Dear editor, Most health professionals would say exercise is an important part of a healthy lifestyle. That’s why my husband and I walk our PreK aged son to and from school daily (other than a blizzard or heavy rainy conditions). It is on these walks on our small residential streets around Mt. Taylor Elementary that we are faced daily with an obstacle course of trashcans, portable basketball hoops, mailboxes, vehicles parked on the sidewalk and overgrown yard plants taking over the sidewalks. We are fortune that no one in our family needs assistive items for mobility such as a wheelchair. I can only imagine the frustration that people with disabilities feel when they leave their homes for a nice stroll outside. But where else are these items supposed to go? What are the city ordinances surrounding these issues? Placing items on the sidewalk creates obstacles that may seem inconsequential to people without mobility limitations. Many other cities have grandfather laws which is how they get around having to follow ADA compliance as those laws usually only apply to new sidewalk construction. The alternative for people with disabilities when the sidewalk is inaccessible is using the street.
This brings up yet another issue of traffic control. Most small residential streets in close proximity to schools have a posted speed limit of 15MPH. The number of vehicles that are going well over that when we have to walk on the street is astounding. The combination of lack of walking space and speeding vehicles have made our daily walks extremely stressful and unsafe. I hope that city officials recognize the importance of these issues before someone is seriously hurt or killed.
Sincerely, Jennifer Dixon
Sharing Our Lovers
Dear editor, Like many LGBT and straight people, I am able to be openly and deeply in love with more than one person at the same time.
We teach children to share food, toys and friends. How selfish, how cruel the child who demands that his child friend have no other friends or playmates! We adults can learn to share our lovers with others. We enjoy a variety of flowers, fruits, vegetables, colors, books, songs. Many of us also enjoy a variety of lovers!
A loving parent can have a deep special bond with each of several children. Can someone be a “faithful” parent only if he or she has and loves just one child? I REFUSE to let any man cage or fence me in romantically, so I have NO right to cage or fence him in.
Every man I have been in love with has taught me – helping me become a wiser and better friend and lover.
All romantic relationships face hurdles, bumps, conflicts… why put all our eggs into one basket? Invest our hearts into more than one lover and do it honestly with ALL involved! So, if one lover backs out, moves away or dies, we may feel less devastated, less desperate, less abandoned and more able to cope in our sad loss.
I do not own any man, no matter how deeply in love I am with him. Good romance is not slavery. I cannot make any man fall in love with me. I cannot make any man stay in love with me. I am a fool if I try to force him!
I ask every couple getting married to ponder – Do I ever know myself or the other person or the future well enough to know for sure we both will do well with only each other romantically until death?
Hell no to cover-ups, lies, “cheating”, double standards and insane jealousy! Yes, to deep intimacy and sexual pleasure shared generously with more than one person.
My weekly Albuquerque TV program is also on YouTube at DON SCHRADER.
Don Schrader