Issue 54 | Correspondence | The Sun Magazine

Correspondence

I’m angry at Issue 53 of THE SUN so I thought I’d better tell you why. I’m angry that a man wrote the book review for a woman’s literary work on feminism and ecology, Woman and Nature: The Roaring Inside Her.

Plus (there’s more) I’m angry that “Sunbeams” did not contain one sunbeam by a woman (and “Sunbeams” has failed to do so in the past, so this is accumulated anger).

I’ve said my piece.

Andrea Ayvazian Chapel Hill, N.C.
The Sun responds:

I agree with you about Sunbeams — there aren’t many women writers represented. But there’s nothing deliberate about this. We pick quotes because of what they say, not who said them. We also welcome contributions to Sunbeams.

As to your comment on the book review, what can I, “a man,” say? You don’t criticize the review, just the fact that someone of the opposite sex wrote it.

Kudos to you for Issue 52 — THE SUN keeps getting better all the time! I particularly enjoyed Norman Shealy’s thoughts on health and Nyle Frank’s true stories. Thanks.

I have something that you might like to use in “Sunbeams.” A couple of weeks ago I was driving in Connecticut and I picked up a “Christian” radio station broadcasting from Middletown. The program they had on was “Tips for Teens.” The announcer was talking about the importance of keeping things together at home when he said:

“Home is where life
               makes up its mind.”

I really like that.

I have been reading THE SUN now for 8 or 9 months. I have most of the back issues too. THE SUN and CoEvolution Quarterly are really the only periodicals that I truly enjoy. They are the only ones that I don’t feel hustled by and they are the only ones that come from a place I feel comfortable with. (CoEvolution seems to be becoming less so as time goes by, though.) Thanks again.

The one thing in THE SUN that I don’t feel comfortable with is your motto, “What is to give light must endure burning.” I don’t think that is 100% true, although I appreciate the thought that lies behind it. Children and fireflies are two things which give light without fire. I believe that there are many others.

I appreciate your regionalism. As a reader in far away New England, I get a clear sense of the nature and character of Chapel Hill and your feelings for it. It’s nice.

Up here our periodicals, “alternative” and otherwise, present a rather distorted view of the nature and character of our area. Things are pretty screwed up here in Hartford where I spend much of my time and the media here tends to deal with our situation unrealistically. The things they applaud are usually bogus. The problems they address are usually dealt with in a sensationalistic way. My guess is that both these things are the result of commercialism.

I consider myself to be a part of a larger national and global community of common beings but I “live” in Hartford. The things I read and dream and think are often my ties to that community. “Home is . . .”, though, and my home is Hartford, Connecticut, New England, and America. We all live together and we all have to be aware of the nature of our home(s). Would you consider extending your orientation towards regionalism to include the “homes” of your widespread audience — perhaps a feature like “Us” or “Doing What I Do” (called “Home”?) would fit the bill — having your readers write in and talk about where they live and how they feel about it. (?) I think that could be fine.

Keep up the good work!

Jim Wilson Hartford, Connecticut
The Sun responds:

I think a section called “Home” is a fine idea. Would someone like to get it started with a submission of 700 words?

As to your comment on the Victor Frankl quote which we’ve made our motto, you’re right and he’s right.

Thanks for your thoughtfulness.

I’ve just read “Loneliness” by Louise Lacey in the excerpts from Woman’s Choice [Issue 53]. I have never read so clear and helpful a comment on loneliness. In looking over the excerpts from this journal, I’m gratified to discover that there is some pocket of helpful, sensible comment and thought for women in the sexual war which seems so terminally popular in this world. No doubt there is some way the alternate viewpoints are expressed (there have got to be healthy male people who are literate somewhere?) and I look forward to discovering this soon.

I have for years wondered when there will be a positive, creative male expression of viewpoints to complement the emergence of such beautiful and helpful words as I see are in print now in Woman’s Choice. On my road from the place so vividly bared in Jim Thornton’s letter in the same issue of THE SUN to whatever place I’m going it’s good to know there are people walking around in women’s bodies to meet and get to know, who are what I guess I’d call a little more grown up.

Jim Welborn Minneapolis, Minnesota
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