_______________ FIRST, WE KILL ALL THE 11-YEAR-OLDS BY ROBIN TEMPLETON (05/27/98)
	Let's pledge to reread Robin Templeton's insightful piece on school shootings the next time officialdom prescribes another misleading, string-'em-up remedy to difficult social problems. As if the Texas lawmaker who wants to lower the death penalty age to 10 wasn't enough, a South Carolina legislator now wants schools to arm selective faculty members to thwart any kids on a rampage! Two things come to mind in reviewing these shootings: They are less likely to have happened were it not for the proliferation of guns in this country. (Sorry, Sgt. Second Amendment, the conclusion is inescapable.) And behind every one of these trigger-happy children are parents who encouraged or ignored their child's fascination with weaponry. But as Templeton instructs, we're much more in the mood for treating symptoms: the death penalty for kids, trying juveniles as adults, mandatory sentencing, etc. What is truly scary is that by declaring war on our young people, we will almost certainly create the alienated underclass that law and order fearmongers say already exists. And we will be supplying fresh product for a for-profit prison system not interested in rehabilitating or training offenders, but perpetuating their stay for a more predictable bottom line. -- Chuck Meyer Austin, Texas
_______________ THE K CHRONICLES: THE REAL TRUTH ABOUT GUNS BY KEITH KNIGHT (05/27/98)
	But what is to protect us from brain-dead cartoonists who advocate giving children vodka or heroin instead of teaching them how to handle firearms responsibly? My kids have guns, real ones, and they know how to use them safely and responsibly. They don't drink alcohol or use drugs. I prefer it that way. I guess I've got a warped sense of humor. -- Sarah Thompson, M.D.
_______________ THE UNAUTHORIZED GODZILLA BY MATTHEW FLAMM (05/20/98)
	A sidebar to your excellent story on Toho's take-no-prisoners approach to protecting its Godzilla turf. After writing a chapter on Godzilla for my "Encyclopedia of Japanese Pop Culture," I contacted Toho for permission to illustrate the chapter and the cover with the famous still of the Big G crunching a Tokyo subway car from the original 1954 film. Toho's manager in charge of copyrights flatly refused to give his OK and said that Toho considered all uses of the still to be piracy, even though it has appeared in countless books and magazines around the world. After this conversation, I flashed on what seemed to be an unexceptionable alternative -- use a painting of Godzilla that had graced the cover of a popular Japanese video guide. The publishers of the guide, however, told me that, even though they had commissioned the painting from an artist who had no relation to Toho, they had gone to the studio for permission. I had to do the same if I wanted to use the painting for my book. I called the manager again, assuming that if Toho had given its OK to the video-guide publisher, it would oblige me as well. No such luck. He told me that, since my book was being published in the United States, I could not use any image of Godzilla for any purpose whatsoever. When I asked why, he said that Toho had sold the exclusive U.S. publication rights to Random House and could not grant them to anyone else. Desperate for a comeback, I mentioned "Godzilla -- King of the Movie Monsters," a lavishly illustrated fan book that had recently been published by a small press in Florida. If they could do it, I asked, why couldn't I? The manager suddenly became frantic. "What is this book called? Who is the publisher?" he asked. I cut the conversation short, but had the sinking feeling that I had set the hounds on the trail. Sure enough, a couple weeks later I read a wire story saying that Toho was suing the publisher -- who was probably one guy working on a Mac in his basement -- for $8 million. I soothed my guilty conscience by reflecting that the book was on sale in major English bookstores in Japan -- thumbing its nose in the enemy's camp, as it were. My publisher and I finally decided to drop the Godzilla still -- the only one of the book's more than 40 illustrations to meet such a fate -- and, on the cover, use a still from "Sonatine" of Takeshi Kitano blowing his brains out with a pistol. Not as iconographic, perhaps, but just as effective. -- Mark Schilling
_______________ PRETTY IN MINK BY TRACY QUAN (05/26/98)
	Murder will never be the fashion of choice. It just feels bad to wear something that was killed particularly for something as frivolous as a fashion garment. A fashion garment that isn't popular with people of compassion and sensitivity can never rise to the level that fur promoters hype. Sexy? No. In no way is a woman wearing a dead animal's skin appealing -- not even remotely. "Pretty in Mink" reads like a fur promo, but painting a rosy picture of the fur industry doesn't make it so. -- Sandra Boss SALON | May 29, 1998