Everything about your article, "Does this book make me look smart?" (April 15), is awful. If Chris Braiotta had read Infinite Jest, he might realize what an incredible jerk he is for talking so poorly about such an emotional, heartfelt book. It's cerebral, sure, but at its core, it's just trying to foster a dialogue about how to be good to each other, how to connect with other human beings. Braiotta reduces that to an insulting level without having read it. I'm angry but I also just feel badly for him, that he's missing out. He sounds like everything he's accusing IJ fans of being. The book changed my life in a real way — it helped me. I'm pissed off that Braiotta is trying to invalidate everyone's experience with the book. He's a pretentious dick.STEPHANIE PALUMBO
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK
ALL WET
In your Red Sox supplement ("How I learned to face the music," April 8), you mention the Standells and say that they had never been to Boston. While that may have been true prior to their recording of "Dirty Water," they opened for the Rolling Stones at the Manning Bowl in Lynn in the summer of 1966 and played the song at that show. When the Stones started playing "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," everyone knew that the show was ending. Those of us on the field rushed the stage. The Stones' limos were parked in front of the stage. The Stones sprinted to the limos as the crowd rushed them. The police, without a weatherman to tell them which way the wind was blowing, let loose tear gas. Only problem was that the wind was blowing back at them and they were the ones who were tear-gassed! I was there.
FOSTER COOPERSTEIN
NEWTON
Related:
Sin tax, Turning in that low-numbered plate for a pink one, The powerless rise, More 
- Sin tax
Among other things, your editorial calling for the Catholic Church to be punitively taxed for its anti-abortion lobbying suffers from a breathtaking lack of inconsistency.
- Turning in that low-numbered plate for a pink one
Low-numbered plates may be Valhalla for Rhode Island’s vainglorious. But they are hard to come by. So for the average driver looking for attention, “vanity” and “special category” plates are the way to go.
- The powerless rise
I’m an even-tempered guy. I don’t lose my cool more than, maybe, once or twice a day.
- More muzzles
I question whether "soft censorship" is actually a form of literal censorship.
- ''Holy war'' holes
I’m as liberal as the next guy, and I’ve been bothered for years by the distorted values and activities of the religious right in their pursuit of enforced conformity.
- Mail dump
Thanks for your article on the price increase on blue bags. The article should also mention another consequence of the price hike: some neighbors have chosen to simply ignore the blue-bag rule and use their own bags.
- Dump at City Hall?
Thank you for your recent article about the price increase on city trash bags. When I first noticed this at Hannaford this summer, I was disgusted!
- Reader reactions to the Portland Phoenix endorsements
I don't mind you endorsing the Oxford casino but I would have expected a more informed decision.
- Generation X: Letters to the Boston Phoenix Editor, January 7, 2011
Your article, “ Gen X Goes to Washington ” (November 26, 2010) was great. I’m glad this topic is finally being discussed.
- Not-so-progressive nightmares and the Buy Local survey
Deirdre Fulton's characterization of the nightmare unfolding in Augusta is accurate (" Progressive Nightmare ," March 18); her characterization of that as a "progressive" nightmare is not.
- My nightmare, too
It is about time this state changed and LePage is doing everything he can to get this state out of the Dumpster.
- Less
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Letters
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