out of context I am Haley Nowak, Dennis Kim's former girlfriend. ...

/p>

I am Haley Nowak, Dennis Kim's former girlfriend. Exactly how former, you asked ["Blotter: The New Nabokov," Oct. 19]. Try the day before. Even if we had both been a year younger, it still wouldn't make him a pedophile. My parents knew him, and they knew how old he was, he wasn't just some older guy trying to score with high school girls. Not to mention that Jennifer Hare wasn't his girlfriend. Not even a little bit. They were down by the pier talking about me and our break up the day before. I don't have high expectations for a publication like New York Press but you could have at least read the whole article in the Post the first time around, since it featured a large picture of me, a quote, and mentioned that I was his girlfriend. Impressive investigative journalism skills, asshole. By the way, thanks for taking my quote out of context. I was expecting them to find a body. I wasn't expecting for him to die.

Haley Nowak, via email

needless

This was an insensitive, needless rant which took proper account neither of the fact that it's not uncommon in a relationship for the man (or woman) to be a few years older than his/her partner-nor of the fact that this was a sudden, tragic death of a young man whose relatives and friends are grieving. Not to mention the crass insensitivity of so savagely defaming a dead 22-year-old.

J.R. Taylor indeed has cause to feel relieved that Dennis Kim is dead. Were he alive, the Press might have suit filed against it and would almost certainly lose. I hope Taylor gets a few weeks of unpaid holiday at the very least, and that the Press ensures that such viciousness ceases to feature in its columns in future.

Peter Doughty, via email

disgusted

I am completely, 100% disgusted by your printing of the article degrading Dennis Kim. You obviously have absolutely no moral fiber whatsoever, and it is disgusting for you to denigrate somebody who was so dear and loved by so many. Yeah, it's "funny" to you, but let's see how you feel when someone close to you dies so tragically. Also, Haley is a completely mature girl, and it's ridiculous to suggest he was some sort of pedophile, especially considering Jen was not even his girlfriend. You make me ashamed to be a journalist.

Avery Hayes, via email

J.R. Taylor never claimed that Jennifer Hare was Kim's girlfriend. It's always a sad thing when a young man dies; our condolences to his family and friends. -The Eds

SHITFACED WITH THE GRUNTS

Knipfel's piece ["The Schedules of Others" Oct. 12] is hands down the best thing I've read in a long damn time. I used to like to read The New Yorker hoping for something like this, only to be disappointed. It is therapeutic to know that someone else feels and sees things in ordinary everyday life that others are ignoring.

Once again I find myself drunk in a bar after only planning to go out for dinner. That's what us lonely bastards do you know. We stay at home all week, then go out to finally be around people, and invariably find ourselves disappointed with whatever company is out there. Last night was different though. I met up with a marine who told me he had killed about ten people in Iraq. His buddy, an Army Ranger, preferred not to mention it.

They were doing the same sorts of things I do. Still wearing the camouflage B.D.U. top with civilian clothes. I don't know why we do that when we get out. It's like a blankie for me. I can hide behind it from people. They were shit faced as was I. His nerves were shot to hell. He was telling me about having nightmares. I wanted to get up and hunt a piece of old bar whore ass, but god damn it, there is an unwritten code amongst us fucked-up ex-military guys. The code is that you have to listen to the other guys shit while he's drunk even if it's fucked up and uncomfortable.

The thought that he might snap crossed my mind, but I knew he wouldn't somehow. So I got shitfaced with them. It's an odd brand of loyalty. Especially if you were the "zoomie" (Air Force guy) who was well out of combat range and well protected. These guys jumped out of the plane. They pulled the triggers. They have the nightmares. Others didn't understand where he was coming from and it scared them. At the same time wishing he would sober up, but afraid to cut him off. So I told him to drink some water so that he would at least not have the headache tomorrow. He sort of felt betrayed, but I told him he didn't have to stop drinking. So he drank a glass of water with me and another beer. Then he wanted to leave. He knew that he was drilled and making people kind of scared. I've been there myself. The only thing to do is take your drunk, mentally-ill ass home and sleep it off. I've been there myself. Hell, I've done worse. I used to burn my fingers with cigarettes during panic attacks. It calms me down. I don't do that anymore. When I used to do it in bars, blind drunk, because I thought a fight was about to happen, it scared people too. I knew how he felt. It was not pitiful. It was not sad. It's a sort of strange brand of humiliation. There you are, exposed, socially vulnerable, and drunk.

Knipfel wrote: "Which makes me think all the more that we are all out there at those empty hours for pretty much the same reason. And sad as it is, I'm glad for that."

I'm glad too.

I'm not mad at Bush anymore. I'm mad at all of us who have not voted for new leaders. Wouldn't it be nice to have a president like Kennedy again? Wouldn't it be nice to have a new era of Idealism? An era of hope? A brief shining moment of grace. The torch has been passed to my generation of Americans, and while it has burned us a bit, by God we are still holding on to it. God save us lost boys.

James Wes Brown, via email

AS COSTELLO FANS, WE FELT THE SAME

Fantastic article by J.R. Taylor on Bacharach ["Pretending to Pray," Oct 19]. I was a Burt fan up until the '90s when he started getting weird with his talent by teaming up with Elvis Costello. Now, I could not agree more with anyone as I do Taylor: This composer, the Beethoven of our lives, has lived through much worse than this era and this administration and this war. Shame on Bacharach for his wealthy turn to ultra-liberalism in his old age. Guess you have to get fans somehow, huh?

T. W. Tubbs, via email

A STOPPED CLOCK

I always said Mr. Wiggles was a pointless, and sophomoric strip.

I also think Gurewitch's comic is often brilliant. Looks like you guys felt the same way as me!

Guess we should start the "Crackpot Club," eh, Marchman!

Now, tell me you don't think my comics were the smartest / most insightful out there right now.

Putting Bush and OJ together?

Cheap, yet flawless.

I'm not joking: I don't hate you guys and I want to help you grow up and be smarter. I think you're just victims of the dumbing down of society. You were left hanging by our awful educational and social structures, but we can overcome these flaws in you.

Let me drag you to a few events and then you can say 'wow! This is much better than a Franz Ferdinand concert!"

You can't be 13 forever, boys.

Still waiting for Harry to prove he's a more potent journalist than me.

You got three weeks left to break a bigger scandal than mine which ended Fields' campaign.

If you fail, you all admit that I'm smarter and more useful to society.

Christopher X. Brodeur, Manhattan

TINGLING WITH SCHADENFREUDE

I hate to admit that I let her bother me, but I really can't stand Judy McGuire. My nips are tingling with schadenfreude at the thought that my prayers have been answered: the bitch is out! But, you guys are pussies-she's right-and there's nothing "alt" about the way she was let go. A pox on both your houses.

Alan Levine, via email

SEATTLE WEEKLY?

While I applaud your allowing her an unexpurgated farewell column, your decision to fire Judy McGuire was, from my viewpoint, an awful one. Her column was not the only one I read weekly, but was the only one that made the Press a must-read. And a poor handling of the situation too, offering what weren't the reasons she was fired instead of the reason she was. I'll be turning my time to some other publication now.

Mike Gordon, via email

OBVIOUSLY

Damn it, Judy McGuire is one of the best things you have going for this paper. Nice move firing her?obviously you're an idiot.

Valerie Moreland, via email

SUCH AS?

The colorfully-named Walmsley Apricot probably shouldn't be poking fun at Bob Dylan's prose if he's going to come up with lines like "my old city was englutted by a brown sea" himself. Dylan's musings on New Orleans were previously just fascinating; now, alas, they're relevant as well. Mr. Apricot says that Dylan's "lazy writing" inspired him to pick up his own pen to write about New Orleans; let's hope he can someday say anything as lasting as Bob Dylan does on a regular basis.

Jerry Peragine, Harrisburg, PA

"OR WHAT," ACTUALLY

Man you guys are lacking?lacking?lacking. How do you propose to go on? Without Matt Taibbi, I was like OK, I'll give it a try. But it is not working. Are you trying to move into some kind of mainstream political commentary or what? And the death of Mr. Wiggles. For shame. Confused reader?

Michelle Savarese, The Bronx

NO

Was your writer trying to insinuate that the 24-year-old mom who was gunned down shouldn't have been out that late? ["Blotter-Grandmama," Oct. 19] If not, it sure seemed that way, and if so, you people are filth.

Matt DeMazza, Manhattan

GOOD POINT

Eric Adler notes ["With Us or Against US?" Oct. 19] that "those concerned about the survival of Israel hope that Karen Hughes no longer plays a role in this administration's foreign policy."

Note also that Hughes has been loudly trumpeting our national religiosity, idiotically thinking that it makes us look more like good guys and not less. Robert Papes put it well in the Guardian:

"If you read Osama's speeches, they begin with descriptions of the US occupation of the Arabian peninsula driven by our religious goals and that it is our religious purpose that must be confronted. That argument is incredibly powerful, not only to religious Muslims but also secular Muslims. Everything Hughes says makes their case."

It's enough to make those concerned about the survival of New Yorkers hope that Karen Hughes no longer plays a role in any administration's policy. With us or against us isn't even a question. She's clearly against us. Although I suppose we could bicker about what "us" means.

Joshua Bregman, Washington Heights

GONE!

Taibbi? Gone! McGuire? Gone! But Armond White's still puking Spielberg's sperm all over New York Press. Anyone declaring Steven-of-Doom "America's Best Friend" should be banned from indie media, let alone Anthology Film Archives. He makes Neil Swaab look like George Herriman; he makes Dr. Dot look fuckable. I swear on Schindler, fire Armond White and I'll send you twenty dollars cash.

Juan-Jose Pichardo, via email

not enough

First Matt Taibbi and Paul Krassner, then Mr. Wiggles and now Date Girl, Judy McGuire, the only sex columnist who seemed to have an emotional life more complex than Britney Spears'. What is the point of your paper anymore?

Is someone paying you to do this?

Chris Shilock,

Minnesota Poet and Radical

A WHOLE LOT OF WRONG ABOUT THE POOBAHS

In how they fired Judy McGuire, the new managers at New York Press conformed to the standards of U.S. media boss behavior. They never explain why they do what they do. The inner workings of media organs are always opaque. Figuring out what's going on inside is like Kremlin-watching. Media masters are never open and honest. Instead they feed us, the public, boilerplate pabulum. It's like hiding things from small children-very paternalistic and insulting.

Since the editors there won't explain their "reasons" (they use the plural in a short coda to McGuire's farewell column), I'll hazard a guess as to why McGuire got the axe.

The bulk of the readership of sex columns is male, I would presume. McGuire was obviously hostile to men, unfailingly belittled them in her column, and always picked clueless losers' letters as exemplars of the gender. While this mansogynist (if I may use a new coinage) approach might appeal to submissives and masochists, the majority of sex-hungry men would no doubt find it off-putting, irksome, annoying, aggravating, offensive, and even enraging after awhile. (Like, after the first column, in my case.)

So someone had a brilliant idea-get a rock-star groupie, pose her in a nurse's getup (rented for a few hours for the photo shoot), and let her try her hand at giving out advice to the sexlorn. And why spend money on two sex columnists? (Although the editors say they're going to hire another- ahem- "relationship" columnist.) Hey, this ain't the Voice, money don't grow on trees, you know!

New York Press for many years has had a rapid turnover in bylines. Very, very few have lasted over the years. (The ones that have are the original owner, Russ Smith, who perhaps retains an ownership interest-he certainly seems to have retained some control-and a small coterie of reactionaries apparently grouped around him.) Another guess as to the why-it's cheaper to hire new, unestablished writers. And who cares about writers developing a readership? You can always get new readers too. Say your target demographic is the never-ending supply of young refugees from the more socially-repressive parts of America (i.e. most of the country). That readership is constantly self-renewing and always changing anyway. New York Press' big failure over the years has been in not establishing much of an identity. It's just a cheeky free paper, which isn't hard to be, or much to be.

A second way the new editors hew to standard U.S. media practice is the cowardly, shabby way they fired McGuire. The way the U.S. media fires people is by sneaking up behind them on tiptoes and stabbing them in the back. Example: Michael Eisner once caused to be published under his name in a business rag an essay in which he gratuitously said, apropos of nothing in the article, that Ellen DeGeneres' ABC show was safe. Uh-oh, I thought to myself. Not two weeks later, DeGeneres' hilarious sitcom was shitcanned.

Similarly, the New York Press poohbahs deceived McGuire, even telling her her column would run "indefinitely" (an obvious lie in itself) a mere 24 hours before giving her the heave-ho. I doubt they'd suddenly changed their minds in less than a day. But no doubt the editors of the Press feel they acted in good faith, as their creepy behavior conforms to the smarmy conventions of U.S. media practice. But to us, the rabble who are the targets of the media, it's sleazy. (Maybe that's why the media are so instinctively secretive.)

Your writers deserve more respect when you let them go, even the manhating bitch ones.

Jason Zenith, New York City

WE OPPRESS AS A MATTER OF PRINCIPLE

Jose Ratat Maldanado's piece ["A Slow Death for Suicide Girls" Oct. 19] in my opinion was written in very poor taste, and very problematic.

Perhaps being typical Patriarchal males it is hard for you to fully grasp just how oppressive it would be for your Female readers, (self-described "feminists" and non-feminists), especially when Mr. Maldonado says, "Quit being some man's bitch. Take responsibility and, if I may, either act with decency or start taking the site's name a little more literally." How dare he make a gender-biased statement like that?

He also says to Missy, "Stop asking your underpaid naked chicks to do your dirty work." The women involved in SuicideGirls are not just "some naked chicks"-these are real women, with real feelings and emotions, and that is what separates them from just "some naked chicks." Nonchalantly putting them into that category of "naked chicks" makes it seem as if the women involved in SuicideGirls were just some mainstream porn stars.

However, that's the misconception you at New York Press seem to have about the basic idea of "Feminist Pornography," which is intended to provide women with a safe outlet/environment in which to be able to express themselves in a sexual manner without having to worry about repercussions from some sort of patriarchal hierarchy (that is associated with "mainstream" pornography) because the "oppressive male figure" has been removed and in its place the woman/women involved in the act/production have taken over the reigns, and now decides in what way she wants to be portrayed. This basic ideal of "Feminist Pornography" puts the "choice" back into women's hands! Instead of these women being told by some Patriarchal figure how they will be objectified, which usually entails a very oppressive gender construct, these women can now portray themselves in a much more positive way that separates them from "just some naked chicks."

I am in no way saying that I support "Missy Suicide" or the recent debacle that has occurred with SuicideGirls, I am however saying that you should put into consideration how others may react to the negative language that was used referring to a woman. I am deeply offended by the wording of this article and I feel that New York Press lacks the mannerisms and qualities that are associated with much more reputable news outlets.

I would hope that in the future you at the New York Press will be much more inclusive to the feelings of all of your readers, and will perhaps think twice before printing an article that is as offensive and oppressive as this article was.

Jessica H. Hoffman, via email