UNFRIENDLY SKIES?

It was dismaying to see in print that airline attendants refer to flights to Los Angeles as “the fruit-and-nut run” (L.A. Speak, Palm Latitudes, March 20).

While in Boston a short time ago, I came across a button in a card shop that said: “California is like granola; take away all the fruits and nuts and all you have left are flakes.” While intending to be cute, it was still California bashing, and its subtle anti-gay message was frightening. Yet the store that sold it, the chain that supplied it and the manufacturer that made it were obviously perfectly at ease with it. I was not amused when the manufacturer telephoned me with the assurance that the button’s only intent was humor.

Perhaps you at the magazine thought that the “humor” of the flight statement made it OK to print. Most likely, you didn’t question it because it was about “fruits,” rather than being about another minority--one that, by way of legislation and education, it has become unacceptable to slur in the press. I find such insensitivity frightening.

PETER DEEP

Los Angeles