Letters

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We're taping this to the fridge!

Diggers,

I spent a year living in Cambridge, and the Weekly Dig was one of my favorite things while I was there. I liked it enough, in fact, to frame a few issues.

SEAN

VIA EMAIL

Please redeem us.

Ladies and gents,Please allow me to expand your eco-consciousness just a tad more: In Bean Counter (3.26.08), you refer to legislation that would make water and juice bottles recyclable."

They are, of course, recyclable already. Certainly, those containers should be subject to the same deposit requirements as the others, but the only thing stopping people from recycling them is their own willingness. The nickel is extra.

MICHAEL

ARLINGTON

If it ain't controversial, it ain't a soapbox.

Dear Dig,

After reading Julie Bogart's piece (Soapbox, 3.5.08), I was left with a few questions.

1. What is a parent doing bringing a 3-month-old to a party?

2. Why did the mother leave the infant with a "friendly acquaintance" without any instructions like, "don't let anyone else hold my baby"?

3. Why was the mother concerned with how she was being perceived ("as an uptight mom"), than doing her job as a parent?

As a new-ish parent, I get the anxieties this new mother must have felt. But if she's so worried about who is surrounding her baby, maybe she should wonder with whom she's surrounding herself. I understand, abductions happen. (I won't even go into how offended I was at Ms. Bogart's characterization of the hypothetical abductor as a man ... women do it too!) Still, babies are a joy. While I agree that they are not cuddly toys, they are cuddly.

I agree that it's not appropriate to ask the parent of a 5-year-old to borrow the child, but it sounds like it was a fairly closed situation the mother could supervise. She should have seized this opportunity to socialize her child, take a breather (ever hold a baby for more than an hour?) and socialize herself. She could work on her communication skills and express her anxiety in a way that tells people to back off without alienating everyone. If that's not an option, she could lie and say something like, "I'm sorry, but I don't get to see my infant enough and I need this time with her." Or she could get a babysitter. Or she could live in a cave.

Remember, a stranger is just a friend you haven't met.

Annoyed, but still a fan of the Dig.

CG

VIA EMAIL