LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Loyal Bills fan: Just wait till next year
The morning after, and it still stings. After all the breaks and mistakes, great plays on both sides of the ball, with injuries and against a great team, we had a good chance, better than good, to win.
But footballs take funny bounces, and we lost. Don’t cry. That’s the game we signed up for.
Congrats to Kansas City. Move on. It’s just a game.
But I love our guys, Stefon, Josh, Sean, everyone from the chief cook to the bottle washer. Everybody on this team leaves it all on the field. They all are smart, dedicated, talented. They have character, charity, integrity and they’re good. Anywhere, anytime, against any team.
Remember all the great accomplishments we had this year. We were counted out, and we made the playoffs.
No meanness. Enjoy the off-season. Pick up in September where we left off.
This is a team of destiny. We are destined to win the Super Bowl.
Go Bills!
Peter Fullam
Webster
Reader reminisces on life in a less-technology-driven world
Do you remember those days? I remember the days when we could share photos and look at photo albums. We would wait in excitement for pictures to be developed and hope they came out well.
Remember the days when a selfie was looking in the mirror and saying “not today?”
It is a strange and different world now.
We answer questions through Google, Alexa, and Siri, not necessarily through mom, dad or our grandparents.
Remember the days when going to a bookstore, music store or video store was a nice outing with family and friends?
Remember the days when dinner time was a time to chat, vent, relate news and enjoy each others’ company?
Those were the days my friends, yes those were the days.
Karen Baker
Brighton
Whole word or phonics? This reader embraces both
Having long observed the recurring tug between phonics and look-say (whole word) reading instruction, I welcomed the Jan. 19 D&C article that discussed the blend of both.
Phonics is an indispensable word attack skill, and whole word is indispensable to effective comprehension.
Exclusive whole word handicaps the learner in deciphering new words. Exclusive phonics hobbles the learner in achieving the fluent understanding of a text.
As the article summarizes, word comprehension and word attack skills work together to help learners achieve the miracle and magic that is reading. Skilled, sensitive teachers know that and focus on the learner and not the program.
Decreeing emphasis on whole word or phonics or on commercial pitches, or “standard” tests is not a likely path to a lifetime of reading such as I have employed and enjoyed for over 90 years. Charles Griffith
Webster
Reader suggests watching briefing on abortion-rights challenges in U.S.
I read the Jan. 14th “Speaking Out” piece in the D&C by a board member for a group opposed to abortion, The author argued that New York state, where abortion is legal, should refuse help to those in states where it is not legal.
If you haven’t, so far, formed an opinion on this issue, might I suggest you watch a Jan. 17th briefing on the state of abortion rights in America organized by U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. A recording can be viewed on YouTube.
In the briefing, participants share story after story of the chaos and cruelty resulting from the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Linda Stephens
Rochester