My initial response was to write a nasty note back to
Michael Herring, but I stayed out because I thought
I was too close to the subject.  You see, although I'm
white my grandchildren are mixed.  But I have no
tact and so here are my two cents worth.

When I first read Herring's posting I took it to be
racial, but after thinking about it for awhile, I have
changed my mind.

These are my thoughts:
Michael Herring is a jerk!  We can all be jerks at
times (heaven knows I've been told that I can be
one).  Let's just hope he is that way all the time.

If he did mean it to be racist, then I feel sorry for
him.  As one who has often run up agaist predjudice
I know he's misssing out on a lot of great people.

His thoughts would have been better accepted
among his close friends who probably forgive him
for being a jerk (whether permanently or partly)

His slam seemed aimed more at New York--a great
city (I know, I've visited) except for the taxi cab
drivers.

I don't want to meet Michael Herring, but I would
like to meet Mr. Vreeland.  I want to be included
in the "we" who doesn't tolerate such talk without
speaking up.  Mr. Herring is welcome to his opinion,
but if I think he's wrong, I'm going to say so.

People who pick on vocabulary and grammer are
too picky.  Ease up!  We're writing fast, trying to get
everything in before our server disconnects us for
being in one place too long, and we don't always
have time to check spelling and grammer.  Besides,
I thought we were among friends (mostly) here.