Letters: Trashy discussions and tiger moms

I very much enjoyed the features on recycling [“Trash Talk,” Jan. 29], an intriguing and confusing subject. I would like to know what the cost in lost revenues to the city is from the “recycling bandits,” as I call them, who go through the blue bins prior to the city trucks’ pickups. I find that they are a nuisance in that they at times dump recycling on the street or into the black bins while they dig to the bottom of the blue bins. In my neighborhood, where trash pickup is on Monday, the bandits steady caravan usually starts about 2 p.m. Sunday and then continues into late afternoon and evening with a little wakeup call at 5:45 a.m. Monday by the jingling of glass bottles in the purloined steel supermarket shopping cart as they make their last stand before the trucks arrive.

Perhaps you could do an article on that one week.

Philip Miller

Venice

One thing that I had difficulty understanding was why there was such a difference between recycling rules and regulations among cities. Why would one city recycle certain items while another neighboring city would not? I would think there should be the same regulations per item in the entire county of even state of California regarding recycling. Or am I asking too much?

Barbara Kowalski

Alhambra

I’m a fairly ardent recycler yet still have questions about what can be recycled and what can’t. I love the idea of a feature that answers recycling questions. So many people want to do the right thing but don’t always know what that means. The item that’s a mystery to me is the plastic wrapping from bundles of paper towels, toilet paper, etc. For big bundles, there’s a lot of plastic. I put it in the blue bin but don’t know if I should.

Sharon Wells

Mar Vista

Editor’s note: We will answer your question in a future installment of “Can I Recycle … ?” Look for the feature weekly in Home.

No mention of how to wrap wet garbage for the black bin. If we don’t want to use plastic bags and paper ones will cost, what are we supposed to put the garbage in? There is a limit to what you can put down the garbage disposal! And I don’t suppose it can be wrapped in newspaper. So where does that leave us?

Marilyn Gross

Cheviot Hills

I found the Styrofoam recycler that happens to be in my town and a metal recycler for large items like old pots and pans, but I am still left with these black rubber door mats. Most homes have them by at least one door.

Many of us made the mistake of buying one (or more) mats with a top material that wears away and becomes trashed-looking. I called my city recycling number, the county, even the local tire store to see if they could help me find an end use for the rubber — all to no avail. The mats remain on the side of my home waiting for their new home.

If you are looking for ways to expand recycling education, feature organizations that teach people how to creatively use recylables to create items for resale. Wouldn’t it be great if there were artists out there who wanted to volunteer with people in need, and they teamed up to take old black rubber mats and resurfaced them with a new artistic topping?

Nancy Glickman

Camarillo

As a mission-driven Southern California organic tortilla chip company, we have struggled with making the right choice in packaging for our whale tail-shaped chips.

Many products on the market claim to be biodegradable but are, in fact, only compostable in an industrial composting facility and are unable to degrade in a landfill environment. Some simply break down into small plastic flakes known as “bio fragmentation.”

Plant-based plastic appeals to green-minded consumers thanks to its renewable origins, but we found its production carries environmental costs that make it less green than it may seem. Most biopolymers currently used in packaging are commonly derived from agricultural products — predominantly corn and sugar cane. Their primary impacts include fertilizers and pesticides use, as well as water and energy consumption. In addition, the crops, particularly corn, may be genetically modified.

It appears that making plastic attractive to microbes might be part of the answer. Microbes have even been hown to consume oil in our oceans and are right now chopping away at the steel of the Titanic. Researchers from the University of Sheffield [in England] are working on the possibility that the marine microbes could contribute to the breakdown of plastics and the toxic chemicals associated with them.

Ric Kraszewski

Co-founder, Whale Tails Tortilla Chips, San Diego

Why not just let kids be kids?

What Chris Erskine had to say on Chinese moms was the best I’ve seen it put by anyone so far — and everyone has had an opinion [“Tiger Mom, Meet Tiger Dad,” Jan. 22]. He made wonderful points about the gift of childhood. Those days are too fleeting as it is.

Linda Bair

Manhattan Beach

As I sit in the hospital recovery room with my wife and second new little girl, I am reading Erskine’s piece on tiger moms. Parenthood has certainly received a lot of press lately, and the American culture highly scrutinized. Thank you for his witty and spot on take as to why childhood is so important.

Brett Gentry

Long Beach

Amy Chua proved that you can make a kid play Beethoven but not necessarily be Beethoven.

Donna Handy

Santa Barbara

I am Chinese, and I am a mom.

My own experience, as I tried to be an academic mom, is that it really depends on the in-born nature of the child. My well-meaning intensions, time and efforts didn’t really steer my child to academic zealousness. (She did finish college.) My brother’s child, however, is a straight-A student all the way, plus piano, painting, etc. She simply loves to learn. She is well-balanced and normal, as far as I can see.

Two of my Chinese-mom friends have kids who are PhDs, engineers and doctors. They are normal, happy and successful.

But then I know of some Chinese moms who have kids who flop too.

Striking a balance of East meets West, and tailoring your approach to each kid, is my way of seeing it. So let’s not put the Chinese moms on trial. They are struggling and learning too.

Lani Bowen

Woodland Hills

When I read the original tiger-mom article [in the Wall Street Journal] and then Erskine’s column (brilliant, by the way), I thought to myself: Why are we holding ourselves up to the standards of China?

My husband is from Italy, and his entire family still lives there. Hence, we spend a lot of time there. The children go to school from 8 a.m. until 1 p.m. That’s it. At 1 p.m., they go home to have a wonderful lunch with several generations of their family all seated around the table. This lunch is an event. It lasts for over an hour during which there is conversation, laughter, wine and oftentimes song. The children are always present and participating. There’s not one TV on. Cellphones are not present. No tweeting. The fireplace in the kitchen is roaring, and the voices are loud, and it’s all very exciting. There are NOT five hours of homework. Just interpersonal play and lots of fun.

What do we want our children to be? I want my children to be happy. And when we are in Italy, time stands still and we are.

Linda Brown Salomone

Sherman Oaks

Oh, how I wish Erskine had been a tiger dad in my classroom when I was teaching sixth grade here in Irvine. (I retired in 1992.) Actually, I had entire tiger families. The most gifted artist I ever had in my 20-plus years of teaching was a Chinese student. I remember telling her parents how talented she was, and they were upset as they said that her art didn’t count. It was the academics that mattered. (She was also quite gifted in that area too.) They felt that any interest in art was foolish and shouldn’t be encouraged.

I only hope that Chinese, and other cultures that push their children and don’t let them be children, read this column and see themselves.

Marilyn Vassos

Irvine

Treading lightly in a landmark

Regarding your feature on landmark houses (“Natural Beauty,” Jan. 22): Ray Kappe had invited the senior design class of 1972 to his home. At the time, I had no clue who Ray was, just the guy in charge of architecture at Cal Poly Pomona. We were thoroughly impressed with the house. A group of us found our way to the deck with the greatest cantilever, to consider its integrity in regard to the entire structure. To that end, we agreed to test the 2:1 support rule of cantilever. We moved to the edge of the deck — and all jumped at the same moment. The house shuddered. We all turned to see Ray sprinting (as I remember it) through the living area with glaring eyes, fixed on our gang of youthful ingrate pupils!

Great days.

Thanks, Ray.

Craig J. Richie

Santa Ana

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