Letters

Wicked and shameful

Congratulations on your article in the June issue
concerning sex, marriage and prostitution including names of “workers”,
their qualifications, fees charged and descriptions of “services
rendered”. After reading it a few more times, I’ll take it behind the
barn and pass it on to my buddies!

Why is it when readers write decent letters to you asking specific questions or, more importantly, expressing a sincere
desire to communicate with others interested in Brazil and its culture you never, ever, respond or print the writer’s address?

Yet in the aforementioned piece publish names, addresses, phone numbers and, in at least one case, step-by-step directions on finding a popular place of “employment”? Shame on you.

PS: Ainda assim adoro sua revista. (In spite of that I still adore your magazine.)

Jim Graham

Box 831

Chewelah, Washington 99108


 

The debate goes on

 

I would like to comment on the article by Iara Morton (No way! May ’96). I did not read Ms. Bahiana’s book
América de A a Z, except for the excerpts that you published. I had similar experiences in my 28 years living in the US. Does Ms. Morton know
that some people living in the favelas in Brazil are happier than some people living in Newport Beach or Beverly Hills?

No, I don’t live in some ghetto in the US. I
have lived most of the time in rich folks’ neighborhoods, but I prefer
to associate myself with the simple people, which usually are nicer. A
Ph.D. does not change a person. I do know some illiterate people in
Brazil who are very knowledgeable and more pleasant to talk to than
some Ph.Ds.

I don’t know of any Brazilian who expects any privileges here. We, at least the ones I know, like to be treated as equal.
Open boarders to immigrants? Ha, ha, ha! Maybe Ms. Morton does not watch the news. Do you want to enter the US legally? Go
back to your country, apply, then wait forever.

I wonder what Ms. Morton is doing to help
improve life for the people in Brazil? She probably will never return.
But if she does, I bet she will join the very corrupt government in
that country, which oppresses the people. My conclusion is that Ms.
Morton is an “Americanized clown”. I do know a few other like her. Not
all are Brazilians.

Geoniora G. Oliveira

Fountain Valley, California


 

The nitty-gritty

 

Over the past two years that I have received your magazine, I have very much appreciated the wide diversity of subjects
your articles have covered, the discussion they’ve generated in your letter section and the variety of viewpoints represented.

For me, the May ’96’s issue (on the military dictatorship and its far reaching and lasting effects on millions of people)
helped deromanticize much of the information I had gotten so far about different well-known
Brasileiros going into exile. I didn’t have concrete facts about
everyday people, `disappeared’ people, torture, etc… I think it’s all
very important to understand and learn about. Please renew my
subscription.

Cheryl Harrison

Seattle, Washington


 

The depth and the lightness

 

I truly love the magazine’s coverage of issues interesting and humorous and
human. I also love when you include recipes
— simple, uncomplicated (oxymoron) that I can prepare for my family and friends.

I discovered your magazine in a Brazilian restaurant in Los Angeles where the food and the people were real, during the
World Cup. Oh, what a fabulous time! What sweet love between people. I’ll never forget! Keep up the good work.

PS: I think I will wear my soccer T-shirt today. This letter inspired me.

Dolores Del-Rio Davis

El Paso, Texas


 

Bugging label

 

Oops! I almost forgot to renew my subscription. Glad you keep telling me right on the front cover, when to renew. Thanks
a lot for that. Keep up the good work. Believe me. I can’t survive without reading
Brazzil.

Otto Raymond

Newark, New Jersey

 

 


 

Send it in

 

    • I just wrote a short story about my infant days in Manhattan as a Brazilian girl. I wonder if you would be interested. I talks

 

    • about what it was like to live on the upper east side in the early seventies, showing the contrast between Rio and Manhattan.

Karen Shishiptorova

Danbury, Connecticut


 

Foreign correspondent

 

    • I’d like to introduce myself. I am working in the Information and Decision Support Center in Egypt and I am willing to

 

    • send articles to your magazine.

Basem Refaat

Egypt – on the Internet


 

Foreign correspondent II

 

    • I loved your magazine and homepage. I’m a Brazilian journalist with a column on the Internet Site of Agência Estado, the

 

    • leading newswire service in Brazil. I would like to write as a freelancer to

Brazzil.

    • I have some experience writing in English

 

    • about businesses.

Rene

São Paulo, Brazil – on the Internet


 

Lost in France

 

    • I’m a Portuguese in France and I want to try to contact some people of my family in Brazil, but I don’t know how I can do

 

    • it. I would appreciate any information like a list of addresses or even a telephone book.

João Braz
Halluin, France

jbraz@nordmail.nordnet.fr


 

Trading info

 

    • I am a reporter for a small newspaper in Milwaukee. Tecumseh

 

    • Products Co, a company handling contaminated waste in my area, has

 

    • moved to São Carlos, Brazil, after being forbidden to use its equipment

 

    • here. I would like to touch base with a Brazilian reporter,

 

    • environmentalist, or government official to learn more or even trade

 

    • information. This could have an impact on the quality of a community’s

 

    • drinking water in Brazil, so it is important.

Rob Golub

Cedarburg, Wisconsin

robvantage@aol.com


 

Crippled tune

 

    • Hey, who translated the Carmen Miranda’s song “Disseram que eu voltei americanizada”? They mutilated the poor song. I

 

    • love your articles, but you have to get a better translator. If it’s not too big I will translate for you for free.

Abraços

    • .

Nana

nhowton@academic.csubak.edu

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