Re my essay on Cultural Appropriation in the July 12 issue: 

“Thanks for your recent article on cultural appropriation. It triggered me to confirm that the University of Utah also has a written agreement with the Ute tribe for use of the Ute moniker for its sports teams – and has since 1972.” – DC

“In the 1980s, the Regents of Eastern Michigan University (EMU) decided that the name ‘Hurons’ was somehow inappropriate. Never mind that EMU borders on Huron Street and the Huron River. Never mind that the tribe issued an official plea to keep the name. Noooo, the Regents conducted a public poll to find a less offensive replacement.

“I submitted two entries through the local newspaper in case the obvious and fun ‘Emus’ didn’t win: the Blands and the Regents. So what did they latch onto? The EMU ‘Eagles.’ (Yawn.)

“Love your blogs; please keep it up.” – JM

“Cultural Appropriation. Before it became bad, it was apparently acceptable to liberals to appropriate culture and use it to boost their woke egos.

“The Maori culture was always taught in schools as part of history and social studies. This occurred for 75-100 years. In the last 25 years or so, this transitioned to Maori culture being more important in NZ schools and woke society than the 3Rs. Children in grade school were forced to learn, read & write in Maori. This was odd, for Maori is a verbal language only. There was no written word, ever! So a written language was created in order to force-feed the culture on the citizenry. Now all kinds of non-Maori people converse online, in person, and even legal contracts in a dead verbal-only language.” – TM

Re my essay on Grandparenting in the July 15 issue: 

“Freaking hilarious, Mark! And I love the long-term babysitting responsibility. Brilliant.” – KT

Re the Omeleto video in the July 15 P.S.: 

“The video… was something else. What was it, 10, 12 minutes? I’ve watched two-hour movies with less impact than that. It’s amazing when you can combine great dialogue, great direction, and great acting. It’s so condensed yet you come up with such an emotionally charged segment. I’ll spend the rest of my day wondering what happened next.

“Is it part of a movie or is that all there is?” – AS

My Response: Yes, that was the whole of it. As I said, Omeleto specializes in short films. I recommend it. It’s free. And If, like me, you sometimes find that you want to watch a good film but don’t have 90+ minutes to spare, it’s just the thing!