Navigation

Letter to the Editor: Thanks for Proving My Point

This letter is in response to Bruce Osborne’s letter dated Feb. 10, 2017.

Thank you, Mr. Osborne, for proving my point.

I suspect, however, that your intention was not to do so.

Your questions? My responses:

1. Of course the Women’s March was a “backlash” of the election results. I purposefully did not express open disdain for the results of his democratic election, but rather his policies.

2. “People don’t trivialize sexual assault?” Sir, they do. That is one of the starkest overgeneralizations I’ve ever read. Even if we allow that our president never grabbed women without their consent (read, sexual assault), he certainly trivialized it with his “locker room talk.” Your point about Williams is ill-informed. You ironically don’t acknowledge that she is an example of the progress which you apparently think just is, but most certainly wasn’t.

3. “Where have street protests advanced any cause?” I assume you mean when, not where, to which I will simply say, open a history book, Mr. Osborne.

4. I certainly hope I know the power of my words. Your question merely demonstrates your derision to my opinion being in apparent contrast to yours. It’s a disappointment that you cannot see the merit in a person respectfully sharing his or her experience. If your intention was to publicly shame me for suggesting that I am abusing my post as a teacher, and, therefore, influencing others’ opinions, I am somewhat appalled. Our school and families teach our children to have their own opinions, gathered from their reading, supported by evidence, and measured against the experiences of others. In short, my students and their families have their own beautiful minds.

5-7.“Many of the marchers” were not vulgar. They were families. “The hat?” you ask. What of it? In your apparent disgust of the pussyhat, again, you unwittingly prove its point. I think we all know why that word has entered into our lexicon of late. Naming the hat to be vulgar is wholly ironic, sir. The point is to demonstrate how inappropriate, degrading and sexist it is for our Commander in Chief to use it.

Based on your byline, I assume that your final remark about teachers in “our community” was meant to be a sardonic dig on Door County, as opposed to your suburban Chicago community. This sentence is the only one in your letter that was personally offensive. For one, you insinuate that this community does not value teachers. To that I say, you have picked the wrong fight with the wrong person. My students and their families recognize and appreciate the power of our effective teachers. Furthermore, you suggest that we are living in an unhealthy environment since one of its teachers made a “pilgrimage.” To purport that my activism is unhealthy is absolutely insulting. Finally, you must not follow my other writing for this publication, otherwise you would know that Northbrook is my hometown. You are correct that teachers are valued there, but I urge you to check your sources on the “healthy” environment. Northbrook, like here, is roiling with respectful dissent, in education and politics alike.

Lauren Bremer

Baileys Harbor, Wis.