LONDON SWINGS

Letters

Finding myself still reeling after reading the "London Swings! Again!" feature [by David Kamp, March], I feel compelled to say how spot-on I thought it was. Your article clearly shows what an extraordinary place London can be. Top marks to the remarkably talented David LaChapelle for his photograph of Alexander McQueen, and to Mr. McQueen— what a frock!

DAVID WATTS London, England

SO, VANITY FAIR manages to convince a bunch of hip, young Londoners that the best way to represent their "scene" is to dress up and perform like seals. They all looked pretty silly!

MARY-BETH LAVIOLETTE Calgary, Alberta

NO WONDER Lord Marlborough blew his top in the lush gardens of Blenheim Palace. I believe, too, that aristocrats should behave like aristocrats and not like mere rich people.

JOYCE G. MILLER Sumter, South Carolina

THANK YOU, VANITY FAIR. I now know what is cool in London. I think I will go and take a red double-decker bus down to the pub to show off my new hipness, only stopping off to smoke a couple of hundred fags, sing a couple of verses of "God Save the Queen," take some E, buy some fish-and-chips, and read a copy of the Times, trying not to trip over a 1,000-year-old castle on my way.

Party on, all you groovy lads and birds out there, we poor little Brits are so pleased that the great U.S. of A. has deemed us cool!

I enjoyed David Kam p's guide to the hip and the happening over here. However, I find it odd that, with the exceptions of Stella McCartney and the Spice Girls, not one woman on the scene was mentioned even in passing. Some creative women, in addition to the usual decorative suspects, were rounded up for the photographs, but to judge from the body of the piece, you would think that women were as invisible and voiceless in the cultural life of London as they are in that of Teheran. This, 1 assure you, is not the case.

ELLIN STEIN London, Envland

A. BELL London, England

SWINGING LONDON? Where have you been and what took you so long? And regarding Jarvis Cocker ["Pulp Friction," by George Wayne, March]: Quasimodo? How dare you!

CECILIA MOSTAGHIM San Francisco, California

Ebonic Plague

I WANT to express my delight in reading Christopher Hitchens's article "Hooked on Ebonics" [March], I found it witty, informative, and thought-provoking. Exactly what I expect from my Vanity Fair.

MATTHEW L. STOTTS San Francisco, California

I FOUND the lilting, ohso-English treatise on Ebonics by Mr. Hitchens to be a fascinating curiosity piece, conveying both stodgy old-world sensibilities and contradictions which bordered on camp. His dismissive anti-Ebonics message is clear enough and is shared by many reasonable leaders who have voiced justifiable doubts, but the haughty tone in which he chooses to denounce and belittle individuals who do not share his opinions betrays his own chutzpah (translation in the Queen's English: colossal nerve) and ignorance.

PATRICK J. WEN Alamo, California

AS AN ENGLISH teacher who is often asked her opinion on the validity of Black English, I was thankful that Christopher Hitchens captured the essence of this hybrid of a language and its effect in this country—recognizing its merit on one hand, yet wary of its perpetuation in our culture on the other.

PAULA S. M. HORNE Seattle, Washington

AS A BLACK AMERICAN MALE, I must let you know that "Hooked on Ebonics" was first-rate.

KEVIN DARREN NASH Atlanta, Georgia

CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS may have left England to get away from Margaret Thatcher, but many others are leaving there just to get away from the contemptuous nostril raising he practices so assiduously. It is either amazing or amusing to watch how gleefully white commentators always go after black people as soon as they find a politically safe pretext: O.J., Marion Barry, Afrocentrism, the old Cosby show, and now Ebonics. Like a pack of ravenous dogs, they take a little too much pleasure in reasserting the claims of righteousness.

TED SILAR Allentown, Pennsylvania

THE OAKLAND School District was not promoting the teaching of Ebonics but identifying a need for teachers, to understand that this language does exist, in order to assist in the educational development of black children.

NANCY D. TOLSON Iowa City, Iowa

The Louis-Dreyfus Affair

I REALLY ENJOYED the article on Julia Louis-Dreyfus ["Success and the Seinfeld Girl," by Lloyd Grove, March]. Not only is she intelligent and funny, I think she is beautiful and has it all together. It was refreshing to hear that a successful woman such as Julia still drives her child to a nursery-school party and makes her family No. 1 in her life.

MINDI L. BRENNER Gardnerville, Nevada

I WANT TO SAY this to Julia: You have your priorities straight, baby! Having buckets of bucks is great, but at the end of a day, or a decade, a job well done can be most accurately measured by what kind of kids we've raised, not how much collateral.

SUZANNE CURRY El Dorado Hills, California

JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS S character on Seinfeld is so refreshing because she's allowed to be as complicated and contradictory as the guys. I doubt that Jerry Seinfeld and his writers think of themselves as feminists, which makes the whole thing more delicious: unwittingly, they've created the four most gender-liberated characters on television. Three men who kvetch, shriek, and whine, and one woman who's no Goody Two-Shoes.

SANDY ASIRVATHAM Columbia, Maryland

Wolcott Redux

OH JOY, OH RAPTURE, somebody slap this smile off my face—James Wolcott is back at Vanity Fair ["Too Little, Too Slate," March] and all's right with the world! I haven't even opened this month's issue yet; I'm still savoring seeing his name once again gracing the front of your magazine. Thanks for the valentine, V.F. Welcome back, James.

L. ROHRER Toluca Lake, California

SCHADENFREUDE being one of my top-three emotions, I naturally exulted in James Wolcott's excoriation of Slate, Michael Kinsley's on-line magazine for nimrods.

ROBERT F. X. DRURY Brooklyn, New York

IN HIS RECENT slamming of Slate magazine, James Wolcott manages to level a series of journalists whose writings are more different than alike (from Nicholas Lemann to Katha Pollitt) with a single put-down: "oxygen depleters." Other Slate contributors (including myself) fare no better. The guy can put on a show, you bet, but his moves are getting a little stagy, his takedowns increasingly reminiscent of professional wrestling matches (in cages). For his next contributor's photo, I suggest that you show him in purple tights, drenched in sprayed-on sweat and wearing a mask.

WALTER KIRN Livingston, Montana

I AM THOROUGHLY enjoying Mr. Kinsley's on-line effort, Slate. He is the most articulate voice of the resurgent left. Mr. Wolcott seems almost to have his feelings hurt that Mr. Kinsley would choose somewhere other than the northeastern corridor from which to enlighten his followers. Come on, James, learn to use Slate rather than panning it for being something you're not accustomed to.

MONTY BOTTOM Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

The Thug Life

MY HAT IS OFF in appreciation to Robert Sam Anson, for laying waste to the "glamour" of a gangsta's life and exposing its frayed truth ["To Die Like a Gangsta," March], Gangstas—in the streets or in the studios—are doomed to shoot or be shot in the name of empty, worthless causes. Tupac saw his own light too late in the game to use his power over millions of loyal listeners and the media to make any changes worthy of remembrance.

JAMES TUVERSON Los Angeles, California

I HAVE READ SEVERAL pieces on Tupac Shakur's death, and yours was the only one to shed any light on the side of him that was a dedicated volunteer on behalf of children who are growing up on the streets as he did. People need to know that he cared about someone besides himself and his star status. He was about more than the "thug life."

JENNIFER A. CUPP Smyrna, Georgia

FOR A YOUNG man who deemed himself a "thug," the late Tupac Shakur also proved to be a scholar and (at times) a gentleman.

STEPHANIE F. LEGARE Rockville Centre, New York

I AM JUST ONE of those "pinkest of Caucasians" who discovered Tupac Shakur after the release of his hit "Dear Mama." My advice to the American public is not to fear a few four-letter words and to give this man a listen. Only through understanding their world will we ever be able to begin to heal the anger in our nation's young black men.

MELODY AYERS Waterbury, Connecticut

TUPAC'S IS A cautionary tale. Look and learn, lest you have to repeat his history.

MILA KUEFNER Hayward, California

AT FIRST I THOUGHT this would be another quasi-analytical, exploitative piece which the mainstream media like to churn out when discussing black culture and its icons. But you produced a feature that exuded intelligence, objectivity, and class. While other magazines focus on 2Pac, the would-be gangsta, you showed Tupac, the intellectual heavyweight and philanthropist. (How many artists would spend four hours in a nightclub dancing with a disabled woman?)

JOAN L. SMITH London, England

ALTHOUGH I ENJOYED some of Tupac Amaru Shakur's music, never once did I feel sorry for him when he found himself in one of the many predicaments leading up to his death. When you play dirty, you die dirty. But your article was so intense, it made me look at him in a whole new light. It humanized him, and I felt a tug at my heart as I read about all of the non-gangsta/thug things he did.

AMANDA ARMSTRONG New York, New York

ROBERT SAM ANSON did not portray Mr. Shakur as a devil, nor as an angel, but as a man with survival instincts who believed in himself even when absolutely no one else did.

I want to thank you, Vanity Fair, for not limiting the cultural and demographic range of your readers. Be it Julia Louis-Dreyfus or Tupac, our world is not just black or white, it's life that loves and breathes.

SYLVIA V. HILLMAN Phoenix, Arizona

Bronfman's Crusade

I HAVE TREMENDOUS admiration for Edgar Bronfman Sr. and the important work that he and others are doing ["Edgar's List," by Ann Louise Bardach, March]. To be witnessing, in 1997, the reverberations of the Holocaust makes me shudder. The recent revelations of Swiss complicity and deceit only deepen my conviction to bring up our two precious sons to be proud of their Jewish identity and heritage.

JOANNE L. KLEIN Clinton Comers, New York

THOUGH THE NEWS of Swiss plans to construct a multimillion-dollar fund for Holocaust victims may hardly address the claims of survivors, it certainly proves that efforts made by moral entrepreneurs such as Edgar Bronfman finally do bear fruit, even if it takes the form of a symbolic gesture. At the very least, it validates the flip side of Mr. Bronfman's own contention that "timidity towards anti-Semitism encourages anti-Semitism."

RONIT SHEMTOV Mansfield Center, Connecticut

WHEN BRONFMAN orders the Pope to "get those damned nuns out of there," exactly what does he think he is creating? Harmony? Tolerance? Respect for others? Before Bronfman decries the intolerance of others, tell him first to stop exhibiting it himself.

CAROLYN EKSTEDT San Francisco, California

I GO ABOUT my daily grind, enjoying liberty in a way most of my ancestors could only dream about as they were led to their death. I am a Jew and carry a permanent hole in my heart. This hole can never be filled: it longs for history, justice, and dignity. I will not be politically correct when I say, Go get 'em, Edgar! Get as much as you can, make them sweat, hurt them in the only place they are capable of hurting—the pocketbook! Do it on principle, do it for the shopkeeper in Poland, the tailor in Hungary, the baker in Vienna! It is the only justice the survivors will ever get. L'chayim, Edgar!

GABRIELLE ANNE LEVITCH FELLNER Pembroke Pines, Florida

IN OUR WORLD today, amid starvation and woe, 50 years after a war where all involved sustained great loss, it seems absurd to grovel for a thing as trivial as money. Humanity is priceless.

DEBRA WRIGHT Farmington Hills, Michigan

CERTAINLY NO government should benefit monetarily from the crime of the century, and those who can prove title to the money directly should get their just compensation. But the best avenue for reparation would be a World Jewish Congress committee that distributed reclaimed funds to Jewish causes around the world (for example, Holocaust education programs and the upkeep of Jewish cemeteries in Eastern Europe).

The Holocaust should be remembered for what it was—the most inhumane slaughter of a group of people in history—and that in no way should be obscured by the cloud of money.

MARK SEGAL New York, New York

Bulls'-eye

ANNIE LEIBOVITZ'S stunning photo captured the soul and spirit of our very own Chicago Bulls ["Running with the Bulls," by Susan Kittenplan, March]. Two questions: How did she get Scottie Pippen to smile? And where can I get the poster?

NANCY NEHLS NELSON Naperville, Illinois

Hong Kong Affair

WITH REGARD TO "Hong Kong Surprise" [by Andrew Neil, March], everything is on target, but it's important to note that, while Britain has been around for 99 years, only after the turnover was imminent did it try to implement democratic reforms. Its words ring hollow. For Britain to suggest democracy when it suddenly served its interest is at best an example of that annoying British arrogance and at worst tossing a match into the village as it leaves.

The Opium Wars are a blight and a disgrace that will always be the legacy of Britain in China. That its "empire" was built on drugs eviscerates any lofty democracy path, a path it did not offer to the Chinese or Hong Kongers in the previous 90-plus years. What was good enough for the home country and others in the rest of the commonwealth was not good enough for Hong Kong.

GARY ZUINAN Danville, California

YOUR STORY ON Hong Kong rightly makes much of the marriage between Cantonese hard work and British administration, which was a major factor in the city-state's rise to wealth and prominence. But what of the Shanghaiese, who came from China's biggest city after the 1949 Communist takeover? They are generally regarded as being among Hong Kong's most savvy and shrewd entrepreneurs.

MARK GRAHAM Hong Kong

It's Your Funeral

JESSICA MITFORD rightly criticizes the funeral industry for exploiting the consumer ["Death, Incorporated," March] in the name of fattening its coffers with outrageous profits. In fact, as a former executive and a 30-year veteran of the death-care industries, I believe she did not come down on them hard enough. In terms of nondeclinable fees, what kind of business consistently forces customers to pay for services they do not use or want? It's time that we, as consumers, refuse to accept the status quo. We need to pressure the industry into eliminating these unsavory business practices.

DARRYL J. ROBERTS Scottsdale, Arizona

JESSICA MITFORD'S article is singular in its focus, in both its target and bias. The only examples given to support her opinions are of misconduct committed by Service Corporation International. There is not a single example of misconduct by independent funeral directors, or even other conglomerates. According to Ms. Mitford's article, as of 1994, these other businesses made up 91 percent of the industry. I will concede that there are disreputable companies in the funeral industry. However, I would bet my life that the reputable companies far outnumber the disreputable ones. Ms. Mitford doesn't give businesses like my family's a chance. Businesses that are a main support structure in their communities. Businesses run by people who will do anything to help a friend or neighbor. Businesses that work very hard to provide what is most neededcompassion, support, and strength in the worst of times.

SHANDRA NAUGHTON Chicago, Illinois

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