Purpose

Dan Rodricks says in his column ("A chance to break free of Ticketmaster," Feb. 26) about Ticketmaster fees that "everyone who has used the service to avoid standing in line for concert tickets has a Ticketmaster horror story. " This is absolutely false. I have used Ticketmaster many times and have always been satisfied with the service. Of course I, like anyone else, don't want to spend money unnecessarily, but I don't mind spending it when necessary. I did not resent the cost.

As far back as Robert Lewis can remember, he has been fascinated by what he heard on the radio — he would even sneak a receiver under his pillow when he was younger so he could listen to music late at night. Decades later, he's still feeling that joy of radio. As the executive director of the Radio Reading Network of Maryland, he's bringing it to others who need it: fellow blind people in Maryland. "I enjoy going to work every morning," says Lewis, 63. "I've always loved radio, so I'm blessed to be able to come back to where I've started.

There is a move in the legislature to prevent credit checks from being used to check out job applicants. Just a few years ago, credit was ignored by those selling homes to people who could not then or ever afford them. In fact, government agencies promoted that practice. People were able to experience for the first time a home of their own. Within weeks after moving in, there was the addition of a new car and new furniture to accommodate the new status. It took a only few years for reality to set in. Buyers were over their heads in debt.

Outside what was once a backyard garage, mugs, sponge holders and broad bowls are lined up on tables to dry. A peek inside the structure reveals dozens of butter dishes, teapots, toothbrush holders, bowls of every size, vases, trays and more, all in various stages of production, resting on racks of shelving. And by the windows, with sunlight illuminating their potter's wheels, Nevan Wise is turning brick-sized blobs of clay into pitchers, and her husband, Doug Wise, is shaping clay lumps into kitchen utensil jars.

Since when are we living in the 1950s? Or the 1850s or the 1750s or the 1650s, for that matter for a newspaper to print an op-ed stating that the only reason for marriage is for procreation ( "Same-sex marriage is contrary to the public interest," Feb. 2)? I am a happily married, heterosexual, devoutly Christian woman with three children, and I am absolutely appalled you would print that. Peter Sprigg is entitled to his opinion, but it is irresponsible of you to print it. Our society has long since recognized that marriage is about the love and commitment two people have for each other.

While some of the ideas in your editorial about the mayor's skybox ("The people's skybox," March 21) had merit, anyone who read your statement that sometimes "the invitees seem to serve little public purpose" needs to understand that the purpose being served is the same one shared by the majority of Maryland politicians: Currying favor and getting reelected. The skybox is just another political tool for that purpose. Ruth Mascari, Monkton

If we take Peter Sprigg's commentary on the "public purpose" of marriage seriously, then our legislators better get busy drafting some new bills. ( "Same-sex marriage is contrary to the public interest," Feb. 2.) Mr. Sprigg insists that marriage is only about making and raising babies, in the natural, God-ordained way. If that is the case, then we need to include new rules on which heterosexual couples will be allowed to apply for a marriage license. Infertile? Don't bother thinking about marriage.

Question 6 has thankfully passed, but I would like to respond to the letter written by Lynda Kouroupis ("Allowing same-sex marriage destroys 'treasured institution'," Nov. 1. In her letter, Ms. Kouroupis states all the benefits of marriage as related to child rearing by a heterosexual couple only. I'm wondering, should a heterosexual couple unable to have children (past child-bearing age, sterilized, etc.) be unable to marry? Should, after a certain number of years of attempting unsuccessfully to have children, such a marriage would no longer be considered valid?

First baseman Mark Reynolds was out of the starting lineup Sunday for precautionary reasons after he was hit in the head by Los Angeles Angels pitcher Ervin Santana in the third inning of Saturday night's game. Reynolds said Sunday morning that he felt fine except for a sore spot above his left temple. He also left no doubt that he feels Santana hit him intentionally in his first at-bat after he slammed his 34th homer off the Angels right-hander. "I think he hit me on purpose," Reynolds said.

I am no historian. But I've always been fascinated by the sense of purpose, the intent, of writers of histories that have engaged me -- from Herodotus to Stephen Ambrose, whose final book, To America, I wrote about just last week. I read books of history, and their first cousin, historical biographies, with great interest. If I could read at five times my natural speed, I would surely read more histories. Never before, though, have I come across a book that so illuminated the craft of the historian than The Landscape of History: How Historians Map the Past, by John Lewis Gaddis (Oxford, 224 pages, $23)

As Monarch Academy music teacher Kenzie Turk talked about the trials of living with Type 1 diabetes, her service dog, Bear, lay nearby, drifting in and out of a deep sleep. Dozing in class isn't usually acceptable at the public charter school in Glen Burnie, but the 8-month-old black Labrador retriever had endured a busy night, waking Turk more than two dozen times to alert her that complications from the chronic disease had flared again, prompting her to take action before something went tragically wrong.

Remember when Chelsea Clinton and NBC News launched this misadventure featuring her as a "special correspondent" on "Rock Center" with a fanfare of hype and outright lies about what she and the journalistically-challenged NBC News were up to? Steve Capus, the recently deposed president of NBC News, said "it was as if she had been preparing her whole life" for the job. Clinton herself told "Rock Center" host Brian Williams as part of her first appearance that she took the TV job to lead a more "purposefully public life" highlighting people who are "making a difference.

Dan Rodricks says in his column ("A chance to break free of Ticketmaster," Feb. 26) about Ticketmaster fees that "everyone who has used the service to avoid standing in line for concert tickets has a Ticketmaster horror story. " This is absolutely false. I have used Ticketmaster many times and have always been satisfied with the service. Of course I, like anyone else, don't want to spend money unnecessarily, but I don't mind spending it when necessary. I did not resent the cost.

CA needs to think through the proposed elevated tree canopy walk for the Inner Arbor Plan. The reality is that during construction the contractor will clear cut trees for a 25- to 50-foot right-of-way along the walkway route for construction vehicle access and delivery of materials and for underground utilities (electric power, fire plugs water line, sewer line). Then a 25-foot-wide permanent paved or gravel emergency and maintenance access road will need to be built along the cleared right-of-way.

I am writing in opposition to the proposed legislation in both the Maryland Senate and House to ban assault weapons ("Governor predicts assault weapons ban will pass" Jan 13). The proposed legislation will not accomplish stated purposes of increased public safety. It will only injure Maryland's law abiding citizens. It proposes to fix problems that we do not have in Maryland. According to the Maryland State Police data for the year 2011 there were only two murders with any type of rifle.

We will be a nation perpetually at half-mast until we defend our children's' rights allowing them to grow up safely and reach their potential as youths and adult citizens ("Obama pushes on guns," Dec. 20). What was taken from us on Friday, Dec. 14 in Newtown, Conn. follows nationwide atrocities of gun violence, too common here in this city of Baltimore. It is unfathomable, heart-wrenching, beyond criminal. How can we as a nation have come to this tragic reality? We know. We have let greed and the promise of the dollar dictate our decisions.

Robert Bogomolny and his best friend were both earning superb grades in elementary school but getting quite different responses to them at home. His friend, Bobby, was given a dollar for every "E," the equivalent of an "A," on his report card. "I would say ... Bobby got all this money for his grades," Bogomolny recalls. "And my father said, `You know, when you have the ability to do this kind of work ... that's what you're supposed to do. So I don't believe in giving you a special reward for doing something you're able to do.' " Bogomolny didn't fully welcome the reply, but his father's impromptu lesson in work ethics more than a half-century ago stuck, and today it is one of his guiding principles as he attempts to re-energize the University of Baltimore, an institution rich in history but which often seems little more than an afterthought in the pecking order of Maryland higher education.

1901: U.S. Steel is formed1908: Ford's Model T1913: Federal Reserve established1920: General-purpose tractor is introduced

Question 6 has thankfully passed, but I would like to respond to the letter written by Lynda Kouroupis ("Allowing same-sex marriage destroys 'treasured institution'," Nov. 1. In her letter, Ms. Kouroupis states all the benefits of marriage as related to child rearing by a heterosexual couple only. I'm wondering, should a heterosexual couple unable to have children (past child-bearing age, sterilized, etc.) be unable to marry? Should, after a certain number of years of attempting unsuccessfully to have children, such a marriage would no longer be considered valid?

Days after Towson University's athletic director recommended cutting two men's sports to make the remaining programs more competitive and comply with federal law requiring athletics opportunities for women, parents of the baseball team's players raised thousands of dollars to launch a public relations blitz. They paid $1,600 for a plane to fly over a Ravens game trailing a banner that read, "HELP SAVE TOWSON BASEBALL," and planted fans holding #saveTUbaseball signs behind home plate — where they could be seen by television viewers — during the Orioles-Yankees series.