I was deeply moved by Hilary de Vries’ interview with Gene Hackman (“Hackman,” June 5). My heart goes out to him for all the pain he has suffered. What a dreadful burden to carry all that anger and hate around for 50 years.
Perhaps all that hostility Mr. Hackman feels inside is not entirely directed at his father. Perhaps some of it is at himself because he repeated the same deed that caused the hatred for his father. He, also, deserted his grandmother, sick mother and little brother.
Things won’t change until he confronts his father with the rage and resentment he has stored up these many years. Unless he deals with it, he truly will always be a lonely man.
C.A. Glavor, Oak Lawn
Stone Age stereotypes
In the Q&A with Rob Becker (Fast Track, June 5), he describes hunting and gathering like a person who has done neither.
The narrow focus on the rear end of an animal is an attention mode the real hunter switches to only when she thinks she’s about to be able to make the killing shot.
After proper education from his elders and with some experience, the gatherer learns how to read the signs of nature that tell him what’s going to be ripe or in bloom.
The scientific problem with gender stereotypes based on hunting and gathering skills is that, unless someone can prove the genes responsible for them are on the sex chromosomes, then they’re equally distributed among males and females and there is no way a sexist society can breed people to behave true to these stereotypes.
On the other hand, bopping women on the head to control our behavior is a strategy guys use even today. What else could the crimes of stalking and rape be about?
Jean SmilingCoyote, Chicago
Repaying a D-Day debt
At the time of the D-Day invasion (“Once Upon a War,” May 29), I was a little girl in Germany. My dad was in the U.S. We were separated during the year. We were all glued to the radio eagerly listening: The invasion of Europe had begun.
We were not really allowed to listen to foreign broadcasts. The penalty was death or shipment to a concentration camp. But on this historic occasion, we defied the rules. I remember I cried tears of joy when the first soldiers came ashore. Freedom was in the offing.
I want to thank personally all the men mentioned in your article who participated on D-Day and the other men still living who risked their lives. I want to thank them for my own freedom and the opportunity to live in this wonderful country.
Ruth Mackay, Lisle
Remember all the Allies
Charles Madigan’s statement that “D-Day was American planned” (“A Generation Remembers Its Greatest Day,” May 29) denigrated the rest of the Allies, especially the British.
There have been many newspapers and magazines with articles about D-Day, and the vast majority of the ones I have read have “told it like it was,” compared to Madigan’s jingoistic “puff piece.”
The millions of British, Canadian, Dutch, Polish, Norwegian and other nations’ soldiers who died are due an apology from your newspaper.
Ian W. Taylor, Wheeling
Grant Park’s graceful arches
“60 Candles” (May 22) brought back fond memories of the evening that the magnificent voice of Lily Pons rang forth from the graceful arches of the old Grant Park band shell.
The new shell may offer acoustical improvements, but, sadly, at the sacrifice of the unique styling of the old, which was a Chicago lakefront landmark.
Jane Helander, Schaumburg
More graffiti by the lake
How about a reality check?
The weekend you extolled “Anonymous Art” (May 22), gangbangers attacked the beautiful Diversey Point Center.
Though I doubt that the graffiti “artists” read your magazine, encouragement of this criminal behavior with glowing coverage is surely not in the best public interest.
Maryanne Friend, Immediate Past President, Friends of Lincoln Park
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The Magazine welcomes letters from readers. Letters intended for publication must include a signature, address and phone number, and they may be edited for space and clarity.
Mail should be sent to The Editor, Chicago Tribune Magazine, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60611.
