Sad and without dignity

I have spent the last 13 years participating in researching great white sharks at Ano Nuevo Island as a member of the Pelagic Shark Research Foundation. Never in my wildest dreams could I imagine such a heinous idea ("Great White Ways," Oct.28). To put these animals at risk intentionally is reckless and smacks of showmanship. That National Geographic would sign on, well, I guess fishing shows are all the rage these days. This is indicative of the flawed judgment of sanctuary administrators. Sad and without dignity. Our sharks deserve better.

Callaghan Fritz-Cope

Photographer and Conservationist

Stop the Witch-Bashing already

Please stop accepting ads from people who think it is fun, innocent and not a problem to portray witches as old, female and ugly—with green faces, missing teeth and hooked noses!

Most people's ideas about witches are shaped by the media, in which many harmful, prejudicial, reinforcing images of witches are abundant. This has resulted in painful, embarrassing and physically harmful witch-bashing.

In this liberal and conscious area, this should be as unthinkable as would be printing images of Mother Mary with a green face, missing teeth and a hooked nose, or allowing people to throw eggs at black peole who don't sit at the back of the bus.

Barbara Dougherty

Local Witch, Cotati

We all love Bill McKibben

Thank you for a great article ("None Like It Hot," Oct. 21). I sit on the Go Green committee for our company, Entertainment Partners, and picked up a copy of the magazine while on a four-day mini trip up north last weekend. I will be sharing this article with the committee and the company as we continue to try to do our part to help the planet.

I appreciate the story and what a great job Bill McKibben is doing by sacrificing his time away from his wife and daughter to make a difference in this world for our very existence on this planet.

Jeannie Allen

Burbank

Write stuff

Congratulations to Birgit Nielsen on her article ("Goodbye, Lenin!" Open Mic, Oct. 28) on the dismantling of the Berlin Wall. Not only does it brim over with first-hand experience of the events of the time, but unlike many political articles that can't avoid self-righteous diatribe, her article clings to the earth with details. A rusted VW Rabbit travels through "a flurry of fat snowflakes," as she first hears of the event on her car radio, "windshield wipers squealing." Afterward, there's a celebratory beer with a friend.

Looming over her tale are "the deserted gray booths of the former border crossing." The formerly state-owned fields the Wall once divided are now fenced and owned by corporations, says Nielsen. Physical walls can come down quickly, but often one system replaces another, with the freedom to roam free through one's life being much more elusive. "Belief systems," she says, "have to be taken down one miserable brick at a time." Well done!

Robert Feuer

Camp Meeker

Robert Feuer does occasionally contribute to our music section, but we couldn't let that stop us from printing his sincere kudos.

Dept. of Salted Water

Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary superintendent Maria Brown would like to correct the Bohemian's implication in last week's news story, "Great White Ways," that Dr. Pete Klimley, who spoke out against Dr. Michael Domeier's controversial shark research techniques, was consulted by the NOAA for his opinion. Brown says Klimley was not officially consulted but was merely spoken to on the telephone.

The Ed.

Constantly speaking and consulting

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