SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 7 , 2019. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ RE A
Free For All
We ’re fortunate that a new app can guide users to sites
around the area to celebrate our nation’s indigenous history.
But the Aug. 22 Metro article “Correcting the District’s
indigenous narrative” failed to mention the long and rich
history of the indigenous people of Washington, the
Anacostans. They farmed, quarried and foraged throughout
our area for centuries before Capt. John Smith and other
Europeans encountered (and scattered) them in the
17 th century. The app mentions the Anacostans in reference
to Roosevelt Island, where some tribe members lived for a
few years after leaving their villages in various parts of whatis now the District before migrating north. But historical
markers on their presence in the District are scarce to
nonexistent in locations we know they occupied, such as
Garfield Park on Capitol Hill and Bolling Air Force Base. The
app and The Post could help close this knowledge gap by
sharing more information about this important local tribe.
Armand Lione , Washington
The writer is director of the D.C. Native History Project.
Robert Engelman , Washington
The writer is associate director of
the D.C. Native History Project.BONNIE JO MOUNT/THE WASHINGTON POST
Wendy Helgemo walks through Congressional Cemetery in July. Her organization created the Guide to Indigenous DC
app, which points out destinations of Native American significance in Washington, including graves in the cemetery.The Aug. 20 front-page article
“In some Calif. cafes, pot to get a
seat at the table” failed to men-
tion that there are adverse health
effects from breathing pot smoke.
According to the Centers for Dis-
ease Control and Prevention,
“Smoked marijuana, in any form,
can harm lung tissues and cause
scarring and damage to small
blood vessels. Smoke from mari-
juana contains many of the same
toxins, irritants, and carcinogens
as tobacco smoke.” During the
20th century, 100 million people
died from tobacco, including ac-
tive and passive smokers.
Because marijuana is illegal
under federal law, it has been
difficult for researchers to study
its pollutant emissions. However,
burning any organic material,
whether it be wood, tobacco or
marijuana, will lead to the toxic
and carcinogenic products of in-
complete combustion.
Should we wait another
50 years to discover that mari-
juana smoke kills? Federal and
state public-health officials
should fund research into and
publicize pot-smoke t oxicity n ow
before a nother legalized epidem-
ic is unleashed on an uninformed
public.
James L. Repace , DavidsonvilleMarijuana’s
potent risks
I’m sorry, but the Aug. 28 Food article “We tried 13 popular
potato chip brands. Don’t g et s alty over our rankings.” was nothing
but a cheap chip-shot and not-so-light “a-salt” on the local, little
guy. Route 11 Potato Chips deserved better than this spud of a
national taste test.
Those of us who represent the locally grown, Post-reading,
D.C.-potato-chip-chomping, couch community now have a major
chip on our shoulders. (Okay, so it’s a potato chip — but still.)
Exactly who were these panelists? What credentials made them
experts on rating great potato chips?
“I hated it,” said one taster, who added that it “tastes fishy,
probably because the oil was turned. Ew.” Really? How irresponsi-
ble to imply, then publish a fishy, unsubstantiated charge that
Route 11’s frying oil was old and had turned.
Ever visited the Route 11 Potato Chip Factory in the Shenandoah
Valley? If these expert panelists had, they would have witnessed a
genuine family-run operation: friendly, fully transparent, meticu-
lously clean, precise, exacting and perfect. Route 11 packaging says
it all: “Lightly salted.” That means less salt. Got it? No hidden
sodium, corporate greed or nasty preservatives, just pure potato
chip heaven using locally sourced ingredients joyfully cooked and
packaged on-site — not a fish in sight.
Peter A. Madigan , ChantillyHe gets his chips
on Route 66 (minus 55)
Regarding the Aug. 25 The World article
“In S. Korea, esports is more than fun and
games”:
Finally! A positive article acknowledging
the booming sport of competitive gaming.
Online video gaming is the most powerful
popular cultural force for young people
today. Kids of all ages gather with their
friends the same way previous generations
might have gathered together on basketball
courts or baseball diamonds. Gaming can
span social groups. It’s not just for nerds.
Girls and boys, geeks and jocks, immigrants
and exchange students all grew up on gam-
ing and love it. It’s what we have in common.
And, just like athletes in any other sport,
we improve our skills to compete. Virginia
and eight other states have officially recog-
nized video gaming as a varsity high schoolsport. This means kids of all kinds of back-
grounds can sign up, go to practices, train
with a coach and “suit up” for game days.
They can compete against other teams
throughout the state and even across the
nation. This kind of involvement can be a
positive factor in a student’s social and
academic success.
It’s also big business. Multiplayer online
gaming generated revenue of roughly $19 bil-
lion in 2016 worldwide. It’s time to take it
seriously and treat it like the sport it is — just
ask Te d Leonsis, who has invested heavily in
esports ventures and has predicted that
esports athletes will match the fame and
earnings of superstars in traditional sports
within the next 10 years.
Game on, world.
Oran Betz , ArlingtonGame on
NOAH SMITH FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
People play “Hearthstone” at BlizzCon in Anaheim, Calif., in November 2018.I read with interest and empathy Ron
Charles’s Aug. 22 Critic’s Notebook, “Woke a bout
insomnia.” Charles is one of the roughly 50 mil-
lion to 70 million U.S. adults who suffer with
sleep problems. But he got it wrong when he
wrote, “doctors and ‘sleep specialists’ are only
now catching up with what so many have
endured for years.” Sleep science has been going
on for more than 60 years. N ot only does the field
recognize the importance of sleep, but it also h as
accumulated a robust evidence base supporting
the efficacy of treatments for insomnia.
I am a certified behavioral sleep medicine
specialist, and I have spent the past 15 yearsbringing relief to hundreds of insomnia sufferers.
As w ith any major m edical condition, insomnia is a
serious disorder, not something that can be cured
by books alone. Trained s leep specialists offer more
than just the sleep hygiene tips described in the
article, such as “avoid alcohol and caffeine at
night.” Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia
is a non-medication strategy that has been proved
to be as effective and longer-lasting than any sleep
medicine, and without the side effects. I encourage
Charles and readers not to lose hope. Effective
treatments are out there and can bring you “that
heaven upon earth to the weary head.”
Wendy M. Troxel , Park City, UtahThere’s more than one path to a good night’s sleep
LINDA DAVIDSON/THE WASHINGTON POST
Denise Harris takes a nap with her Irish wolfhounds in her Columbia home in September 2013.The Aug. 19 front-page article “Calls to restrict firearm
capacity” was a highly informative piece that presented
extensive information from both sides. However, it
missed the most important factor: Banning or limiting
magazines to no more than 10 rounds will not work. “The
NRA estimates that more than 250 million magazines
with a capacity of 11 rounds or greater are in circulation.
Of those, 100 million have a capacity of at l east 30 rounds.”
If a weapon can take a replaceable 10-round magazine, it
can also take all other-size reloadable magazines.
What is required is to ban assault-style weapons
unless converted for reasonable civilian self-defense.
The magazine-reload process needs to be changed from
the military style of complete magazine replacement to a
fixed, 10-round magazine that has a single-round reload
process, which would take at least 10 seconds for a
complete reload. This would have prevented the D ayton,
Ohio, shooter or anyone else from firing 41 shots in
32 seconds. It would likely force a would-be mass
murderer to throw away his rifle and pull out another
gun to continue his assault. Victims would have a chance
to flee or to tackle him while he changed guns.
Denis Michael Katchmeric , Gainesville
The writer is a retired arms trade analyst
for the Defense Department.A better gun reform
Remember the Anacostans
Th e Aug. 27 front-page article “Court deals 1st
blow to drugmaker over opioids” stated that Okla-
homa had accused Johnson & Johnson of being part
of an effort to encourage doctors to prescribe more
opioids for pain “by mounting an aggressive misin-
formation campaign that targeted the least knowl-
edgeable physicians.”
Just how did Johnson & Johnson and other
companies find these “least knowledgeable physi-
cians” to peddle their propaganda to? Did they
target those who graduated in the bottom quarter of
their medical school class, perhaps? Use IQ tests?
How doctors were sold on opioids as a pain
solution is arguably the most crucial element of the
legal charges against Johnson & Johnson and others.
A far better explanation was required.
Jon Frandsen , Takoma Park
More details prescribed
Jesse Dougherty’s Aug. 23 Nationals: Perspective
article, “What day is it? Don’t a sk the Nats.” [Sports],
included this: “Spend enough time around a major
league team — trail them from city to city, shoot the
breeze, press your ear into their conversations — and
you will notice something: Players never know what
day of the week it is.”
That might be my favorite sentence ever written
by a baseball beat writer.
Michael Hopps , Silver Spring
Out-of-the-park baseball writing
After viewing the list of Ladies Professional Golf
Association money leaders in the Aug. 20 Sports
section, it’s clear the lady golfers need a #MeToo
movement. With the female leader earning a total of
more than $2 million this year, compared with the
weekly winner of the Professional Golfers’ Associa-
tion tour receiving $1 million or more, tournament
sponsors should step up to make more money
available for the women to share. The networks (and
the Sports section) can help build the viewing
audience by giving more attention to these skilled
women on the links.
Bill Butler , Falls Church
Chip away at inequity
I was annoyed by the caption under the photo-
graph in the Aug. 22 Digest [Politics & the Nation]:
“Early risers are rewarded with a colorful sunrise
over Casco Bay in Portland, Maine, on Wednesday.”
“Colorful sunrise”? That was left to my imagination.
All I saw was a very gray day. Why promise color
when the photo was in black and white? I was left
wanting more.
Sharon Hills , Springfield
We didn’t say which colors
I enjoyed The Post’s fine Aug. 25 Sports article “A
bold play by quitting the big time,” about the
University of Chicago’s football program. Te d Re-
pass’s memories from the 1980s differ from mine of
the late 1970s. At that time, football had its place on
campus. Games were well attended, and we had our
own star in running back Dale Friar.
Perhaps interest took a downturn later, but for
many of us on campus, homecoming was a minor big
deal with our kazoo marching band. We e ven got the
mayor of Chicago, Michael Bilandic, to attend with
his wife in 1978.
Rory Rohde , Hamilton
Glory days of kazoos and football
Perhaps The Post should consider using the term
“R-word” i nstead of actually printing the nasty n ame
for the Washington National Football League team.
Jeff Owrutsky , Silver Spring
Hail to the ‘R-words’
I was reading the Aug. 15 news article “Six officers
shot, hurt during standoff in a North Philadelphia
neighborhood” when I hit this line: “Bullets flew
through the streets and wafts of gunpowder filled the
air.”
Really? Wafts of “gunpowder”? Were the police or
their antagonist using muskets? Firearms that were
loaded with loose gunpowder and balls? How did
gunpowder get into the air? Did someone throw
handfuls of it into the air, to be wafted on summer
breezes? I think the authors of the article meant “gun
smoke.”
Ted White , Falls ChurchGun smoke
FRANK GUNN/THE CANADIAN PRESS/ASSOCIATED PRESSJin Young Ko is the top-earning player in the
Ladies Professional Golf Association.
ROBERT F. BUKATY/ASSOCIATED PRESSSunrise over Casco Bay in Portland, Maine.
I agree with Peter Marks that Signature Theatre’s p roduction of
Stephen Sondheim’s “Assassins” was well executed (sorry for the
pun); however, I did not come away from watching a recent
performance with his impression that it was largely a vehicle for
charm and humor. [“Signature Theatre’s production is killer,”
Style, Aug. 23]. From the beginning of the show, the actors depict
overwhelmingly angry and/or mentally unstable people who
constantly fire off guns, sing the praises of firearms and justify
their shootings in terms of indignation and rage.
Living in a period of constant mass killings, especially so soon
after the shootings in El Paso and Dayton, Ohio, I found it
extremely disturbing to watch characters represent real people
brandishing firearms with such abandon and spouting such
vitriol.
Walter Albano , WashingtonIt was hard to see the humor
JONATHAN NEWTON/THE WASHINGTON POSTNationals relief pitcher Sean Doolittle.