A Challah Passover
I was surprised that you chose a beautiful leavened challah as a symbol of Passover—exactly what Jews should abstain from for the holiday [“Intelligencer: It Happens This Week,” April 2]. I was trying to figure out if it was an editorial mistake or just a tease (“Hey, Jews, look at what you’ll be missing out on for eight days”). Then I saw the banana peel to illustrate April Fools’ Day. Very funny.
—Marisa Cohen, Manhattan
Editors’ response: Sadly, it wasn’t an April Fools’ joke, just an error. The X that was supposed to go over the challah never made it onto the page. Next year: matzo and maror!
Invincibles Versus Insured
I’m all for universal health coverage [“The Young Invincibles,” by David Amsden, April 2]. As a self-employed taxpayer, I’d gladly kick in so that the idiots of my generation can keep spending their cash on gyms, rock climbing, and getting drunk in the city instead of paying for their own health insurance like I do.
—Johanna Wiseman, Bridgewater, N.J.
I am an emergency-room physician at Long Island College Hospital and was troubled to read “The Young Invincibles.” The article implies that there are two standards of care for patients coming to the ER based on whether they have insurance. This is not my experience. ER doctors (and the rest of the ER staff) are paid the same and deliver the same care regardless of a patient’s insurance status. When we order tests and cat scans, we are often not given the patient’s face sheet, which lists insurance status. Furthermore, cat scans take hours when diagnosing appendicitis because many patients are required to drink a contrast agent in advance, which takes several hours to work its way down to the appendix.
—Tucker Woods, Brooklyn
Manhattan and the Anglophile
Having lived in London recently for a year and a half, I can say that your London-versus-New York feature was bang on target [“London (The Other New York),” March 26]. Yes, London does have a vibrant underground music scene, superior theater, an eclectic fashion sense, and a newly acquired sophisticated palate for food other than pub grub. But it is also riddled with an archaic class system, an outrageously high cost of living, and hideous weather. London has decrepit mass transit and is rife with a yob culture, binge drinking, and, yes, many people who can’t come to terms with the fact that the empire has indeed crumbled.
—Nicky Fernando, Manhattan
This is nitpicky, but, as any tragic Anglophile will tell you, your cover model shouldn’t be wearing Everlast boxing gloves. Lonsdale would surely be her brand of choice.
—Ross Brown, Brooklyn
That Gentleman
Ariel Levy’s article on George W.S. Trow was fascinating [“The Last Gentleman,” March 26]. That and her recent article on Dash Snow [“Chasing Dash Snow,” January 15] display thrilling insight into some of the more-exclusive social worlds of American culture: the nightlife of neo-Warhols, the contemporary art market, William Shawn’s New Yorker, and Harvard and its aristocracies.
—J. Taylor Carr, Mansfield Center, Conn.
Regarding your profile of George W.S. Trow: Diana Vreeland never whitewashed the soles of her shoes. She merely had them polished black or brown on a daily basis, in order to minimize the scuffs that resulted from daily walking (it was a maintenance trick she shared with the Duchess of Windsor). Whitewashing soles would be idiotic, but polishing them is true style.
—Mitchell Owens, Brooklyn
Stuffed
I can’t think of anything more unappetizing than dining under the stuffed head of an animal gazing down on me and my dinner [“Food: Stuffed,” by Robin Raisfeld and Rob Patronite, April 2]. And why stop with wild animals? Why not add dogs and cats? There’s really no difference.
—Elaine Sloan, Manhattan