Therapy phone fix

Two weeks ago you published an article on our new therapy referral service, Therapy Direct [The Front, "Dial-a-shrink," Sept 16]. As much as we appreciated the attention we received in the write-up, we were disappointed to note that the telephone number for our service had been erroneously printed.

Our aim is to provide callers with referrals to carefully screened professionals with expertise in a variety of specialities. We understand that when one encounters difficulties, it is imperative that he or she have access to services in a timely manner. These services have been increasingly difficult to locate within the public sector due to cutbacks in our health-care system. It is unfortunate that those who may have attempted to contact us were unable to do so due to the error. Should anyone wish to use our free referral service in the strictest of confidence, we can be reached at 1-800-THERAPIST, or through our Web site at www.therapydirect.net.

» Rebecca Murray, Co-director, Therapy Direct,
Queen Elizabeth Health Complex

Random comments

I'm having so much pleasure reading the Mirror. Your headlines kick ass. Subjects and writing style are fresh and funny. Keep on writing!

» Gaël Doyon

I think you should have an article on a local bum once a week. It would fucking rock.

» Tobstah

514 vs. 418 cont.

I read Patrick Donovan's recent letter to the editor ["Cosmo in Quebec," Sept. 2], and I can only agree with him. I'm a white francophone guy who was raised in the Quebec City suburb of Sainte-Foy during the '80s. Although there were fewer immigrants there than in Montreal, I think they were more integrated by and large.

When I was a kid, I hung out with people from Vietnam, Japan, Chile and my best friend was from Martinique. As for the anglos, we didn't see them as evil invaders - besides, most of them could, and would, speak French to us. If there was any anglophobia, it was mostly directed towards Ontario.

Also, I used to be an Anglophile of sorts. I read lots of English books, I travelled through England, Scotland and English Canada (plus I lived in B.C. for six months). But in the three years that I've been living in Montreal, I can feel any remaining Anglophilia beginning to disintegrate. There's just something bad in the air here.

» Patrick Béland

Chemical cuisine

I would like to respond to Kristian Gravenor's "Yummy chemicals" column [Kristian Perspective, Aug. 12]. It's true that many problems of food additives are due to food companies and the government, as he wrote. However, I think it's not only their responsibility but also the responsibility of our present economic system.

Under the invisible hand of our economic system, the lower the price companies offer, the more profits they get, and it could be the most important reason that companies are likely to use chemicals in making food. Nowadays, many people know that many food companies use these chemicals, and in many places there are movements against the practice. However, we should keep in mind that there are many people who want to save their money because they are not so rich.

Suppose that food companies that produce chemical foods started to attach bigger labels that show us which chemicals are in them, does Mr. Gravenor think people would stop buying them? Also, if the price becomes higher because of chemical banning, does he think it will be welcomed by all? How about by poor people? I think the only solution could come from a fundamental change in society.

» Lim Jaehoon

Love and line-ups at Fantasia

When people talk about Fantasia, the terms "weird," "strange" and "crazy" flow from their mouths. But for me, this festival is more than zombies, murderers, man-eating insects and ghosts. It has a social context we should look at. Fantasia is a place where social harmony takes place. I saw a young Asian man speaking with his friends in French and answering a call on his cell phone in Cantonese, a girl speaking Franglais with her friends, and nobody called the language police.

Last Saturday, I went to see a movie. Half of the audience use chopsticks at home, but nobody asked me questions such as, "Why too much yellow skin here?" We laughed and giggled at all the jokes. Call me a naïve guy, but I think we can live, laugh and cry together.

Flowers are sent, here comes the stick (to strike of course). Most of the movies were not on time. We had to wait outside from 30 minutes to an hour, wondering if the staff were swallowed by monsters. It seems to me the staff could not handle the schedule very well. Being an alternative festival is excellent in this city where money talks, the festival organizers listen, heads down, lips tight, but professionalism does not hurt the atmosphere.

Good festival indeed. Hope to see it again next year at Concordia. Do not move it to the Imperial Cinema - too bourgeois for me

» Thuan Nguyen

Correction:

Wicker Park is quite bad and shouldn't have received a "critic's choice" checkmark next to the mini-review in our film listings.

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