Sadness

Hebrew Free Loan Association of Baltimore notes with sadness the passing of Clara Salazar, Mother-in-Law of our board member Felix Kestenberg. Signed, Adam Miller, President.

Should the Indy Racing League have held its race Sunday after a driver died during practice? People who knew Paul Dana said unanimously that he would have wanted the race to go on. Why send fans home filled with both sadness and disappointment? Sadness is enough. Jeff Mariner Phoenix Racing, like the circus, has "the show must go on" mentality. Unfortunately, drivers losing their lives have and always will be part of the sport. Bob Mulreaney Timonium Do the Orioles need to carry three catchers on the roster?

Written in the doctor's waiting room,her note contained three questions and a poem:How many more cobalts, approximately?What sort of injections? and why big tummy?Time has trodden heavily through mires;longevity itself bears healing powers.Birth, a miracle which needs no "whys;"Death, far back in a drawer of the mind,brought out in sadness, then folded away in timeto hide the "forever," not for us the steadywith all our tomorrows, tomorrows, stacked and ready.

Our son Peter is the goalkeeper for the men's soccer team at Mount St. Mary's University and recently completed the final collegiate game of his career. While watching that game on a cold and rainy day in St. Francis, Pa., we never thought we would also be witnessing the final game of the men's soccer program! How disturbing it was for us to learn of the university's decision to terminate the program. What is even more disturbing is the way the entire matter was handled. The sadness we felt watching what we knew was Peter's last game can't even compare to the sadness the other parents must now feel since they didn't even know that it was the final game for their sons, too. We are truly disappointed in the leadership of Mount Saint Mary's University for their lack of planning and frankly, compassion, for the young men involved in this program.

Drugs and track and moneyDrug abuse is still rife in track and field despite attempts to crack down, world mile record-holder Steve Cram of Britain says."

What's going on underneath? As a culture, we naturally gauge someone by his or her outside appearance, though a different person altogether could be just beneath the surface. Gallery 1448's new exhibit Under My Skin looks at how tendons, muscles, blood, love, sadness and hate interact within the human body. `Under My Skin' Over the past five months, artists Liz Henzey and Trudy Babchak worked together on the 28 pieces in the exhibit. To create the body parts and other shapes, Henzey would sculpt liquid marble on canvas, then Babchak would paint on top. "To collaborate like that -- it was a real journey for both of us," Henzey said.

For almost a decade, Alice Elliott Dark has been widely regarded as a promising writer. Now comes "In the Gloaming: Stories" (Simon & Schuster, 286 pages, $23). The title story was first published in the New Yorker. It was made into two films, one of them the 1997 HBO movie directed by Christopher Reeve and starring Glenn Close. It had been previously republished in two significant anthologies. Her "Naked to the Waist" collection was published in 1991 to admiring reviews. Those credentials are powerful.

LAUGHTER and tears are a lot alike considering how different they are. Each represents an extreme human reaction. Tears express sadness; laughter -- pleasure or amusement.Tears are harder to fake or call up on command. A person can decide to smile or laugh to convey the idea that he or she is pleased or amused but, except for some good actors who can do it on command, tears come unbidden to our eyes.But the mechanics of tears are a mystery. Where do they come from, what evokes them and where do they go?

Eating meat causes systematic suffering It's that time of year again: The time when we read about the 4-H kids at the state fair who experience sadness and grief when the animals they've lovingly raised are taken away to go to the slaughterhouse ("Livestock raised, life lessons gained," Aug. 24). I'm relieved that many of the people involved in this process admit that it's sad. But I'm weary of hearing the justifications for this sadness, such as that meat is "part of a balanced diet" and "this is what [the animals]

In Karen Vornov's multi-part paintings at Knight Gomez (through November 24), there is something of postmodernism, something of the fragmentation of modern-day life, something of the media barrage of stimuli.In "Riomaggiore," the viewer feels on a roller-coaster of kaleidoscopic colors and conflicting spaces -- in one panel being hurtled into the picture, in another abruptly stopped. "Pigeons in the Ruins" gives us a columned porch and a Palazzo Vecchio-like tower lurching this way and that, as if disoriented.