Letters to the editor

Moving Journey

I loved Herb Hadad's very moving "Journey through the Land of the Gaels" [September]. Powerful story! I've spent years as a social worker, mediator, EEO counselor, and human relations and sociology instructor trying (usually unsuccessfully) to accomplish, to communicate, what your great story succeeds in communicating.

Steven Selman, LA'59
Westford, Massachusetts

I much enjoyed Herb Hadad's "Journey through the Land of the Gaels." Herb has a wonderful ability to convey complex experiences with warmth and poignancy. I'm glad you include him in your pages from time to time.

I know Herb. He's as sensitive in person as he is in his articles. We talk every few months by phone. We also meet once a year or so to share a couple of hours over lunch in Manhattan. Since I come from fairly strong Irish-American roots, I know of what he speaks. In my younger days, I too yelled epithets at kids who weren't "my kind." I threw a few punches, too. But like Herb, my mother and my conscience kept advising me, through the filter of simple words and deeds, to respect others for their worth as human beings. It took a while, but the message finally got through. N.U. was one of the turning points.

In my classes and extracurricular activities, I came to see firsthand that what really counts in people is their talent, intelligence, and aspirations. I also discovered firsthand what it means to be allowed to express your own ideas and opinions without someone calling you a name or goading you into a fight. In the process, I not only learned to have greater respect for men and women of every creed, color, ethnicity, and sexual distinction, I learned to have greater respect for myself. Once more, your magazine reminded me of how much N.U. means and has meant to me and tens of thousands of other alumni.

Don Bates, LA'65
New York

A quick note to indicate my appreciation for your September issue. Having grown up in Dorchester, I could fully appreciate and identify with Hadad's experience, even though in my case the difference involved Catholic/Protestant families.

Margaret Williams Stinson, LA'42
Fayetteville, New York

Their Man in Hong Kong

You devoted the cover and sixteen pages (almost one-fifth) of the September issue to David Chu, and I can let that go, since I am aware of the liberal inclination of your publication. But you call him "Our Man in Hong Kong," and I cannot let that go. He can-

not be our man for at least two reasons. One is that he is their man-"they" being the tyrants in Beijing. They handpicked him and each and every other member of the provisional Legislative Council that will rule Hong Kong until the elections-no doubt a very long time. They are his unforgiving masters; he is their slave. "No man can serve two masters . . . "

Another reason is that our men fight for freedom, and millions of them have died in that fight. And who knows how much blood flooded Tiananmen Square as probably thousands of Chinese students and slave laborers, also fighting for freedom, were crushed under the treads of the ten-ton tanks of the tyrants of Beijing? But their smiling, fun-loving front man says the massacre was "an accident," so forget it, "move on." Easy for him to say, but not for the family, friends, and neighbors of the martyrs, and not for the millions of others still cowering before those tyrants. Nor for the families and friends of our fallen freedom fighters.

Arthur H. Blair, BA'50
Manchester, New Hampshire

I take exception to the statement David Chu made, claiming he did not renounce his U.S. citizenship when he buried his expired U.S. passport in a Hong Kong time capsule. He did so to demonstrate his commitment to Hong Kong. He claimed "giving up one's passport . . . is not the same as relinquishing citizenship" and " 'Renounce' sounds so ugly." If he was truly "Made in America" (the title of the sidebar), why did he even let his passport expire? Or are the people of Hong Kong so stupid that they fell for an expired passport when a current one exists? I doubt it. As is borne out by the main article, he appears to be a self-serving, not self-made, man. I feel that Mr. Chu's status as an American citizen is in question. Maybe he wants to have a fallback position when the inevitable loss of civil liberties befalls Hong Kong. Unfortunately, he cannot have it both ways.

It is a travesty when an American, "once a teenage emigré from Communist-sacked Shanghai" who attended Harvard Business School "for the hell of it," turns his back on his adopted country. It is worse when the press reports his version of "what really happened" without criticism. What really happened is: Mr. Chu blew it! Marguerite Del Giudice will make a much better press agent than investigative reporter.

Laurence M. Tozier, ME'84
Portsmouth, Rhode Island

Best of All Articles

Will Holton's "The Best of All Worlds" [September] provided informative reading and caused me to recall some of the unanswered questions from my undergraduate days:

· Why is that street named Opera Place?

· Why do so many local residents seem to be antagonistic toward N.U. students?

· Why does the university seem so indifferent toward the performing arts?

Now that I know that an opera house on that street corner was torn down by the university to build a dormitory, the above questions have finally been answered. I look forward to reading future excerpts of the forthcoming book.

Keith R. Clark, E'68
Houston

It was a blast reading Will Holton's "The Best of All Worlds." Wish I was around to ride that toboggan into the "lake"! Northeastern still remains the jewel of Boston. I'm looking forward to the [centennial] book.

Chip Heard, E'93
Quincy, Massachusetts

I have just finished "The Best of All Worlds" in the latest issue. A very well done article and I look forward to future excerpts [of the forthcoming book of essays celebrating Northeastern's centennial].

John T. Dizer, E'53
Utica, New York

Cruelty and Compassion

Your animal abuse article ["The Web of Cruelty," From the Field, September] told us of disturbing cruelty and criminal evolution. Exercise compassion towards our animal companions.

Sharon C. Nappi, UC'95
Port Orange, Florida

Violence Stats against Women

Your May cover story on violence against women perpetuated the myth that domestic violence consists only of men attacking women. A 1985 study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health found women to be as physically abusive as men. A December 1992 report by the Family Research Laboratory at the University of New Hampshire indicates that, according to National Family Violence surveys, the rate of wife-to-husband assault was higher than the husband-to-wife assault rate. Domestic violence has also been reported in lesbian relationships. Joe Ursched in USA Today notes that credible studies show that women are more likely to begin a physical confrontation than men. They are more likely to escalate it and more likely to use a weapon. A Gallup poll recently found that only thirteen percent of men think that their spouse "sometimes deserves to be hit," compared with twenty-four percent of women. Mothers abuse children sixty-two percent more often than fathers, and male children are more than twice as likely as female children to suffer physical injury. A new analysis by the Bureau of Justice Statistics found that women were more prone than men to kill their children and greatly more inclined to kill sons than daughters. Experts now believe that up to twenty percent of the approximately 8,000 U.S. babies whose deaths are initially attributed to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome actually die of other causes, including murder. Usually the killer is the mother.

At N.U.'s Boston campus, women have battered men without receiving any punishment or even much notice. People don't bother to report them, apparently thinking that such violence is acceptable. Even at a university with such a large male student population, I doubt that the Mentors in Violence Prevention Program will seriously address that issue. Jackson Katz, the cocreator of MVP, is quoted in your article as saying, "there's a tiny fraction of men who have engaged these issues" (violence against women). How many women are engaged in combating violence by women against men and children?

John Lautzenheiser, AS'94
Reading, Massachusetts

The detractors of the cover art on the May issue [Letters, September] do not understand the role of brave journalism. Brave journalism (and, in this case, brave journalistic art) aims to spark debate and evoke emotion in those close (or not so close) to the subject. The cover with the abused female does just that. Congratulations to your staff for bringing awareness to an issue that most would rather ignore.

Jordan B. Malik, BA'94
Cotuit, Massachusetts

A Husky Hangout

I happened upon your Web page and saw a graphic of a former Hayes-Bickford's restaurant in Boston ["Husky Hangouts," January], and thought you might like some history to go with your photo. My grandfather, S. L. Bickford, was the founder of Bickford's restaurants. Bill Hayes was the founder of a Boston-area restaurant chain known as the Hayes Lunch system. In the Depression era, Bickford's was expanding, through acquisitions, from its New York base across the country to California. Bill Hayes sold his business to Bickford's and the Boston division of Bickford's was named Hayes-Bickford's.

Bickford's was a private restaurant chain that my grandfather and some other hard-working and loyal partners started in 1920. By good fortune or incredible foresight, S. L. Bickford took his company public and shares were offered in an initial public offering in September of 1929, one month before the stock market crash and the Great Depression. S. L. "Sam" Bickford was born in Maine and began work at the age of fourteen, driving a horse-drawn milk wagon. Howard Johnson and Bill Marriott Sr. were contemporaries in business. S. L. Bickford died at the relatively early age of seventy-four and administration of the business continued in the hands of his only son, without the business skills of his father to guide him. The son did not adapt the business to change and by 1982 this business of over 5,000 employees had been mostly liquidated, except for the New England division of Pancake Houses that is still in operation today.

Thanks for the Internet photo memory. I have most of the old restaurant photos, including the Hayes-Bickford's locations, but it is fun to see one on the Web.

Jeffrey S. Bickford
Jupiter, Florida

More Women's Sports

Your magazine has been improving greatly. However, I was searching high and low for the sports calendars and all I could find was football. Could you consider including women's sports as well, such as field hockey?

Sarah M. Simpson, UC'83
Boston

PoliSci Plug

I am writing to applaud Northeastern's commitment to graduate education in political science and public administration. I came to Boston in 1992 not knowing what to expect out of such a young department. I was astounded by the personal attention and professional attitudes of this small group of dedicated professors-informed, interesting, and demanding men and women who expected the best and presented the finest in their fields of expertise. People like Professors Bosso, Meyer, Sullivan, Gilbert, Stiles, and Dukakis. Please have more news about the graduate schools and political science professors.

I owe my success in my job to the wonderful university I was proud to attend. May this school continue to educate for another 100 years!

Michael Meggison, MA'94
Rochester, New York

We welcome your letters and reserve the right to edit them for space and clarity. Send them to: Letters to the Editor, Northeastern University Magazine, 360 Huntington Avenue, 598 CP, Boston, Massachusetts 02115.

E-mail: kgornste@lynx.neu.edu