Readers Write: Lessons learned in sports, knitting, and romance
Back-seat refereeing
While reading about parents acting badly toward referees in the Dec. 20 article “No refs, no games: Can people play nice?” I thought back to my own junior high school basketball experience.
My ability to play basketball was somewhere between poor and terrible. Luckily, I attended a very small school so even kids as bad as I could be on the team. During a team scrimmage my own poor skills did not stop me from second-guessing the coach and making disparaging remarks to my fellow benchwarmers. Then he handed me a whistle and told me to take over as referee. I tried, but couldn’t make even the most basic call that had looked so easy when I was sitting on the bench.
Since then, I have accepted the calls that the referees make as their best – and far better than I could do.
Carol Blackwood
Chester, Vermont
Fiber faux pas
I love The Christian Science Monitor and always find things I didn’t even know I was interested in within your pages. So that means I read almost all of every issue.
But I must speak up about an error in your Jan. 3 & 10 issue, in the full-page photo titled “Spun gold,” which is just beautiful. You write that a man knits a traditional sari. No, no, no!
As a fiber artist who knits, I have to correct you: He is sitting at a loom, weaving. Knitting uses two sticks and a string. Weaving uses a loom. Sari fabric is woven, not knitted.
Knitters generally feel discounted, especially in the United States where our skills are thought to be boring, old-fashioned, or something only grannies do. In fact, there is a lot of creativity going on among a wide range of knitters around the world! I would also think that weavers would be upset by this – without their art form we would have no fabric for sewn clothes.
I hope this increases your awareness of the different fiber arts even just a little. Thank you for listening.
Celeste Nossiter
Albuquerque, New Mexico
FROM THE EDITOR: Ms. Nossiter, you raise an excellent point and we should have said that the Banarasi sari was being woven. We strive for precision in all of our copy and are grateful for our eagle-eyed readers who alert us when we miss the mark.
Noelle Swan
Weekly editor
Staying single
I really enjoyed the Feb. 14 cover story, “Table for one: Embracing singlehood,” and can relate to those who wish to remain single. It isn’t a bad way to live.
I had an aunt who was born in 1912 and never married. She lived with her parents and took care of them in their older years; it was her choice to be single and a career woman. She planned for her future so she never required any financial help. She was a marvelous example of self-determination and self-reliance. She had lots of friends, and we were a close-knit family.
I admire any single person who does not need to depend on anyone for anything. I have one friend who didn’t get married until she was in her 50s. I married young, had children, went through a divorce, and when I became single again, began to love my oneness. I didn’t need anyone to make me feel happy. Eventually, I married my best friend, and we have been together for 32 years. It’s a wonderful life. What at one time was the norm is no longer chosen as the best way to live.
Sue Carol Helten
Douglass, Kansas
