Cop talk

Kudos to Craig Segal for his restrained (resisting the facile rubbing of noses in sensational squalor) record of what the police see in the darkness of District 22 [“Blue nights,” Jan. 10]. Since Segal encourages us to read between the lines, please, do not stop with the cops. There are other ways of seeing this urban melting pot labelled, laconically, the Centre-Sud.
How about asking some of the sex workers, barroom dancers, transvestites, junkies, squeegees etc. to share their vision of life on the fringe? And why not let the merchants describe how they hustle a decent living on Ontario Street, that bustling commercial patchwork sandwiched in between the Plateau and the Village?
And do not neglect the local residents in a neighborhood that provides more news flashes than, unfortunately, can be consumed locally. These unsung citizens are the silent—and not so silent—witnesses to contemporary urban society’s most spectacular glitches. Here one can witness the trickle-down effect of alcohol, illegal dope, delinquency, street prostitution, state-sponsored video-poker, AIDS, malnutrition, illiteracy, homelessness, mental illness, arson, pawn brokering and biker wars. For some strange reason, these problems seem to have a special penchant for the Centre-Sud.
But, rather than moralize about good folks vs. bad folks, lead us to discover how the people of Centre-Sud pull off this most delicate of all human balancing acts. While mainstream Montreal struts and frets over cardboard shelters and squats, Christmas baskets and panhandling, the people in the Centre-Sud blithely continue to wing it—in spite of overwhelming odds. This extraordinarily intricate experiment in human diversity and civic tolerance is not unlike a modern social miracle. Let us pay due homage.

—Thomas McKeown,

Alerte Centre-Sud

Great story about the cops in Centre-Sud this week! I read it all the way though (which is rare) and wanted more when it was done (which is even rarer). And—oh, blessed relief—there was not even a hint of weary cynicism throughout. More stories like this please!

—Monique Dykstra

Portly pets

I just wanted to thank you for your “Is it Art?” last week on overweight animals [“Fat cats”]. My cat weighs nearly 30 pounds and she ain’t getting any younger. Poor Gigi just loves to stuff her face and I have to admit: I’m guilty as charged when it comes to offering her table scraps! So I called the toll-free number you listed and spoke to a “pet professional.” Gigi now eats lo-cal food twice a day—no snacks! Thanks for the pet health alert and keep up the good work!

—Tim Timble

Kudos to kids

Thanks for choosing the Langley Schools Music Project as “Disc of the Week” [Jan. 10] and helping it get some well-deserved attention. The fact that this record—made nearly 25 years ago by a hippie schoolteacher and his chorus of pupils—is more refreshing and fun than most records being released today is a poignant comment on the state of the music industry.

—Jesse Forrest

Add it up

This one goes out to Rhonda Chung from Toronto [“Defending the banks,” [e]Mail, Jan. 10]. I urge you to go to www.abbybank.com/cgi-bin/depositcalc.exe, type in $5 a month saved (for “fair” service charges), put in a reasonable rate of interest return calculated daily, then type in the amount of years you expect to have a bank account for your lifetime. Just for fun, multiply that amount by at least three-quarters the population of Canada. Nuff said!
P.S.: I am not trying to drum up Web traffic for the banks.

—P. Holloway

Peeler’s pick

Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence made me cry like a baby when I saw it on the C channel way back when. Good to see a tasteful girl named Janine made me remember this film [“Euroticist,” People, Jan. 10]. Maybe I should check out Sex Appeal.

—Mike