As we mourn the loss of Mary Tyler Moore, I couldn't help but think that her show in the 1970s reinvigorated the women's movement and dramatically changed the workplace. In fact, I began my career around the same time as "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" was in its last season. Every day when I went to work, it was gratifying to see women coworkers, supervisors and managers. Being a woman and working full time outside the home was indeed groundbreaking, especially because a woman could live for the first time without a man.
I have one beef, however. After approximately 50 years of women in the workforce, there has been little acknowledgment by businesses and corporations to make life sane for working families with children. More time off, paid sick leave, no e-mails after business hours and an office culture that supports vacation time should actually be in a company's best interest. A healthy employee is a more productive employee, after all. Today, it is expected that when women have children they should go back to work. If they do, however, the worries begin to mount. For example, researching day-care providers, coordinating work hours with school hours, arranging rides to and from activities, making time for meals, juggling illnesses, and scheduling meetings outside of work hours all can be quite draining. Who wants to admit to exhaustion? Quite frankly, some of us feel like we've been sold a bill of goods. Mary Tyler Moore, on her show, was a single career woman without kids, after all. I find it ironic that when "The Dick Van Dyke Show" aired, it was enough that Mary was "just" a stay-at-home wife and mother. My belief is that you can have it all, just not at the same time.
Sharon E. Carlson, Andover
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As many others have expressed, I, too, admired Mary Tyler Moore and all that she brought to the world of entertainment. But I'm not sure what she meant when she was quoted as saying in the Star Tribune's Jan. 26 retrospective: "[H]ad I not felt a need to prove myself worthy of love, I might have not become an actress. I might be teaching English somewhere. And wouldn't that be a shame?" Having taught English somewhere for more than three decades, I certainly never felt shame. Stressed, overworked, underappreciated, even loved at times, yes. Never ashamed. And the final line of the article referencing her comment "Spoken like a true Minnesotan"? What the heck does that mean?
Christopher Moore, Belle Plaine
TRUMP IN THE WHITE HOUSE
We are dumbfounded
As the news unfolds this week and the executive orders come rolling one after another off the president's pen, I can only think how ill-equipped we are to respond to this coup, to the imposition of an authoritarian regime in our once-democratic country.
We are neophytes. Caught in the web of our own disbelief, we still think we will wake tomorrow and sanity will be restored. We are not yet convinced that "war" is already upon us, the rules of politics already suspended.
We stand like animals caught in the path of a raging forest fire, confused about how to respond. We have never experienced fire before and we don't know whether to run or to huddle together for safety.
If this were a country that had already broken the yolk of a strongman government, we would be better equipped to recognize the warning signs. Denying science. The enshrining of "alternative facts" as truth. The suppression of information. The criminalizing of dissent.
If this were some other country, we would have already taken to the streets, not just in symbolic protest, but every day and every night, banging pots and pans to sound the alarm of our republic in distress. We would refuse to disburse, block traffic, boycott school and work. We would refuse to allow the world to think what is happening in our country is "normal."
Saturday's marches were great. We high-five each other. We believe we are stronger together.
But we are sheep.
Julie Lowen, Minneapolis
TRUMP'S OPPONENTS
Counterparts of the deplorables
Hillary Clinton had to deal with her basket of deplorables. Now we have to deal with the gaggle of despicables who feel entitled and compelled to criticize and humiliate the first lady because of her accent and claim that she doesn't speak English. While at it, why not cruelly attack Trump's 10-year-old son for his shy behavior at the inauguration. They felt they should — and they did. Disgusting.
Joseph Just, Spring Park
TRUMP AND TWITTER
Not like Lincoln, Roosevelt
A Jan. 26 letter writer said that she approved of President Trump's use of Twitter. That's fine as long as he doesn't refuse that same right to fellow federal employees. In a delusional world of "alternative facts," the truth has the right to be shared, too.
Mary Brady, Minneapolis
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I wish to point out to the writer who likened Trump's Twitter use to Abraham Lincoln's use of the telegraph and Franklin Roosevelt's use of fireside chats that neither used the emerging technologies of their day to insult and denigrate others, as Trump regularly does. To claim that Trump's use of Twitter is in any way similar to the uplifting and positive messages given in Roosevelt's fireside chats is simply laughable.
Donald Voge, Robbinsdale
ABORTION
One man's case for having a say
To the Jan. 24 writer whose letter indicated that men have no right to legislate abortion since they have no idea what it means: As an unplanned and unwanted baby borne by an unwed mother who unselfishly went through labor and put me up for adoption (vs. abortion), I politely disagree.
Andy Howard, Burnsville
NO GUNS ALLOWED
Looks like that policy's a dud
I am very confused about the rash of recent holdups at local Starbucks (local section, Jan. 25). Starbucks has a very strict policy of guns being banned from its establishments. These robbers, despite this rule, have continually disregarded Starbucks' policy of no guns. How could that be possible? Everyone knows you cannot bring a gun into a Starbucks.
Jerry Lasster, St. Louis Park
NORTH LOOP
It's not just one guy at the helm
Between Jan. 4 and Jan. 26, the Star Tribune ran six articles that quoted Eric Dayton, usually in the context of owning the Bachelor Farmer or Askov Finlayson. I enjoy that shop and restaurant, and when I lived in the North Loop, I appreciated the role they played in the area's gentrification. However, that three reporters (and one freelance writer) consulted one person so heavily and so frequently makes for a very myopic vision of the artistic, retail and culinary circles of our city — to say nothing of suggesting that the Star Tribune might be just a little too enamored of him to retain its objectivity. Dayton and his enterprises are part of what makes Minneapolis a wonderful city, but they are not the only things.
