Reader

The Catholic Review, the venerable 80-year-old voice of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, isn't just for maiden aunts anymore.With the recent revamping of the weekly, including a new colorful logo, the paper is out to win new converts among advertisers and readers."

Your letters are the lifeblood of this column. This month, many of you wrote about homemakers who find themselves divorced, hard-working nurses, and how hurtful idle gossip can be when people who work together fall in love."

It's time for readers of this column to have the very last word. This month, many of you addressed recent columns about how to fire an employee, disastrous friendships between bosses and employees, and the high cost of child care.About the proper time to fire an employee, a reader of the Star Democrat from Chestertown wrote: "I agree with you on all points except when you wrote, 'Pick your time carefully -- Friday afternoons often are best . . .' I think Friday afternoon, for any sort of discipline, including firing, is the wrong time."

Sometimes knowing where to find the answer is more than half the battle.One of the biggest problems in renovating a house is asking the right questions. If the answer isn't available in your local hardware store, where do you go?Two readers recently asked questions that were mostly about where to find information about products to solve particular problems.A reader in New Rochelle, N.Y., wants to know how to find information about a series of Wasco skylights in his living room. ,, "These skylights have aluminum frames which are perfectly square and which measure 27 3/4 inches on a side.

It's time for you, the readers of this column, to have the very last word -- time for equal time. This month, many of your letters concerned columns about verbally abusive bosses, and how many families react when a working wife and mother is laid off from her job.From Green Bay, Wis., an office manager wrote: "Hurrah for your column about what is -- and is not -- acceptable behavior from a boss toward his or her employees."My sister in New Orleans mailed me a copy of it, and it arrived on the very day that my boss -- who feels he has the right to make me his figurative punching bag whenever he's feeling peeved, irritable or out of sorts -- had stepped way over the line, even for him."

When words fail you, check out these wordless picture books. You and your young reader can tell the story to each other -- in your own words.* "The Snowman," by Raymond Briggs* "Boy, Dog & Friend," by Mercer Mayer* "Window," by Jeannie Baker* "Tuesday," by David Wiesner* "Time Flies," by Eric Rochman* "Noah's Ark," by Peter Spier* "Deep in the Forest," by Brinton Tukle* "Do You Want To Be My Friend," by Eric Carle-- Courtesy Barnes & NobleAnnapolis Harbour...

Q. Can you tell me about lice and the use of Listerine in eradicating them? My niece and my nephew have both contacted me because their children have had lice. I told them I'd read that Listerine could help, but they think I'm crazy. A. We have heard from several readers that Listerine can be helpful in preventing lice infestations. We recently received this testimonial from a reader: "The best way to prevent head lice is old-fashioned Listerine Antiseptic mouthwash. We were in the Army 33 years and moved a lot, but my kids never got lice.

WASHINGTON - My first reader was a welfare mother with a heart condition. She lived in a housing project near downtown Los Angeles. This is circa 1962 or '63 and technically she wasn't my reader back then but my listener. I would follow her around as she ironed clothes or prepared a meal, reading aloud from my latest epic, which, like all my epics, was about a boy who was secretly a superhero, with super strength and the ability to fly. Surely there came a point where the poor woman secretly regretted having taught the bespectacled child his ABCs, but she never let on. Just nodded and exclaimed in all the right places and when the story was done, sent me off to clean up my room or wash my hands for dinner.

The outpouring of reader mail over the hassles of mail-in rebates had barely subsided when a new flood gushed forth on why it takes middle-class America two incomes "just to get by." To clarify, I don't believe it does. That claim belongs to CNN commentator Lou Dobbs, who regularly lashes out at U.S. immigration policy, corporate downsizing, job outsourcing and skyrocketing health-care costs. While acknowledging these are legitimate issues, I dared to suggest that many Americans struggling on two incomes should blame their own profligate and careless ways.

Reader response is what keeps any columnist fresh. It provides perspective and humility to what otherwise might be a one-sided exercise in verbosity.Every week readers like you write or call to represent opposing views on issues raised in this column. In other cases, you suggest items which you feel should be covered. In still other cases, you tell me what are your pet peeves. Three recent entries in the gripes category caught my attention, so I'm sharing them here -- no opinions, just passing them along for your comments.