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I agree with Nancy Gibbs ["Beach Force One," Sept. 5]. The people who complain that the President takes too many vacations are people who need something to talk about to sound up-to-date and intelligent. I would know: I'm 15, and that's all kids mention if politics miraculously works its way into a conversation. Instead of criticizing the President's absence from his desk, try thinking about exactly what you want him to accomplish once he returns to it.
Sunnie Kim, RANCHO PALOS VERDES, CALIF.
Two Sides of the Same Bread
What a cynical take on innovation, good taste and American food ["Cheesed Off" by Josh Ozersky, Sept. 5]. The grilled cheese sandwich is "corrupted" by variations on your "two slices of American cheese" prescription? Cheeseboy in Boston does a version on Italian bread, and you want its cooks' hands bound with string cheese? My students are high school culinary-arts trainees. Even they know that to discover something ethereal, a little adventure goes a long way. I'm glad Fluff came along before you took on jelly's requisite role in the peanut butter classic.
James Berman, NEW CASTLE, DEL.
When I was a child, all I ever ordered when eating out (a rare occurrence) was a grilled cheese. Sure, my mom could make one at home, but it wasn't the same. The grilled cheese sandwiches at our little local country club and our Big Boy restaurant were the best. I've tried to re-create them my entire life, and I've determined that there has to be a combination of that golden liquid brushed on the bread and the seasoned grill to make the grilled cheese of my dreams. The restaurants you mention should get back to basics or they'll be as extinct as the Flip camera.
Josie Dunlap-Smith, FORT WAYNE, IND.
Renouncing Remakes
Douglas Wolk is too kind when he writes of the arts' being dragged down by "reconstructions and recapitulations of past glories" ["The Arcades Project," Sept. 5]. In fact, he misses the most accurate re term to describe this phenomenon: regurgitation. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the film industry, which seems intent on spewing back remakes of every half-successful movie of the past 30 years. They think we are content to keep chewing on 25-year-old cud, and sadly, I fear they may be correct.
J. Daniel Grey, HASBROUCK HEIGHTS, N.J.
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