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| A hemmed-in house has become Seattle’s shrine to defiance. Photo Credit Ian C. Bates for The New York Times |
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/14/opinion/a-tiny-house-in-seattle.html?ref=international
Dear Editor,
Thank you for publishing Barry Martin's reality check on the story of Edith Macefield and her tiny house in Seattle... "she was neither the “anticorporate crusader” or the “old fool, blinded by stubbornness” that you wrote about, in describing the views of some."
Happily hyping Disney's movie "UP" the original report you published “House That Wouldn’t Budge (or Float Away) Faces a Last Stand” should have at least glanced at Barry Martin's book Under One Roof: Lessons I Learned From a Tough Old Woman in a Little Old House. I haven't read the book yet, but will after seeing Barry Martin's fascinating letter and then reading a very easy to find online description about his book: "The story of Barry Martin and Edith Macefield is a tale of balance and compassion, of giving enough without giving too much, of helping our elderly loved ones through the tough times without taking away their dignity."
Seems to me, at the end of the day, there are many nice people and there are some not so nice people everywhere, in every walk of life, and there are countless personal motives for people to do what they do. Here in America, we have homes and we have businesses that help provide jobs so that people can have homes. We also have local zoning as well as neighborhood associations which help keep some very pleasant neighborhoods family friendly so that, as time passes and some people pass on or move away, other individuals and families are more likely to move in and invest in their earnings as well as their time and energy into maintaining a pleasant home and neighborhood.
Life is much more complex and interconnected than big bad corporate entity VS real people. Jobs matter, personal effort matters, and so does good reporting by reliable newspapers so that we the people might be motivated to help build support for better policies by corporations, colleges, government, local business, as well as any other organization (and noble character) that influences life today. Jobs matter, individuals matter, letters to the editor matter, stories matter, attention to detail matters, upholding the rule of fair and just laws matters immensely and so do volunteer efforts and the arts... and how we raise our children- what we teach them to see and explore and think about.
Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab
American homemaker & poet
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