Editor:

I have three points I would like to address.

The first would be in response to the letter from Terri Brill regarding the real estate story. (See "Real real estate story not told," Nov. 2 issue.) Kudos to you, Ms. Brill. You gave a very real accounting of what is going on and how long the recovery is going to take.

In 2010 the market may be heading uphill, but it will be at a very slow and low pace. There will be more bidders coming in and bidding over the asking price. It is going to be a long, long time before most of us who bought in the last year would even be able to break even, much less make a profit.

My second response is the letter from Mr. Beatty regarding growing up in another time. (See "Things sure have changed," Nov. 2.) His description of life as a young boy was very accurate, and it makes you see how much we have lost in today's society.

People are stressed and work long hours. Now that most homes have two working parents, the kids get less home time and parent time. The grown-ups are more edgy; they seem to be more angry.

This transfers over to our children. When I was in school, we didn't have to have the police on site all day, as is now the norm in most schools. It didn't occur to us that maybe one of our classmates would come to school with an Uzi or something similar and take out 20 or 30 of our classmates.

It never occurred to any of us that walking by a high school was dangerous. Now walking past the high school on Lone Tree Way in Antioch, even during the day, is uncomfortable, and no one should be walking there after dark unless they want to get mugged.

My third point is more of a question. Could you please explain to me what is the attraction for young men to wear their pants down around their knees? The pants are not attractive; their underwear is also not attractive. Not to mention boring! And the end result of the look is them walking while holding their pants somewhere down around their crotch.

What is the objective here? It cannot possibly be attractive, or in the very least safe to walk this way. It is probably very entertaining if they try to run, since their pants are already down very near their ankles.

I will be interested to hear what the young men of today have to say about this.

Diane Blair

Brentwood