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Letters: Home Economics Memories And Dyslexia

NEAL CONAN, host: It's Wednesday, and time to read from your comments.

When we talked with contributors to the book "Dear Bully," Tom Davis in North Syracuse, New York, wrote: In the third grade, I participated in bullying a girl named Cathy. I wasn't brought up that way, but I still participated. I never was the leader in the bullying, but I knew it was wrong. Last year, I saw her obituary in the newspaper. I felt horrible as I thought about the wrong that I brought to her. I wish I would've gone to the wake. No one would've known me, but I felt as if I owed it to her to say I'm sorry in my own way. To this day, I regret the pain I helped to inflict upon her.

Many of you also responded to our conversation last week Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Philip Schultz about his book "My Dyslexia." Dave Clark from Kingsport, Tennessee, sent this comment: I am 55 and lived with dyslexia my entire life but was never diagnosed. It was just very hard to read even though I loved it. My son, now a sophomore in college, was diagnosed as both dyslexic and gifted. He was able to overcome his reading difficulty by understanding the context of the passage. It was not until we understood his condition that we were able to help him overcome it. It also helped me understand my own condition.

We also asked you what you learned in home economics. Sabrina Bauer in Vancouver, Washington, shared this story. Wow, what a subject to bring back memories. I was introduced to home ec in high school. It taught me how to cook, clean, diaper a baby, basic sewing, balance a checkbook and manners. At the end of our semester, we had a formal sit-down dinner where gentlemen were instructed to pull out a chair for ladies as well as all of us having to use the correct knife, fork, spoon, et cetera. And this was part of our final grade. I would love to see this subject come back. It is a teacher of practical, real-life skills, very much lacking in our current society. I believe you could not only teach good eating and cooking habits but encompass much more into this one little class.

And finally, many of you wrote to complain about our interview with Syria's ambassador to the United States. Marie Adjan(ph) emailed from North Carolina. We are very disappointed by the interview. Ambassador Moustapha has used the Syrian regime propaganda to justify the killing, unlawful arrest and torture of thousands of Syrian people. He was loud, unopposed, single-sided rhetoric in which he made the Syrian uprising look like an internal regime struggle against Muslim extremists. For many of the Syrian people inside and outside Syria, this is a historic opportunity to turn their country into a true democracy. They're paying the price with tens of dead and injured every day. I feel it is our moral duty not to allow one of the most brutal regimes in the world an opportunity to gain support and sympathy by spreading lies.

If you have a correction, comments, or questions for us, the best way to reach us is by email. The address is talk@npr.org. Please let us know where you're writing from and give us some help on how to pronounce your name. If you're on Twitter, you can follow us there, @totn, or you can follow me, @nealconan - all one word. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.