Letters to the Editor	Letters Archive

Criminalization of the ordinary

Your editorial on the increasing criminalization of ordinary, non-violent behavior along with increasing rates of imprisonment in the U.S. [America's Criminal Policy February 2000] was right on target. More than a "right to marry," many men would like the right to cruise for sex, get or give a blow job, fuck or get fucked without fear of being charged with a felony.

View our poll archive

It's too bad that the seriousness of being arrested and charged with crime, particularly a sex crime, rarely strikes home until one experiences it personally. Often those with personal experience in the legal system are sexually, racially marginalized individuals up against an increasingly corrupt criminal justice system.

Those who feel demoralized and hopeless in jails and prisons should be heartened and inspired by the good company of many important writers, political leaders, poets, religious leaders, and activists who have been imprisoned before them throughout history. Maybe you can compile and publish a list sometime.

B. J.
Boston

Film crew looking for Frisco barebackers

We are a UK based film production company. We are currently filming an international documentary about the condom and different cultures attitudes towards it. We would like to make contact with eloquent men who bareback. We do not want to sensationalize this, we want to have a educated look at the issues surrounding this phenomenon.

This is a film about people around the world affected by condoms, specifically focusing on attitudes in three countries: India, the US, and Poland.

We would like to speak to men who don't want to wear condoms, women who insist that their men do, etc., to see how the condom effects different peoples lives. The film will take a street level perspective, allowing the people whose life are affected by condom use (or misuse or non-use) to speak for themselves about the issues that effect them. The films are not preachy; they are about understanding the lives of people around the world and how and why their attitudes on condoms may differ.

We would like to make contact with eloquent men who bareback in the San Francisco area. We do not want to sensationalize this, we want to have a educated look at this phenomenon, and hear from the people that actually do it. I don't know if you can help but if you could put me in touch with anybody in San Francisco it would be a great help to us.

Ewen Thomson
ewen@ideallondon.com

Rooting for Bernie Baran

After reading Bernie Baran's Story, December 1999, I say: Bernard, never give up! We know what's going on in this world even if you don't. Some times things that mean something cost a price, we must pay that price; with the truth in your heart, that's what will take us through our fears and show us the most profound truths. Keep the faith and know thy self. All is well with you, know this!

Stephen
sskellinger1@worldnet.att.net

Thanks; for those interested in helping the wrongly convicted Bernard Baran, consider a contribution to Bernard Baran Justice Committee, c/o Swomley and Wood, 83 Atlantic Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02110 USA.

Soap-on-a-rope dope

Just wanted to let you know that the June 2000 "Dirty Dishes" story about Millard North High School [Ben Dover, Meet Harry Sfincter...] occurred in the Millard suburb of Omaha, Nebraska.

timruss@home.com