Readers write: Making America _____, and beef or no beef

Making America _____.

In response to editor Scott Armstrong’s challenge in the Jan. 21 Weekly Print Edition to complete the sentence “Making America …”: Don’t fill in the blank. It is just “Making America.” America is always being made. Native Americans and immigrants have been part of this process for centuries. All of us make America.

What have we made? America means high ideals – freedom, human rights, and equality. We “make America” by striving to have our behavior match those ideals.

Recommended: Readers Respond Readers write: ‘Perception Gaps’ podcast, and Sahara exploration

May we continue to “make America.” It stands for something in the world and does not need to be qualified.

Theodore S. Arrington

Albuquerque, N.M.

Beef or no beef

Regarding the Feb. 18 article “Farmers have a beef with alternative ‘meat’ ”: I’m with Nicolette Hahn Niman and Will Harris – both of whom support meat being eaten – as well as with ranchers and farmers in this debate.

As a farmer’s daughter, though I am long removed from my rural Midwestern roots, I have been bemused, perplexed, and sometimes dumbfounded at the lengths to which plant and synthetic food producers have gone to make substitute meat, poultry, and pork products. It just seems like false advertising to label these foods as though they came from animals.

My vegetarian and vegan friends eat plant- and vegetable-based diets; some include dairy and eggs. None purchase, prepare, or knowingly eat faux animal protein products.

I absolutely agree that worldwide, the agribusiness, factory farm model has created unsustainable environmental conditions. In my own actions, I have consciously made the decision to consume less meat, pork, and poultry as well as to purchase it from a local ranch using sustainable practices. However, I believe that “better living through chemistry” doesn’t always apply, even in modern life.

Mary Raver

Wickenburg, Ariz.