You write week after week of how you and your friends spend a great deal of your time in the night scene of our fair city where, as you have previously stated, most of the people (men & women) are simply looking to "hook-up" for the evening. You chose men based on their looks or financial endowments, you seek younger men for the superficial reasoning you have stated. You admittedly date men who are willing to engage in meaningless sex with women whom they have known an hour or so, and you complain about the integrity and commitment of the men you meet? You seem to be a bright woman, you can't figure this out?

Seems to me you are getting exactly what you are willing to work for. You teach others how to treat you and you are teaching men to treat you as disposable. You are trapped in a cycle of immediate gratification that leaves you feeling empty and increasingly alone. This is always the case when we take the easy path opposed to doing the hard work required to achieve what we truly seek.

This anger and resentment you feel inside isn't really about the men that have passed through your life, it's really your anger towards yourself. You're angry with Elizabeth for letting her down and allowing her to be used by a succession of men whom you knew were only there for a moment.

Only Elizabeth can be responsible for how Elizabeth's life turns out. Take responsibility for yourself and stop blaming the men who are being used as much by you as you are by them. Though you may not believe it, these feelings you have towards men radiate from your persona and give pause to any man who is seeking a serious committed relationship.

Seems to me, it may be time for a change of scene.

--Dav Barnard, Charlotte

Media Manipulated By Muslims
Your reference to Franklin and Billy Graham as being spewers of hate ("Best of Charlotte," September 18) is entirely ridiculous. It is nothing more than ultra-left rhetoric that is (as usual) not based on truth. Franklin Graham's comments and writings are not the hot-headed ramblings of a fanatic. He understands he will be vilified for his statements in the secular press but he also knows he must make a stand for what he believes is of eternal importance. His statements are based not on any blind rhetoric, but on his first-hand life experience in predominantly Muslim nations.

As for Billy Graham, the media has long sought some albatross to hang around his neck, and the best it could do was some very mild statements made over some 30 years ago. This, of course, completely disregards the lifetime of resisting temptations Mr. Graham and his team have had to face in order to not disgrace themselves publicly, holding themselves to standards that are almost superhuman.

I know CL makes no pretensions about its worldview, especially in regards to Christianity, but this is cheap and the lowest standard possible in terms of professionalism. The truth is Muslims often say one thing privately then another thing when there is a microphone in front of them from an American reporter. Why? Because they know the American media is easily manipulated to not make value judgments about their religion lest they be deemed "intolerant," the worst sin of all. Even a cursory look at what Muslims are taught would reveal much that the media should be shocked by. When true Christians strike back, it is with the truth of the gospel and often at the cost of their lives. Not with airplanes.

-- Joe Alexander, Charlotte

Hipper Than Thou
Regarding "Your New Favorite Bands" (by Tim Davis, Sept. 25): Being a hairdresser, splitting hairs is not something I'm very fond of, BUT. . .

Oh, it's that the White Stripes do not qualify as a "GROHL" band. As clever as it sounds, they're just not that hip. Unfortunately, NO NO NO, they're only on the Sympathy for the Record Industry label. No Geffen courtships here, no commercial soundtracks, no supermodels (maybe a ground-breaking rock music video on Music Television part 2, with lego toys, no less!). Read QZ. Sorry.

-- Ryan Miller, Charlotte