I think it’s really appalling that a major newspaper like the Tribune would so uncritically accept the alleged powers of “medical intuitive” Caroline Myss (“Early Diagnosis,” June 21). I would wager good money that this woman can’t do any of the things the article says she does.
I’d like to know on what evidence author Cheryl Lavin bases her unqualified statement that Myss “has the ability to diagnose illness, even before it has fully developed. She can sense a tumor before the cancer appears on any test.” The basis for that gullible assertion seems to be the testimonials of a couple of doctors, including Norman Shealy, who says that Myss has diagnosed people over the phone with 90 percent accuracy.
A look at Myss’ Web site, however, reveals that Shealy “now gives full time to exploring the boundaries between physical, mental, spiritual and emotional health. He teaches about energy medicine and the archetypal journey of the soul.” Moreover, he and Myss “together offer medical intuitive training in their 10-day Vision, Creativity and Intuition program.”
I’d hardly call him an objective or disinterested party, would you? And just how can he and Myss offer medical intuitive training? I thought Myss’ diagnostic ability was a mysterious and unexplainable power she was born with.
This gushing article on Caroline Myss belonged in some flaky New Age magazine, not a major metropolitan newspaper. At the very least, it should have been qualified with a few uses of “alleged” or “she claims that.” And how about a couple of opposing viewpoints?
David Dreier, Managing editor/Science Year, Evanston
I am distressed to see something like Cheryl Lavin’s “Early Diagnosis” in the Magazine. The claim that an untrained woman possesses the ability to diagnose illness remotely, in people she has never seen or heard of previously, calls for careful investigation and perhaps an effort at collecting some carefully monitored experimental data. Unfortunately, there is no sign of any such thing in Lavin’s wholly uncritical piece.
If you have the slightest regard for your reputation as a great newspaper, you will set some critically minded reporters to work interviewing authorities who do have some claim to scientific knowledge, and give your readers Part 2 of this story. Or do you want to read about yourself in the next issue of Brill’s Content?
Winfield Smith
Chicago
AN EXCELLENT EDUCATION
I enjoyed “Hope, Grit & Glory” (June 14) about the Glenwood School for Boys. It really defined the school’s history and purpose. However, the author misleads his audience by saying that “the more academically gifted” from Glenwood attend Marian Catholic High School.
When I was a student in the gifted program at Bloom Township High School, many of my classmates were from Glenwood. Although Bloom Township has suffered financial setbacks the last few years, its academic program remains firmly intact, with a vast amount of courses available to students identified as gifted.
But quality academics are only part of the picture. Students who attend Bloom receive a far more valuable social education in how to get along in the real world. With strong African-American, Hispanic and white populations, students learn daily how to cope and celebrate each other’s differences.
Bloom has been a fixture in the community since 1900, recognized by both Ronald Reagan and George Bush as a symbol of longevity and excellence.
There is no question that Marian Catholic offers strong academics and extracurricular programs. But Grant Pick should not have dismissed Bloom as merely the “public” school for those who don’t qualify (academically or financially) for Marian.
Mary (Brackman) Perrot, Matteson.
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