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Letters
July 21, 2006
Send your letters to the editor to letters@atencionsanmiguel.org
Atención
will not publish offensive or defamatory material.
Editor,
As someone who has been a vocal critic of Atención during the early phase of the serial rape crisis, I wanted to take this opportunity to acknowledge the reporting done by the Atención staff during the last six months of the investigation. Each week Atención kept us up to date with emerging news, home security suggestions and crime reporting instructions. The section of emergency numbers with a listing of the department telephone numbers and names to contact has been a lifeline to foreign citizens, and especially to women living alone. Writer Carol Schmidt deserves recognition for her informative reports after each Security Committee meeting, as does Ed Clancy for being available and responsive throughout this period. Thanks to everyone at Atención—editor, reporters and community writers—for providing the English-speaking community with reliable news and invaluable security tips so that we can continue to live cooperatively and respectfully within the Mexican community. Our community has become stronger, our relationships with the San Miguel and Guanajauto police have become more respectful and, hopefully, we have all become more empowered and appreciative of our host country as a result.
Patrice Wynne
Editor,
Most news stories in the popular Atención include a range of perspectives, which always adds to the professional quality. Furthermore, major events covered in the colorful weekly normally garner appropriate coverage. Although a strong supporter of Atención, I was disappointed in the recent decision to not position the article “Serial rapist caught” on the front page, but rather on page 8.
The serial rape crimes had become perhaps the largest story of the year, and thus the conclusion warranted continued top coverage, including front-page coverage. The resulting disservice was substantial only because many people do not delve beyond the front page. Sadly to say, then, the many fine points in the arrest story were missed by many, including the many positive local law enforcement accomplishments and the effective collaborative work between Mexican and American authorities. This oversight occurs at a time in our community when law enforcement needed and had deserved a boost.
I understand why “Sequins and diversity with pride” would beckon the social conscience of Atención. This is no tongue-in-cheek anecdote on my part. I truly appreciate the point of view that encourages tolerance, good will and social growth, all of which I believe the misplaced, front-page article hoped to accomplish. Perhaps adding insult to injury, to be honest, was the nature of the subject matter that may well have taken priority over the front-page announcement of an arrest of a serial rapist, whose deeds in San Miguel had drawn international attention. I only want the authors to consider a couple of points, and I hope I will not be construed as insensitive by sharing personal reactions to the headline story.
I am engaged in an ongoing struggle of reconciling my Christian, and specifically Catholic, background with homosexuality as well as the wide range of sexually diverse lifestyles. Christianity (and Catholicism particularly here) is so deeply rooted in our culture and traditions, that of course the shaping of my own identity is affected by it. I need the same tolerance and acceptance of my discomfort of issues as I deal with such matters of identity as do the celebrants of sexual diversity need tolerance and acceptance in their living in a context of Christian conventions. I never asked for sexual diversity. I have simply been expected to adjust to it, like countless issues under the banner of political correctness. I would submit that the expectation for such adjustment is a subject that was not touched in the article, yet the always serious matter of conscience is involved. And the very “social unease” that has developed and is claimed to be problematic in our shared society is because we have not discussed as a community that the choice of celebrating or not celebrating diversity for some is a matter of conscience inasmuch as decisions are often based on religious and other deep beliefs.
I would further submit that I am entitled to my religious beliefs. I believe that my personal discomfort is unavoidable in the soul-searching process and essential to it. Such discomfort, then, is something that should be tolerated, accepted and understood in the same way in which the homosexual’s discomfort is acknowledged in a homophobic world. I would hope that reticence to endorse or the discomfort in supporting sexual diversity is not equated to homophobia, as such a connection presumes the worst and discounts personal growth to which I and others, I am sure, remain open.
Finally, I would add that we have dear friends and family members who are sexually diverse. We embrace them and love them and will continue in our efforts in understanding our differences and similarities.
Atención is to be applauded for provoking discussion and dialogue on the critical social issues of our time. But I must say I would have preferred to see the alleged serial rapist in a horizontally lined prison uniform on Page 1 than the promotion of the sexually diverse performing in sequins.
Jay Vlasak
Editor’s note:
A box stating “Serial rapist caught” on the front page of the July 14 issue referred readers to the full story on page 8. If readers do not chose to read more than the front page, or the first paragraph of an article, then they choose to be only partially informed about the news in their community. The article very clearly acknowledged the collaborative efforts of authorities, as did quotes by both US consul Ed Clancy and ex police officer Miguel Kegel.
We are fortunate that San Miguel is a city made up of many different groups, and Atención endeavours to give voice to as many sections of the community as possible in a single issue.
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