Letters to the Editor
Junior Balloonist thank you
Editor: I'd like to thank everyone supporting the BFA Jr. Balloonist Program including Aerostar, Cameron, Head and Lindstrand for sponsoring the upcoming essay contest.
A special thank you goes to Roy Caton who generously volunteered to donate half of his winnings at the Wehrenberg Balloon Race to go the Jr. Balloonist Program.
A thank you also goes to OJO Magic who is giving a discount to Jr. Balloonists as well as giving $5 from each sale back to the program. It is support like this that shows the importance of this program.
Be sure to check out the web site of http://www.stlmo.com/skyangel for updates on the program as well as pictures of Jr. Balloonists.
Tina Reeves
St. Louis, Missouri
Bad boy
Editor: I was reading Mike Rose's article in the July 1997 issue of Balloon Life, Terminology. I turned to page 16 looking for more terminology, only to find the supposedly "Fun Balloon Terminology" list. I found many of these definitions to be sexist, homophobic, demeaning, derogatory, base, inappropriate, and insulting. This type of "humor" has no place in ballooning and I am shocked and dismayed that Balloon Life would condone it by publishing it.
At a time when the ballooning community is trying to expand its base and encourage youth to participate, it is dismaying that the invitation reads: "Come join the ballooning community where it is encouraged and condoned to demean woman and gays-and we let you do so in print!"
I hope that this is an isolated occurrence of poor judgment by both Mike Rose and yourself and that this type of aberration does not reflect the ballooning community's collective perspective nor the editorial policy of Balloon Life, for if it does, your magazine will not be welcome in my home.
Chris Cummings
Sacramento, California