Krystell e-mails: "Congratulations to Jim and Dona on their engagement but did they tell their families first?"
Dona: We did. That was one of the two reasons we went on the trip with C.I. two weeks ago. We were able to tell our parents face to face. They did know before we announced it here.
Jim: Second reason we went is that those trips are fun. And my dad actually knew before my mother and before Dona because I had called him for advice of what would make an appropriate engagement ring.
BigHoss38 e-mails: "Studio 60 is on hiatus. Are you glad you killed it?"
Ava & C.I.: Well thank you, Big Hoss, for the compliment but tis not always beauty that kills the beast. In this case it was the non-stop dialogue and bordom factor. By the way, you're presuming it's dead and not, like a nasty bout of herpes, on the verge of returning. We hope you're correct.
Madeline e-mails: "I love Kat's reviews and I'm wondering if I'm guessing right in guessing that the closing of Tower has slowed the reviews?"
Kat: Absolutely. That really was my second home. I was used to popping in 4 or 5 times a week, mimimum, tp grab something or just look around. It's honestly very depressing for me currently and I'm attempting to figure out my step which is either embrace the modern day equivalent of mail-order catalouges -- order online -- or start downloading instead? I'm in flux currently.
Kat's latest review ("Kat's Korner: Air kisses from Diana Ross") went up yesterday.
CCM e-mails: "I get the feeling Betty's leaning towards voting for Hillary Clinton. Right or wrong?"
Betty: If Hillary would have admitted her vote to grant Bully Boy the authority for war was a mistake, if she admitted that last week, I'd probably be telling you right now, "You're right. I will probably vote for Hillary." That's pretty much known among everyone participating and I say that because there's been no negative on it. I know several people participating will not vote for her but there's been no pressure to change my mind. What has changed it is that she will not state clearly, "I made a mistake." To be honest, one of the reasons I have been in her corner strongly is because I remember the end of her husband's presidency and have a huge amount of respect for the way she handled the entire Lewinsky episode. I feel she's a lot more on the ball than she's given credit for. I will always respect her for the way she handled herself during that, in public life, but I think she's lost my support in terms of her current campaign. I do not see the vote as a small matter. I honestly assumed that by now, she'd not only admit it was a mistake, the vote, but also have a joke prepared about it. Now I'm exploring John Edwards and Dennis Kucinich. Patricia J. Williams has ensured that I will not vote for Barack Obama and that includes if he becomes the Democratic nominee. Ruth's Report covers that and covers it very well. A big thank you to Ruth for addressing that.
Parker e-mails: "Thank you for 'Arch nemises Teen Dumb Ass, junior division.' As an English major, let me state for the record that we are taught to do research. That's just one more lesson Rachel [Jones] never could learn."
We were initially surprised to hear from so many people who knew Jones and disliked her -- then we realized, you are what you write.
Bill and Kimmy e-mail: "Thank you for 'TV: Boys' WB!' We know how hard it is to sit through so called children's programming but we have to do it each fall before we feel safe letting our son watch. The absence of color and women is a really serious issue and we're very glad that was worked in but most of all we enjoyed the 'call' at the end because it really is up to parents to demand better programming. We don't see why animated television can't be inclusive and entertaining and we agree we could do with a lot less moralizing."
Bill and Kimmy's e-mail at the end of January 2005 was what caused Jim to realize that Ava and C.I. needed to handle the TV reviews all on their own. Their son, Chad, is now five-years-old and in their first e-mail, his viewing habits weren't a concern but they wrote very honestly about what having a child meant for them in terms of financial struggles. They remain the main reason Ava and C.I. refuse to cover cable or satellite programming and they are representative of a great many of our long term readers. Point, when they speak, we listen.
N268 e-mails, " MyTV's Fascist House is just something I enjoy. I couldn't give one reason but it does make me laugh and I hope you continue to do it."
Kat is very big on doing collages with children, which we won't take as an insult -- honest, and often does them at a friend's art classroom. They're popular with a lot of readers and it is a regular feature. Ideally, we try to go for twice a month.
Kandice e-mails: "Put me down as disgusted by The Nation's appalling figure when it comes to publishing women. 'The Nation Stats' is the first thing I check for each week and I was very disappointed that it wasn't in last week's edition. I did not even notice how women were shut out until you started keeping track."
It's a popular feature and the theme meant that we weren't able to include it last week. It's also true, read this issue's stats, that we weren't sure whether to include one writer who never should have gotten an internship. We've addressed that this issue.
Ross e-mails: "More roundtables!!!!!"
Ross, everytime we finish one, we swear it will be our last. It's a pain for Ava and C.I. to take notes throughout. It's a pain to type up after. It's a pain to edit. That said, we'll have one in the next two weeks.
