I pretty much devoured the “Minority Cultures” issue (February) in one sitting.  Every issue is stellar, but the great thing I find again and again is that reading all these fine writers is like loving so many different works of a particular composer that it is hard to make up one’s mind as to which one to listen to—my favorite sort of dilemma.

Roger McGrath’s point (“Keep the Water on Your Right,” Correspondence)—who cares what happens to lower-middle-class white guys—is well taken and brings back many memories of driving up and down the coast from Southern Cal through Oregon.  I remember seeing the mills and fisheries and thinking, naively, that they would always be there.  Also, the sense of freedom that Roger invokes while describing the open road is almost as good as gettin’ out and doin’ it.

Speaking of which, if Dr. McGrath has not read The Doing of the Thing, by Brad Dimock, Cort Conley, and Vince Welch, I think he would like it.  It is all about the brief, brilliant whitewater career of Buzz Holmstrom—an Oregon boy who built his own boat and was the first person ever to tackle the canyons of the Colorado solo.

        —Tom Sheeley
Flagpole, AZ