It’s Tuesday again, and time to answer my mail.

Doctor Who hardly qualifies as Sci-Fi. Just because a show has a lot of aliens and gadgets that’s not enough to qualify.

Oh, I don’t worry about these categories. I freely admit that Dr. Who is as much Fantasy as Sci-Fi, but I don’t think that’s important. The effect is the same no matter what the subject is, and that’s what counts to me. The key is the relationship of the writer to the reader, or in this case the whole production company to the viewer, and in many cases it’s the same. Kids today read Fantasy the way we read Sci-Fi, and for the same reasons. You can say a lot about your own little world by creating a similar world that you don’t have the same emotional attachment to. It’s all about perspective, and how it’s broadened.

Why was a war waged against cigarettes for X number of years yet no one insists on a war to be waged against colas, candy, excess fat in food products, etc.? When someone mentions harm other than that caused by cigarettes (harm from sugar, fat, acids, etc.) we say it’s a free country. Manufacturers must have their rights.

I do think that colas form the largest health risk to the USofA right now, given that we’ve eliminated cigarettes from public life. Should we ban them? Nah, I won’t go that far. A Coke a week or so won’t kill you – even if 8 a week might. Since it’s a matter of excess, a real public education campaign is certainly in order. People need to be alert enough to read the label and see “phosphoric acid” as an ingredient, and they need to know that their body is likely to respond to various artificial sweetners as it does to sugar. I don’t think these are very well known.

I do think that while a “war” may be as unwinnable as, say, any of the other “wars” we’ve declared, a certain level of vigilance is justified. I’m very concerned that one health risk gets as much attention as it does and others simple don’t. It seems strange.

You’ve been quiet about the election lately. Any calls for the next round of primaries?

I’ve been quiet because it’s boring. Obama continues to gain on the superdelegate count, erasing whatever Clinton gained in Pennsylvania. Tonight they’ll split Indiana and North Carolina (the tenth largest state) and they’ll both be closer than predicted. It’s still over, but rather than declare it over we’ve just stopped paying attention – and for good reason. After all, does 20 cents a gallon really make a difference when gasoline costs about 18 times that? It’s just gotten sillier and sillier.

You don’t seem to appreciate the value of urban planning. Without it, big developers and other businesses always get their way. Planning is the only way to force the public good to the table and force developments to be appropriate. You don’t really want to eliminate that, do you?

That’s not what I’ve ever called for. Large developers could ruin our cities if we allow them to do whatever they want, I agree. But chasing developers away entirely is also a path to ruin. It is indeed all about balance. What often gets lost in the “development” cry is the value of small businesses turning things around one corner at a time. Constantly jacking up the stakes leaves no room for them at all, and they are the ones who put their heart and arm and brain into it.

It’s the human element that intrigues me much more than the concrete, like the Egyptian man who runs a market where, if he leaves the storeroom door open just a crack, you can see the cot he sleeps on. That’s not a store, that’s his life. What could happen if we put some resources behind that energy? What more could we do with that commitment? I’ll bet anything that he’s never been involved in a charette or any other planning process. Those walls are much more than a map or a model that can be replaced with a pen or an exacto knife, they are the force of his life. That’s what a city is; the concrete, as we can see, is easily replaced without a tremendous amount of thought.

That’s all I have space for today. Send me mail as wabbitoid47 at yahoo.com and I’ll happily respond. Thanks for reading!