TICK TICK LOVE

The folks at Tick Tick are some of the most unpretentious, approachable people I have ever encountered in the indie-rock world [“Poster Children” October 15]. I have been to several shows they have organized, and it is always a good time. Thanks, and please keep up the good work!

Patrick Clark

BARRE

COURSE CORRECTION

I want to add and clarify a few details regarding Alison Novak’s thoughtful article about my Masters’ thesis project this week [State of the Arts, October 15].

First, I want to give credit to the artisans whose work appeared in the accompanying photo. Toby Fulwiler of Fairfield turned the bowl from American elm wood; Susanne Grosjean of Maine knitted the mittens from hand-spun wool dyed with black walnut hulls and goldenrod; and Mary Sanipass of Maine wove the basket from black ash wood (known as brown ash in Maine).

Regarding black ash, it’s the separated growth rings, not the bark, that basket makers use. Also, experienced people can harvest paper birch bark at different times of the year without killing the tree; it’s their method more than the season that matters. However, winter bark and summer bark differ in thickness (due to tree physiology) and are better suited for different projects.

And finally, the informational book I plan to create will be aimed at landowners, not artisans, though I hope the results of this research will reach a wide audience.

Allaire Diamond

Burlington

Diamond is a graduate student in UVM’s Field Naturalist Program.

BREEDER’S CHOICE

This is in response to the critics of Burton’s new line of snowboards [Local Matters, October 8].

Here’s a plan: If you don’t like these snowboards, don’t buy one of them. If you don’t want your kids to have one, don’t let them have one.

Sorry to be the one to inform you, but the world doesn’t revolve around you because you’ve reproduced. There are lots of people who might want one of these boards, and it’s unfair to place limits on their choices simply because you have children (and, I guess, a large stick up your ass).

Tom Gould

COLCHESTER

RIDE ON

This has been said before: “It is a naked body.” So what is the problem? If you have kids, explain to them what is on the board. It is no big deal. If your child has questions, answer the questions. Ride on. Get on with the day in the snow and cold. Enjoy the opportunity.

Deb Currier

ESSEX

END GAMES

Your excellent article on Project Censored [October 15] notes how “the threat of terrorism is being used to silence people and expand power.”

A three-part BBC series called “The Power of Nightmares” gives a brilliant summary of how governments (especially America’s) invent and capitalize on “nightmares” (terrorism now; the international Communist conspiracy before that) to accomplish these ends. And the BBC did their homework: You knew, for example, that the idea of a global Al Qaeda network run by Osama bin Laden from a cave in Pakistan is a fantasy invented by the U.S. government to expand its power. But did you know that the government gave Osama’s loose association of bad guys the name “Al Qaeda” in the first place, before Osama ever thought of referring to himself in this way?

Great stuff that many of your readers would appreciate.

David French

SHELBURNE

CORRECTION: The Section B cover of the October 8 issue misspelled the name of a new Burlington restaurant. It’s the New Ethic Café. Sorry about that.