FORUMS & LETTERS

Editor,

As always, I enjoyed my friend Charles Miller’s latest column about the fragility and limited longevity of laptop computers.

Also important is the fragility of the health of the people who use them. Hunching over a laptop can cause muscle pain and headaches, nerve compression, fatigue, stress and premature aging. It is impossible not to hunch over at your laptop unless you modify it: you can attach a separate keyboard and mouse and then elevate your laptop and use it only as a monitor and CPU. 

In my practice as a Feldenkrais practitioner in Berkeley, California, between 1986 and 2003, I worked with hundreds of computer-injured people. These injuries were largely due to poor ergonomics and posture at standard computers. This was before the widespread use of laptops, which evoke much worse body use. One client, a brilliant and charming sociology grad student, seems to have represented the wave of the future. She was forced to take a long break from working on her dissertation due to injuries suffered trying to write it on her laptop. I will never forget her pristine statement: “No one should use a laptop as their primary computer.”

As this year progresses, I will address How to Be Safe and Comfortable at Your Computer in my own monthly Atención column, “Listening to Your Body,” and in talks at the Biblioteca.

Richard Adelman





Editor, 

Gracias a la Hospital de la Fe. Unfortunately, I fell and broke a bone in my left foot. Drs. Barrera, Murillo and Elias, along with a very caring staff, turned what could have been a very scary episode into (believe it or not) a comforting experience. This is the ninth day since the surgery which was performed within two hours of my arrival at the hospital, and with “pins” to help heal the break plus the required stitches, I have yet to feel any pain. As a visitor, I’m impressed with the TLC and dedication of the staff and sincerely believe you who live here should be both grateful and proud to have this hospital.

Phyllis Minden

Editor, 

Before we moved to San Miguel, one of the first things we heard was that it is a caring community. Recently, I was hospitalized and found out just how caring this community is. Phone calls, visits and vital advice poured in not only from close friends, but from organizations and acquaintances. As a direct result, I am on the road to health. If the breadth of a community can be measured by its capacity to care, this community would measure larger than our planet itself. Thank you, San Miguel.

Robin Loving Rowland