Letters to the Editor
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
‘First Choice Preschool Letters’
First-choice letters for preschool are just another example of the unnecessary, deleterious New York City hype involved with the New York City school scene. All of us interview or receive applications from hundreds of adorable, capable children/families [“Parents Facing a New Document: The ‘First Choice’ Preschool Letter,” Deborah Kolben, Page 1, January 31, 2006].
If we accept the first 50 we like, and they turn us down, we can go to the next 50, and the next 50, and still get a fabulous group of new families. Why be greedy?
I rip up the first-choice letters because they are an absurd exercise.
WENDY LEVEY
Director
Epiphany Community Nursery School
www.ecns.org
Manhattan
‘Disorder & Early Sorrow’
I can think of fewer things that could be more unfortunate for the state of contemporary literature than if your readers were to take Alec Solomita’s article, “Disorder & Early Sorrow,” with any seriousness [Arts & Letters, January 25, 2006].
Mr. Solomita seems to have a tired yet passionate, albeit contradictory, disdain for John Gardner. Oddly, he barely touches upon Mr. Gardner’s work, which is what this article should have been, not too mention probably was supposed to be, about.
While best-seller lists (of which Mr. Gardner ranked with several novels) or awards (October Light won the National Book Critics Circle award) don’t often signify much, many do hold these things as indicative of something.
In this day and age when literacy has dropped to a juvenile level, I find it astounding that someone would get irate over the (re)publication of some very fine novels. The fact that they ever slipped out of distribution is a shame and indicative of the state of literature.
JAY TRACY
Zurich, Switzerland
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