WW welcomes letters to the editor via mail, e-mail or fax. Letters must be signed by the author and include the author's street address and phone number for verification. Preference will be given to letters of 250 words or less. DOES SPARTACUS HAVE A GIFT REGISTRY? Nomination for next week's Losers column: Whoever put the photograph of two naked men kissing with the blurb on gays and lesbians' new domestic-partnership registry [Scoreboard, WW, Sept. 6, 2000]. What? Is that what sums up a domestic registry? That's like putting a picture of two people having sex next to a blurb on where to buy your wedding dress. Pathetic. Sarah Barrett North Concord Avenue BEFORE THE FLOOD Whereas race is clearly an issue in the Alberta Street debate, it's just as clearly a symptom of the real issue: economics ["Alberta Rising?," WW, Sept. 6, 2000]. At a recent "Last Thursday," I felt ambivalent about the area's transformation from a street where angels fear to tread to the city's newest hot spot. I liked what I saw, but feared what it may become. Such transformations are fueled by economic opportunity, which in theory is good. When the entrepreneurial spirit is alive, everyone wins, right? However, the jump from entrepreneur to money grubber is a short one, as all Portlanders who have been priced out of their neighborhoods know. It's not just black folks who have to live in Gresham or Vancouver to make room for the Range Rover set. I sincerely hope Alberta Street avoids the fate of Hawthorne and Northwest 23rd. Jim Cooper Northeast 26th Avenue RALPH ON YOUR BALLOT I read with alarm your article "Ralph's Big Push" [Aug. 30, 2000]. The sheer number of pejorative phrases raised my hackles and puts the lie to the notion that this piece is objective. Referring to the Green Party as "court jesters" on the first page hints at the slant that was yet to come. Using phrases like "blueprint for failure" while characterizing Green Party members as wearing "hemp pants" telegraphs where you are coming from. It states your message loud and clear that the purpose of this article is to marginalize and trivialize anyone associated with Nader or the Green Party and phrases like "faint hope," "rabid," "hippies and woo-woo talk about spirituality," "tree hugging" and "far-left candidates like Nader" pepper the article. That 10,500 people willingly paid $7 to hear this man speak is not news to Patty Wentz, apparently. To her it was a freak show--a counter-culture carnival. I saw 10,000 disaffected people returning to the political process. What's our choice? Which scion of which ruling-class family we want in the White House? I have made a solemn vow to myself never to vote for any Republicrat again. I cannot, in good conscience, support our two-faced, one-party system any longer. As long as I continue to vote for the Evil of Two Lessers, I'm perpetuating the problem. Our political system is like the Roman god Janus: one head with one face facing left and the other facing right. When I think of Bush and Gore, I want to Ralph. Norbert Radtke Southeast 85th Avenue GREEN DEATH Your account of Ralph Nader's day in Portland ["Ralph's Big Push," WW, Aug. 30] omitted one critical point. Earlier in the day, Nader contradicted the wishes of thousands of progressive Oregon voters by declaring his opposition to the groundbreaking Death with Dignity Act. A majority of Oregon voters supported this measure, and then reaffirmed that support a second time in the face of the Legislature's refusal to accept our verdict. Ralph Nader, Pat Buchanan and George Bush don't trust you to be able to make intelligent decisions concerning your life and your destiny. Al Gore won't tell you what he thinks, because he's too afraid to lose votes. Only Harry Browne, the Libertarian candidate for President, will allow you the opportunity to control your body and your future. It's obvious that Harry Browne is the true progressive in this race. Robert Hansen Southwest Vermont Street PARTING TIME In your article "Perma-Temp Profs" [Aug. 16], PSU Vice-Provost Dick Pratt, commenting on the salaries paid to part-time faculty there, is quoted saying "I don't know if anyone knows what the national average [for part-time faculty] is..." Why doesn't he find out? Probably because he knows that the part-time salaries paid at PSU are laughable at best. I hold a PhD from a nationally ranked university, have taught for 15 years and have published a book nominated for three major awards. This past year, I taught in the PSU history department as a part-time faculty member and earned less per month as a professor than I did as a teaching assistant in 1982. Pratt goes on to say that "we think we are competitive." Competitive? I shudder to think with whom Pratt is trying to be competitive. Certainly no academic institution I am aware of. The PSU administration likes to talk about how their faculty come from "the real world," but the pay they offer part-timers (always without a single benefit) is from another place and another time. Nor is the Portland State University Faculty Association blameless here. Their lack of communication with many part-time faculty on campus is evident by the fact that I found out about the negotiations through reading your article. Perhaps there will be a strike and perhaps not. I would have liked to stay and see what develops. But the absurd level of compensation made that impossible, and I recently accepted a position with another university. Russell Leigh Moses Southwest Harrison Street