanctuary, Lek Chailert. She was the driving force behind the changes that are happening in Southeast Asia, with many camps turning away from elephant rides in favor of more humane experiences.
The article gets an A; especially the final section, “How to pick an ethical animal attraction.”
I am grateful and joyous for the informative and persuasive article on the downside of using animals as transportation for tourists. Most people on vacation do not stop to think about the costs paid by the elephants or camels who involuntarily provide a photo op for them. The article will open some minds and hearts to the physical suffering these sentient beings endure.
It would be so wonderful to read that such animal exploitation was illegal and that all these animals were placed in accredited sanctuaries for the rest of their natural lives. They deserve to rest, to be provided with plenty of nutritious food and veterinary care, and to be allowed to engage in natural behaviors with others of their kind.
Thanks for bringing this to the attention of many people. I hope to live long enough to see some reforms mandated by various government agencies.
I’m not a journalist, but I’m sure one of the most basic requirements of good reporting is consistency in information. The April 17 news headline “Police knew they had wrong house before killing, video shows” contradicted the article’s very first sentence stating that police officers in New Mexico were “questioning” whether they were at the right house before the shooting. I’m flabbergasted The Post made such a simple mistake.
J. Todd Sahlroot, Ellicott City
Bring this stat back, stat
The April 17 Sports article “As pitchers speed up, runners get the jump” recognized some new excitement in Major League Baseball. As the article and its headline noted, stealing bases in baseball adds excitement and action, and new rules have led to a lot more stolen bases this year.
So, why does The Post refuse to indicate stolen bases (“SB” to baseball nerds) in the daily box scores, except, very oddly, only for Orioles and Nationals games? I watched Anthony Volpe, an exciting rookie for the New York Yankees, steal a base on April 16 (after stealing three the day before), but that exciting statistic was not reflected in the box score for that game, although the box did tell me that Adam Frazier, Jorge Mateo, Steven Kwan and Victor Robles stole bases in the O’s and Nats’ games.
Please bring them back to box scores for all games.
The April 16 Business article “GOP looks to tighten welfare eligibility” failed to mention several key facts about Republicans’ plans to impose work requirements on Medicaid beneficiaries.
First, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, nearly two-thirds of Medicaid beneficiaries presumably able to work (e.g., non-elderly adults without disabilities) are already doing so. Many others have responsibilities as students or caregivers, suggesting that fewer than 10 percent of adults with Medicaid coverage would be the focus of such requirements.
Moreover, the administrative apparatus required to verify employment status on an ongoing basis can be costly. In 2019, the Government Accountability Office found that implementation costs associated with work requirements ranged from $6 million in the small state of New Hampshire to more than $270 million in Kentucky.
Why is it that policymakers who favor work requirements as a potential cost savings fail to add up the real dollars and cents? Ideology again trumps facts.
Anne Schwartz, Washington
The writer is a retired health policy analyst.
I like some of the enhancements in the Food section, notably articles about the history of food or stories of food, such as the April 5 article about a giant omelet, “One small French village. 15,000 eggs. A 50-year tradition.,” and the April 19 Food article “Beware of these 7 salt myths.”
Though many changes have happened at The Post, including the removal of some of my favorite columns, I do appreciate the enrichment of some of the paper’s sections. (But bring back “Hints from Heloise,” which brought a chuckle each day.)
Who needed the text anyway?
Illustrators, I imagine, hope their drawings will enhance material in the accompanying text. Juan Bernabeu’s drawings that accompanied the April 18 Health & Science article “Men’s Health Issue: The longevity gap” were exquisite and stand-alone beautiful — entrancing images and delicate use of muted colors.
Colleen Kennedy, Arlington
As long as somebody’s watching …
Regarding the April 18 Health & Science article “April night sky boasts emerging star, meteor shower, Venus”:
I was delighted to see that The Post has brought back what I hope will be a monthly feature looking at the region’s night sky. Along with many other followers of Blaine P. Friedlander Jr.’s monthly “Skywatch” column, I have missed his keen observations and common-sense suggestions about what to see if we just take time out to look up into our night sky. I hope Geoff Chester and The Post continue to provide the same useful service.
T.H. Otwell, Silver Spring
I was thinking that “The thinkers and dreamers of the humanist tradition,” Mark Oppenheimer’s review of Sarah Bakewell’s “Humanly Possibles: Several Hundred Years of Humanist Freethinking, Inquiry, and Hope” [Book World, April 16], was lacking. Then I came upon the sentence, “Bakewell is particularly fond of Erasmus, who was ‘repelled by the aggression of Luther,’ his fellow Protestant reformer?” Reformer, yes; Protestant, no!
Renaissance humanists were in bulk Catholic, and they left a substantial legacy for later humanists and Catholics of all categories, which needed to be recorded. It explains the depth to Oppenheimer’s observation at the conclusion of the preceding paragraph — those who say they love God above all but in practice they love humans far more than most secular computer scientists.
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