Ray’s White Collar

I must say I’m quite confused by Dana Calvo’s assumption that the Barones of CBS-TV’s “Everybody Loves Raymond” are a blue-collar family (“Emmy’s White Collar,” Sept. 10).

Ray Romano’s character on the show is a sports columnist for a New York-area newspaper and does well enough financially to let his wife remain at home to care for four children. The home used for exteriors on the show looks like it sits on quite a nice lot--a lot bigger, in fact, than the lot on which my childhood home in Valley Stream, Long Island, sat. Considering the Barones’ family size, I’m guessing it’s a three-or four-bedroom home.

His wife is a Connecticut native and is university-educated, as is Ray Barone.

The last I checked, the following was true, or close to it: (a) New York is the print media capital of the world, and New York papers pay their sportswriters well; (b) taking care of four children’s financial needs costs a lot; (c) in the current real estate market, the Barones’ home is worth well over $250,000; (d) this is not a family with inexpensive tastes. There’s the occasional round of golf to pay for, after all.

Granted, one might say that Ray Barone has climbed a notch or two higher than his parents. Good for him; that’s been the American way for quite a while.

One has to wonder why Calvo believes the Barones are a blue-collar family. Is it because they’re not decked out in Armani and Prada?

Because Sundays at the Barones mean a pot of sauce with meatballs and sausage and not Thai takeout?

Because they’ve chosen to “waste” potentially disposable income on children’s’ school supplies and clothes and the other day-to-day expenses of a family?

One surely hopes that Calvo does not equate the Long Island accent or the Italian surname with working class. Not only is that bigoted; it is also misinformed.

JOSEPH BUA

Fountain Valley