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_______________A NEW RACIAL ERA FOR SAN FRANCISCO SCHOOLS BY JOAN WALSH (02/18/99)
	The affirmative action dilemma present in San Francisco schools is not a problem of differential achievement among children of different races, but rather that schools themselves are "better" or "worse" than each other. The only correct system is one in which all students get in to "Lowell" -- which is obviously only possible if all schools are equal. -- Ben Hitz Lowell High, Class of 1988 The real issue in my mind is not admission to the "good" public schools in San Francisco (or anywhere, for that matter) but the overall lack of high quality academic public schools. All children have the right to a high quality school. All children who can achieve at a highly academic school (like Lowell) have the right to attend it. There should be a place for them, and spaces should be created for them. I have a child in a public school in Oakland, Calif. We moved to be in a better performing school area and are currently applying to private schools in the East Bay. There are private schools that have a very clear mission and could not be public schools (Catholic, for example), but many of them are simply providing a quality education in a safe, physically appealing environment with highly motivated, creative and caring teachers. Why should only children of parents who can pay $10,000 a year have the right to go to such places? -- Myriam Godfrey
_______________MOMMIE DEAREST BY GARY KAMIYA (02/12/99)
	For those who wrote letters saying that Gary Kamiya's savagely funny description of Linda Tripp was uncalled for on the basis that "you can't tell a book by its cover," I say nonsense. There are times when a person's face reveals everything. Could anyone look upon Joseph McCarthy and not sense the evil inherent in his nature? Can anyone watch the fatuous, vanilla pudding face of Dan Quayle, with those eyes that cannot, or will not, look straight at you, and not sense that here is the ultimate front man, the perfect puppet? -- Larry Victor
_______________21ST LOG: KINDER, GENTLER Y2K PUNDITS BY JANELLE BROWN (02/01/99)
	We thank Salon for Janelle Brown's coverage of the "Y2K Family Survival Guide" hosted by Leonard Nimoy. Although her article seems a bit cynical, that's an understandable position knowing that there is already a glut of product rushing to capitalize on the public's increasing concern with Y2K. But we need to take exception at being swept up with many of the other works riding the current Y2K bandwagon. No, we cannot say that we are giving away the proceeds from the sales of our Y2K project to a Y2K charity. And yes, we do need to at least enable our funding entities to recoup their contributions to the project, but our project began last September, well before the Y2K hype hit the fan. Our project was created and funded by people who work in the field and are genuinely concerned about Y2K, and came together to get the word out with the best vehicle possible. Together we have not simply created a product to sell, per se, but a work that we truly know provides useful understanding of the subject matter. Brown placed our work within the same context as a product with a $79 price tag, created by a self-proclaimed "Y2K expert." Our work is available for a maximum of $15 at standard retail outlets, and for less via some Internet sites, such as Amazon.com. Most of the revenues are used to pay the middlemen necessary just to get the work to the market. Also, we explicitly state in our work that there can be no Y2K "experts" -- including us -- because nothing like this has ever happened before in the history of humankind. Regarding the "mainstream" issue: With a work about something like Y2K, there is no point in creating something that simply preaches to the choir. The necessary audience for a work like ours is precisely the average American or world citizen. And it is precisely because of our intention to reach the "mainstream" population that Leonard Nimoy may be the best possible spokesperson for this type of message; he is known throughout the world as an intelligent, high-integrity human being who's long been associated with scientific fact and unexplained phenomena. For better or worse, we do not live in a purely socialist state where all media works are subsidized by the government. As such, when creating any product, even a meaningful one, it is often necessary to create a work that must be put up for sale, and it must have elements about it will help secure the attention of the audiences it is trying to reach. This is one of the fastest ways to get a message to human beings anywhere. -- Andy van Roon Executive Producer, "Y2K Family Survival Guide," hosted by Leonard Nimoy SALON | Feb. 24, 1999

R E C E N T L Y+| FEAR OF FLUORIDE BY MARK HERTSGAARD AND PHILIP FRAZER

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