Letters for November 28, 2019

Tell tails

Re “Horse tales” (Feature story, Nov. 21):

I am confused. Two thousand head of horses, and 1,100 vaccines delivered, which is about 50% of the Virginia Range mares. It is my understanding that wild horse ranges have about 50% male and 50% mares. If that is right, and if 1,100 mares have been vaccinated, that would mean there are 2,200 mares on the Virginia Range plus 2,200 males for a total of 4,400 total horses. More than double what the 2,000 head the article said there was. Are the darters fudging the numbers to make themselves look good? Or is this poor reporting?

Gerald Miller

Lewiston, Idaho

Editor's note: Because horses require both a first round and a booster of the birth control vaccine, 1,100 doses of vaccine works out to about 550 mares, which accounts for about 50 percent of the mares in the Virginia Range.

Hearing aide

Regardless of what you think about Republicans or Democrats, if you care about America, the hearing with Ambassador Yovanovitch should be a wakeup call. When she rhetorically asked how it is we got to a place where known corrupt individuals can talk our president into firing an ambassador that is getting in the way of their corruption, it was a show-stopper for me. I don't care what you think of the whistleblower or anything else about the circus that Fox News and others have created at the highest levels of government, or what you think about the media in general, this is a significant indication that the production line needs to be shut down, reviewed and fixed. Elections matter and votes matter, and paying attention to actual events for ourselves matters. The days of trusting talking heads whose job it is to try to convince you that what you just witnessed didn't happen or doesn't matter has to end. The days of trusting the party to tell you which evidence to read and which to ignore has to end. We have a republic … if we can keep it.

Michel Rottmann

Virginia City Highlands

Open invite

Re “The right one” (Editor's note, Oct. 31):

Brad! As a hybrid business-loving fan of coffee, tea and beer who misses record stores, you'll surely dig Reno Coffee Company. Missy and the gang rock Reno's best and boldest straight-up pourover, plus perky mixed concoctions (Morning Mojito … *roaster's kiss*), from a dozen-ish killer bean choices. They support the draught with local brews and several wines, and there's always something fun on the vintage soundsystem, installed by local tune-hound Graeme Hartnett, who carefully—I'd argue anally—curates their funktastic for-sale vinyl selection. (Good shit only; get that Manilow at Savers.) Perfect timing, too; check 'em out Saturday at their early take on “Record Store Day” for discounted records (1,500 adds—get to work!), cheap good-beers, and DJ sets. (BYO pizza.) No DVDs yet … but Video King's up the street and there's even a glorious Wells Angel who hawks bootleg discs out of his van some nights. You in?

Devon Blunden

Reno

Melissa Melero-Moose fan

Dear Melissa,

I saw you once before when I was working a convention where you were exhibiting. This time I brought my kids to see your work. I wanted them to know why I go on and on about your paintings. The fact is, I didn't know.

I knew that I loved the colors that you use. I didn't yet see that they are all the colors of the lakes and streams, mountains and forests. I was fascinated by the textures that you build up, not knowing that those bumps and ripples are pine nuts and willow twigs. They seemed to me like maps from the pelicans view circling high above; or a close up of a wave battered shore. You are literally painting your culture, a woven basket of color on canvas, a living artifact that could conceptually be planted and a forest would spring forth.

I envy your confidence, your comfort with your own artistic identity. It's like I have been waiting for someone to give me permission to work in the abstract, and you just go right ahead and do it. And it works. For me to do what you do, I would first have to know and identify with my culture, and then find something worth celebrating. I try.

I just wanted to say thank you, for the beauty of your art, for your contribution to our broader shared culture, and for the inspiration to paint today. If I ever sell one of these paintings, I will try to buy one of yours. You are the deer's ears, the quail's tail. You are the antelope's, um, cantaloupe.

Clint Hohenstein

Reno