From the January 2011 issue:

From Emily Pritchard Cary, Scottsdale, Arizona:

The latest issue of Eldercountry is excellent.

The coverage of Robert Bittar's remarkable talents should spur readers to head for Maine and his emporium at the earliest opportunity.

Jan's piece on the penalties of opening one's big mouth is especially timely with the recent firing of a television personality who expressed fear of Muslims over the airwaves. My mother's caution to "watch your words at all times in case they are taken the wrong way" is valid today.

From the October 2010 issue:

From Joan Edelstein, Manhattan, New York City:

Stuff – how I relate to your essay [STUFF, reprinted July/August 2010]. Life changes often involve tangible objects we invest with memories, happy and otherwise. When my husband, Haskell, died, I realized that a four-story row house was three stories too many. Putting the house on the market meant divesting (your word and mine) of three quarters of its contents. Furniture disposition was easy — my older son needed to furnish his apartment. Several of his friends were eager to take other tables and chairs. The only items not negotiable were the piano, purchased soon after we married, and the dozen dining room chairs sporting the needlepoint cushions I stitched.

The smaller stuff was more difficult. So much of it, all usable, but no longer by me. I held what I call a “tagless tag sale.” My son helped me to pile the stuff into the dining room, starting with the five muffin pans necessary when feeding loads of my children’s teammates and pals. I told everyone about the great “come and get it” day, urging neighbors, friends, colleagues, and passers-by to bring friends and take whatever appealed. The only rule was that no one could leave without rescuing at least one article. You can imagine their delight in snagging a picture frame, pillow, roasting pan, and other minor items. They virtually cleaned out the stuff.

Memories remain, with or without stuff.

From Emily Pritchard Cary, Scottsdale, Arizona:

How shocked and saddened to learn that ElderCountry is retiring, at least for the moment. I always enjoy reading each issue and look for its return in the future. We elders need this kind of connection with our peers. By the way, I love this month's piece about Franklin's armonica [Spotlight, CECILIA BRAUER, reprinted July/August 2010].

From Robert Strozier, Tampa, Florida:

I'm very sorry to hear that you're wrapping things up with Eldercountry. It's such a delightful and well-written publication, which I've always looked forward to. Well, maybe you'll get a second wind down the road – I certainly hope so.

From Virginia Black, Manhattan, New York City:

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading Eldercountry and am sorry to learn that it will not have new issues – at least for awhile. I will hold onto the "at least for awhile." I am currently sorting through 33 years of stuff in my NY apartment and deciding what take on a westward move. It is a daunting task! Like you, I've had to put some things aside, to allow time for this transition. Hopefully I will be able to pick them up again! I hope you will too. Wishing you all the best!

From Jack Deitch, Esq., Austin, Texas:

Editor's Note: Mr. Deitch hopes that the following proposal for immigration reform will open the subject for discussion.

IMMIGRATION REFORM PROPOSAL

It seems as if all talk of immigration reform is locked into and awaiting action by Congress.

We are wasting our time.

The door to reform does not lie with an intransigent Congress but rather within the Obama administration itself. It is not the legislation which needs reform so much as does the implementation of the current law. It is within the province of the Executive branch to create the administrative rules in order to carry out the intent of the legislation.

President Obama can through executive fiat reset the immigration law's enforcement priorities in order to induce 12 million undocumented aliens to register and to voluntarily return home in order to reenter the country legally. This can be accomplished with a minimum delay and would enable us to establish an equitable system that will serve our long term goals as well as our temporary employment needs.

By the simple expedient of revising our immigration list to reflect a new order of priority that will recognize the date that the undocumented immigrant first exhibited an intention to reside in the US. a whole host of reforms will naturally flow. This date may be the date he/she first registered with the immigration authorities and went on a list or it could be the date he/she can establish when they first arrived in the U.S., illegally or otherwise. It should be the intent to establish residency that should control priority on the list ... not the legality.

This would permit the undocumented resident to assume a place in line commensurate with the date he first evinced an intention to become a resident. He would be obliged to leave the country (as required by current law) and be allowed to immediately reenter legally in his order of priority.

Those who have been here the longest, with the most to lose, could be returned in a matter of days. Others would follow as fast as we could process them. They will have had to register and incur the expense of traveling in order to reenter (which would be penalty enough). However, they will have every incentive to do so, voluntarily, in order to legalize their residency.

No one would be disadvantaged by this system, including those immigrants who waited patiently on the list (their place on line would not change because someone has "illegally" jumped the line). No one need be criminalized, including our own employers, and amnesty need not become an issue.

The U.S. would benefit by knowing who and where our 12 million undocumented aliens are. We would be able to provide adequate services, collect proper taxes and recover control over our borders. We would reunite families, bring people out of the shadows and create the time and the ability to plan for temporary workers and substantially reduce illegal border crossings. We would save the hundreds of millions of dollars required to build an unnecessary fence and do it all in record time. Our border patrol would be able to return to stopping the drug trade instead of the illegal immigrant.

The burden of proving priority would be on the 12 million and need not be an impossible task. It may be done through documentation, medical records or by witness' testimony. The undocumented would be given time to register and time to leave the country as well as a guaranteed return date. Considerations for health and hardship can be extended and felons can be excluded. Failure to register by a certain date would be grounds to deny reentry. Some may fall through the cracks but we would break the back of the illegal immigration nightmare. We need only to overcome our need to find blame and to criminalize the least fortunate among us. We need to stop becoming our own worst enemy.

From the July/August 2010 issue:

From Bryna Weiss, Santa Clarita, California:

I'm impressed with the obvious intellectual and cultural makeup of the commenters in this column. It's a pleasure to read them as opposed to some of the ignorant and hateful comments you see on different web sites.

From Karin Larson, Harwich Port, Massachusetts:

I am following up on the Essayist's flattery article [June 2010] with true praise for the Eldercountry Lawyer's analysis of a very intricate topic! [Health Care and State Sovereignty]

From the June 2010 issue:

From Claudette Kostrich Laureano, Plymouth, Minnesota:

I was Gabriel Kosakoff's [Spotlight, May 2010] student at the High School of Music and Art in New York City. He was my orchestra teacher and someone who meant a great deal to me.

Editor's Note: Claudette Laureano and her husband Manny Laureano have been co-directors of the Minnesota Youth Symphonies for 22 years, and Manny Laureano has been the principal trumpet player of the Minnesota Orchestra for 29 years. The Laureanos met at the High School of Music and Art.

Gabriel Kosakoff writes that "the Laureanos are a real credit to the world of music. Manny is one of the few super star trumpet players that we ever had at Music and Arts and for many years has been recognized as one of the most respected trumpet players in the country. I remember Claudette as a lovely, hard-working young woman who was a very gifted violinist. I didn't know that she was conducting or even teaching music but you can be sure that anything that Claudette sets her mind to do will be done right."

To read an article about Claudette and Manny Laureano in MPLS St. Paul Magazine, click on www.mspmag.com/entertainment/people/83930_1.asp.

From Steven Montgomery, Manhattan, New York City:

I really liked the essay "Ambition" in the May Eldercountry. My first career goal was to be a filmmaker, and I found the theme of the essay to be relevant to my own life.

This is my favorite sentence (though I never imagined reaching such a conclusion!):

"Work success, I decided, would depend on finding something that I could do fairly well, something that someone would want to pay for, and something that someone else with greater talent would not care to do at all."

I hope a lot of people will read this useful and touching essay.

Editor's Note: Steven Montgomery found a career as a development consultant, and advises nonprofits on fundraising. Last year he gave a talk and film presentation in Indiana on "Achieving Success After My Dream Failed to Come True." You can read or listen to a public radio report on his talk by clicking on indianapublicmedia.org/arts/hobies-heroes-filmmaker-finds-fulfillment-changing-dream/.

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From the May 2010 issue:

From Liz Weis, Manhattan, New York City:

Loved the link to the technical terms [CHECK IT OUT, April 2010], the essay on Bernstein [Spotlight, WALTER BERNSTEIN], and the essay on neatening up [NEAT]. Is there a difference between French corners and hospital corners, which is what my mother called the requirement to pull up a piece of sheet and tuck it in last? I can't even describe it, but my hands know how to do it.

Editors Note: The Essayist probably mis-remembered. The correct term for the corners his mother taught him how to make in making a bed appears to be "hospital corners." To see how to make a hospital corner, click on www.www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Hospital-Corner.

From Victoria Hallerman, Staten Island, New York City:

I loved the Bernstein piece in Eldercountry [April 2010], especially the end: " 'Writing is all I ever wanted to do,' he said. He has no plans to stop." Fine and to the point. The pictures were quite professional, the subject relaxed.

The essay on neatness [NEAT] got me thinking. I used to feel quite guilty about writing – when I wasn't teaching – if the dishes hadn't been washed and everything put right. Then I felt guilty about procrastinating, until one of my teachers (A.R. Ammons, poet and teacher – and rare individual) said, "It's only the flight from the poem."

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From the April 2010 issue:

From Len Speier, Manhattan, New York City:

As usual, an interesting and pithy work [March 2010 issue ], and a chuckle or two to be found in the essay [INSPIRATION]. Commenting fairly and evenhandedly by the Eldercountry Lawyer on that nasty Supreme Court decision, unfortunately, doesn't make it any more palatable to me. I am tempted to ditch my framed Supreme Court Certificate of Admission (it hangs in my bathroom), but perhaps I will hang on to it, hoping for a meaningful change in the court's composition under Obama. (I am such as optimist!)

From David Salsburg, New London, Connecticut:

The Eldercountry Lawer piece on the recent Supreme Court decision [March 2010] set me thinking. As I read the Constitution, I don't see anything about corporations there. So, I gather that the idea of a corporation as a legal "person" is probably the result of laws of the states or the Federal government. If so, why can't Congress simply pass a law limiting the "rights" of artificial "persons" to whatever rights are needed to conduct business, like make contracts, borrow money, etc.? This is the way the Talmud might have solved it. Talmudic solutions, which often involve redefining a word that everyone thought they knew the meaning of, have a lot going for them. For instance, instead of seeking a Constitutional amendment to make desecration of the flag illegal, the right wing patriots can just pass a law that states that anything burning or being desecrated is not an American flag.

Also, I was delighted with the whimsical essay [INSPIRATION]. You can wait a long time if you hold off writing until "inspiration" comes. Wasn't it Anthony Trollop who shocked his Victorian readers by admitting that he wrote every day starting at a fixed time, as he would at any other job?

From Earnest H. Scarborough, Okanogan, Washington:

I really enjoyed the Spotlight about Bob [BOB SHERIDAN, January/February 2010]. And especially the pictures. I have been on Coffeedrome for years but never knew who Bob was. Now I know. I also now know a little more about this amazing man! Thanks.

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From the March 2010 issue:

From Carol Zaglio, Manhattan, New York City:

I am struck with wonder at the genuine and forceful photos taken by Bob Sheridan [ SPOTLIGHT January/February 2010], not to mention your article about his life.

From Ruth Cowan, Manhattan, New York City:

Another readable, enjoyable (especially Alan Oser's column) and informative issue [January/February 2010]. Thank you.

From Len Speier, Manhattan, New York City:

I very much enjoyed your article on freedom of expression in the January issue of Eldercountry [Eldercountry Lawyer, FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION? IT DEPENDS].

From the January/February 2010 issue:

From Perry Neubauer, Cambridge, Massachusetts:

A word of praise for The Essayist: This is immediate and spontaneous, as he recommends [PRAISE December 2009]. I always read his stuff and enjoy it almost as much as his cooking and his violin playing.

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