Letters from the Issue of February 1, 2007

Pitbull’s Mom Speaks And she wants Tancredo’s ear: Regarding “Immigrant Song” (January 18) by José Davila: I am Pitbull’s mother. I live in Kendall, and I just want you to know I’ve been in the United States since 1962, and his father came here in 1961. My son was conceived…

Letters from the Issue of January 25, 2007

Back to School Learn your lesson: Thanks for the objective and comprehensive coverage in Rob Jordan’s “The Missionary” (January 4). The issues, efforts to address them, and challenges to addressing them were well represented. I would like to comment on teacher Judy Brown’s statement, “If your scores aren’t good, you…

The Doctor, Part 1

Cops hauled away my next-door neighbor last week. They say he molested four boys. When one kid was eleven years old, the physician “fondled his penis, masturbating him until ejaculation,” according to a police report. That was at a 1999 sleepover. The doctor repeated the perversion two years later, officers…

Letters from the Issue of January 18, 2007

Phone-y He put a bug in our ear: Regarding Our Woman in Havana’s story, “Press Time” (January 11): In her previous article about waiting for Fidel to go, she wrote about how cell phones, and indeed even regular phones, were impossible for regular Cuban citizens to get. That being the…

Letters from the Issue of January 11, 2007

He’s on a Mission This guy’s not a missionary: Great article about Shawn Beightol, “The Missionary” (January 4) by Rob Jordan, but there are other candidates for leader of the United Teachers of Dade who deserve to be covered in the same depth. Ron Beasley created the Spotlight Caucus, which…

Letters from the Issue of January 4, 2007

Hit List Indy indeed: Regarding Dave Herrera’s “Independence Day” (December 28): I thought his list was great. (I especially liked the inclusion of the Arctic Monkeys and Band of Horses.) I couldn’t help but notice how much his intro echoed the discussion in my book in the chapter “What Is…

Letters from the Issue of December 28, 2006

Angelic Discourse He deserved it: Emily Witt’s article “Executing Angel” (December 14) was very good. Excellent journalism! Great storytelling! Considering Angel Diaz’s background, I think he deserved to be executed. Normally I’m not a real fan of capital punishment. However, Angel proved to be beyond rehabilitation to function in our…

Letters from the Issue of December 21, 2006

Which Witch The Hialeah one, of course: In reference to “Wicked” (December 14) by Francisco Alvarado: I am one of the “activists” who seeks to remove Seijas from office. She has repeatedly demonstrated gross incompetence. Consider, for example, articles related to Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Authority, over which she maintained…

Letters from the Issue of December 14, 2006

Anyway, You Have Some Nerve My boyfriend is on his way over: I read Brandon K. Thorp’s stage review “Road to Self-Satisfaction” (December 7), and I must say it sounds like it was written by a guy who could barely graduate from a community college. I cannot believe you have…

Stop the Cat Box

So Art Basel is finally over, leaving in its book-fair-fatigued, film-festivaled wake a gasp of air before Winter Music Conference lethargy sets in. Barely a single installation, gallery, or wine-and-cheese reception was devoid of condescending hipster irony. In Miami Beach, limos did their regular thing, filling three parking spots and…

Letters from the Issue of December 7, 2006

O.J.: Pro and Would-Be Con Nail ‘im: Regarding “If We Did It” (November 23): If I saw O.J. Simpson, I’d stab him myself. It would be worth it to go to jail for taking his fed-up @$$ off the face of this earth. I ask myself all the time: What…

Creating Monsters

Miami-Dade Animal Services faces an insurmountable task of education and control amid an unstaunchable flow of ignorance — the drama embodied by the 32,000-plus unwanted pets turned in to its shelter intake areas each year. (And those are just the dogs and cats that make it to the shelter; many…

Letters from the Issue of November 30, 2006

If He Did It Errol, not OJ: While I appreciate the article in your November 23 issue, “If We Did It,” about creative solutions to the O.J. infestation here in South Florida, I refuse to believe that O.J. Simpson no longer has a useful role in society. I believe in…

Real Genius

Clothing in Miami is impermanent. There’s the resurgence of Eighties-inspired punk gear, the sometimes sky- high hemlines, leopard prints, and rhinestone-speckled handkerchief tops. They’re all like bottles of the new Beaujolais, to be consumed quickly and disposed of rapidly. Enter Karelle Levy, whose Krelwear line includes garments of lasting significance…

Letters from the Issue of November 23, 2006

Good Cop Bad cop = big money: In reference to Carl Jones’s “A Snitch Seeks His Money” (November 9): If you castigate a police officer who — for whatever reason — came forward to tell the truth about police corruption, then you are sanctioning further police corruption. You are warning…

Letters from the Issue of November 16, 2006

Here’s to Playboy And buck-fifty beers: The Bitch’s recent article about Jimbo’s, “Aluminum Can Omen” (November 2), was shortsighted and, if the intention was to describe Jimbo’s as a hippie retreat, more than a bit off the mark. By focusing on a few recent interviews and images depicted in an…

Table 8 Is Enough

There are so many rude and incompetent public relations professionals (and of course many thorough, decent, and rigorous agents) right here in South Florida it is shocking to The Bitch that anyone would look beyond our area to obtain what is so readily, locally available. Yet at least briefly, incoming,…

No Garden Party

Drug dealers outgun cops. A 23-year-old warehouse worker is shot dead over a five-dollar bet. A three-year-old falls from a second floor balcony and cracks her head because of a broken railing. At the two slums where it all happened, you pay the rent. Dilip Barot, a politically connected, Indian-born…

The Moon Is the First TV

Somehow those who love art find a way — even in Miami — of pursuing their passion. Visiting a gallery, wandering through a museum, keeping up with Tokion and Whitewall — all of these rituals occur regularly and naturally. But then comes the formal, fetishized annual mess that is Art…

Letters from the Issue of November 9, 2006

Directorial Incompetence Hebert is hellacious: Thank you to Octavio Roca for castigating Bliss Hebert for his poor direction of Aïda in “Vigorous Verdi” (November 2). He has no business directing. I was appalled at his totally static direction of Lucia a season or two ago, but when I protested to…

Aluminum Can Omen

He was a glutton, a drug addict, an absentee father. There are many more reasons, beyond sonic and canine aesthetics, to loathe Jerry Garcia in particular and hippies in general. Adrift in a sea of Grateful Dead skull-and-flowers logo-bearing T-shirts, The Bitch discovered yet another tangential motivation for crying “death…

Letters from the Issue of November 2, 2006

From Guatemala to Ethiopia Watch that court: I want to thank Emily Witt for investigating and writing the article regarding immigration judges’ work vis-à-vis asylum seekers, “Mock Trial” (October 19). For the public, it is fundamental to bring and maintain high standards within the immigration system. Only through the public’s…