Letters

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES DO THE EDITORS FORWARD LETTERS FROM READERS TO OTHER PERSONS NOR DO THEY ANSWER CORRESPONDENCE MAKING SUCH REQUESTS.

TOWARD UNDERSTANDING OURSELVES

Dear Sirs:

Of all things in the Magazine I have enjoyed most Dr. Baker's articles, perhaps because I like her outlook, too, firmly believe that we homosexuals are neither sick nor depraved. I am gay, happily gay, in love, and loved. I believe, along with the Doctor, that homosexuality is no more abnormal than is red hair-by the way, I am a red-head. Mr. R.

Dear ONE:

North Bergen, New Jersey

On receiving the May issue I felt I must take the opportunity to congratulate you on the fine work you have done in the past year. It continues to improve, issue by issue, but I missed Dr. Baker's column. It is a temporary absence, I hope. She is a remarkably perceptive and warmly human person.

The fiction, "Familiar Strangers" and "Joe," was outstandingly beautiful and more constructive than was "The Junk Dealer" (March, 1960) although that was amusing and certainly had its place in the Magazine. My only negative note is on "Joel Beck" (November, 1959) which I didn't find in the best of taste. Mr. C.

Editor's Reply:

Miami, Florida

Dr. Baker has continued bravely to maintain her column, TOWARD UNDERSTANDING, while suffering recurrent attacks of severe illness which had plagued her even before the first appearance of the column, January, 1959. Despite this, she has missed only two issues out of eighteen, as well as travelling over four hundred miles each way to attend the 1959 and 1960 Midwinter Institutes in Los Angeles in a wheel-chair. Her many friends and readers of TOWARD UNDERSTANDING sincerely hope for her speedy return to good health. Special acknowledgement should also

be given the tireless and unwavering support of William F. Baker, Dr. Baker's husband, which has played so important a part in continuing the column.

Dear ONE:

The Magazine means so much to people stuck in small towns. I think the idea of a fee for those who wish to consult with Dr. Baker, who sounds awfully intelligent, as someone proposed in ONE confidential, would be a good thing for those having trouble adjusting.

I suppose you've thought of a correspondence course in addition to your regular classes at the Institute in Los Angeles. There must be some solution short of pen pals for people. I am surprised at the readers who are still for it after all the arguments you've given against it.

It's taken years for me to get to the point where I can obey conventions enough to fool the crowd at the office without being too unconfortable psychologically. My hair may be fluffy but it's awfully short and the dresses are tailored, believe me! Outside the office it's strictly jeans!

I think it's a good compromise to be able to pass in the office and yet be recognizable to your own crowd, even to strangers on the street. I'm a great believer in esprit de corps. I have no patience with those who won't admit the truth.

Miss R. New York, N. Y.

PEN PALS, THE TOPIC IMMORTAL Gentlemen:

I would like to become a pen pal, if and when you decide to allow it. I have been rather lonely in the past year, as I went with one person for nine years, but due to my being in an accident and his being tied to his mother's apron-strings (he was nearly eleven years older than 1) we called it a day. Since then life hasn't any meaning. I don't know how to go about meeting anyone new, and hope from day to day someone will come along.

Dear Friends:

Mr. W. Quincy, Illinois

Your January, 1960, issue gives the impression that everyone is all "shook up" over an open forum you had previously run on Pen Pals. Frankly, I have always felt that the least an organization such as ONE could do would be to assist its "clients" in obtaining information about "What's What' in Our Realm of the world: such things as clubs, fraternities, societies, veteran's organizations, etc. I can see no harm in a trivial little enterprise like a Pen Pal club.