Purple tried to jump in
To The Editor:
Re “The dark side of Purple” (news article, Dec. 31):
I remember hanging out with Adam Purple and his entourage. I, too, greatly respected him for the whole environmental consciousness thing. I hate to say it, but I can see the whole pervert thing. A bunch of us were hanging out at his place, I guess on the Lower East Side. I was 15 and the young lady I was with was like 14. We were under some blankets and started having sex. He just came over and tried to jump right in. We weren’t into it and it made us feel really uncomfortable. Still, I appreciate all the good things he did and all the peace and love and whatnot. Still, it seems he never felt any remorse or felt like he had done any wrong.
Cristofer Lentsch
MMA is empowering
To The Editor:
Re “We need to go to the mat vs. ultimate fighting” (talking point, by Deborah Glick, Jan. 7):
Assemblymember Glick’s opinion is biased and naive at best. Mixed Martial Arts is nothing new. New York State allows all the elements of MMA and other combat sports to exist within it statutes — yet when all those are combined, you have a problem? Her opinion is biased, hypocritical and probably politically, i.e. financially, driven.
This writer is obviously a person who has never faced the reality of physical adversity, either in being physically attacked or bullied. The practice of MMA is empowering. It makes people become stronger by putting them face to face with the physical adversity of an attack by another human being and teaches them to persevere and learn from the experience.
The martial arts culture that generates this sport is often a lifesaving one, with thousands of members in New York alone. Individuals literally become better people, with better egos, from this culture. I myself was a horrible teenager, insecure and abusive, before I found this sport. This sport gave me confidence, which made me kinder, and also gave me lifelong relationships.
This sport and this culture have saved multiple lives from spiritual mediocrity by combining mind, body and spirit, by dealing with the reality of fighting — a reality that has been a part of humanity from the beginning.
Assemblymember Glick sounds like someone who wants to keep people docile and afraid. People are empowered by this sport on a personal basis day in and day out. Maybe Glick should learn MMA herself, so she can be personally empowered — and feel what it is like to become a physically, mentally and spiritually stronger person than she is today.
Gabriel Toribio
Natas’s cousin speaks out
To The Editor:
Re “Crusty punk whose pit bull terrorized East Village is dead” (news article, Sept. 3):
To Google my cousin’s name, David McKee, and see this article was very hurtful. I would like to apologize to the people and animals who were hurt by David and his dog, Jax. And I do believe that, as well as David is dead, so is his dog.
I do not want to make excuses for David’s actions or those of the dog because I could not imagine how I would feel if it was myself or one of my children who was hurt. At the same time, finding this article and seeing a family member called “crusty” was a painful shot to my gut, and I’m thinking that maybe if roles were reversed, the person writing this would feel the same way if it was his family.
I understand it is a generalized name for a certain group of people but I had to read the article a few times before I could calm myself and understand that.
David was a sad person and was not homeless by choice. He was abandoned at months old by his mother and my aunt. His father’s mother, David’s grandmother, raised him. His father was killed in prison and his grandmother died when he was 17, leaving him homeless.
Growing up, David did not have much. My aunt was old and sick and David was a handful. He also had many emotional problems dealing with abandonment. David made stupid decisions and did many stupid things. I’m sorry — but who hasn’t? Do we live in a perfect world?
His actions maybe have inadvertently hurt others but he did not do so intentionally. I also just want to add, if it makes anyone feel better: When there was a memorial for my cousin, I let two “traveler” friends of his whom I did not know and their pit bull stay at my home overnight. My own dog ended up being attacked!
The world needs kindness and understanding and not so much negativity. Again, I am sorry to anyone my cousin hurt either directly or indirectly.
Lisa Hasenpat
Honoring Triangle Fire victims
To The Editor:
Re “What took so long?” (letter, by Joseph Hanania, Jan. 14):
Perhaps he is unaware that memorial plaques are affixed to the building and that there is an announced major commemoration for the victims of this tragic fire annually on its March 25 anniversary, which is officiated by New York’s Bravest, the Fire Department, who enact the attempt to rescue the fire victims. In the actual fire, the ladders did not reach the eighth floor.
It is a respectful and solemn annual anniversary event, usually attended by the mayor and local politicians and many other dignitaries. For this landmarked university building located in a residential area, the respect shown to honor the victims of this tragedy for all these years has been ongoing and appropriate.
In 2016, the anniversary occurs on Good Friday, so best to verify the date of the event if you are planning to attend.
Mary Johnson
An open and fair election
To The Editor:
Re “Yuh-Line Niou is a new contender for Silver’s ex-seat” (news article, Dec. 17):
Kudos to Lincoln Anderson and The Villager for taking an interest in the nominating process to fill the seat vacated by Sheldon Silver. Not only did we learn about Yuh-Line Niou, but the article sparked healthy democratic debate.
I’m a grassroots candidate for the vacated Assembly seat. I don’t belong to any political club. With community support, I’m one of the only persons that challenged Mr. Silver in a Democratic primary.
Although several candidates are competing for the vacant Assembly seat — which is a good thing — I’m the candidate most deserving of community support. However, the community is locked out of the nominating process to fill this empty seat and cannot make their voices heard until the September primary.
Considering the Assembly seat was vacated as a result of political corruption, the Democratic County Committee should go to extra lengths to demonstrate an “open and fair” nominating process. However, the County Committee is preventing candidates from participating in the nominating process. The deck is stacked for the district leaders, who appoint persons to vacant County Committee seats.
I’ve lived in this community for 45 years and consider myself part of the “new breed” of political activists — that’s assuming that you define new breed as putting the community before yourself, being environmentally committed, a supporter of individual rights and strongly anti-corruption.
It’s difficult for community grassroots candidates to command media attention because the nominating process favors political clubs — not the community.
Despite the above criticisms, I like both Jenifer Rajkumar and Yuh-Line Niou as candidates. I hope if I’m elected, they will become part of my widespread coalition to better our community.
John Bal
Serious sidewalk hazard
To The Editor:
Over the last few weeks, I have seen more and more of those metal cellar doors left wide open for extended periods of time. Usually, they have a red rubber cone in front of them as the only protection to prevent someone from falling into the cellar from the street. And sometimes even a rubber cone isn’t there.
Prior to this, the only time I had seen one open was if someone was going up or down doing work. I could go a year without seeing even that. Now I see an open cellar door two, three, four, five times a day. And they are not always the same ones. Clearly, there has been some kind of change.
I find this terrifyingly dangerous, a catastrophe waiting to happen. I fall a lot, so this is particularly unsettling to me. Also I can see how someone not paying attention for a second could fall into one of these openings, or bump up against the door itself, which is dangerous enough — or trip over something, or slip on the ice, or simply not see it, or be jostled in the street by accident.
I don’t know why this has started to happen so often. But clearly something new and very dangerous is going on. What can be done to stop it?
Robert Roth
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