Discussion

From the editors
Our March issue featured an excerpt from primatologist Jane Goodall’s forthcoming book Seeds of Hope, in which she expounds on her lifelong love of plants. In late March, Goodall acknowledged that portions of the book were taken from other sources without proper attribution. She said she is “distressed” by the errors and is postponing the release of the book until they can be corrected. Both Goodall and our own researchers have investigated and found no problems in the excerpt we published. With spring upon us, our April issue offered up a new list of 20 of the most culturally rich small towns in America to visit. On Facebook alone, over 27,000 of you liked our travel advice. Some took issue with our selections. “Fairfield wouldn’t be in the top 7 towns to visit in Iowa,” Rick Hoover objected. Others expressed disbelief that we’d neglected their favorite small town. Most, however, were eager to celebrate the towns we included. Tom Carroll, a resident of St. Augustine, Florida, still finds much to marvel at in his hometown. “It feels like an adventure every moment,” he says. And online commenter Richard David wrote: “I have been to Baraboo many times over the last 30 years and I agree it is a wonderful experience.”

On the Town
I am very proud to see my hometown of Baraboo, Wisconsin, listed as one of the best small towns to visit in 2013. I have many fond memories as a young boy of the visits to Devil’s Lake, the Circus World Museum and the Al Ringling Theater. Even though the site of my boyhood home is now occupied by the city’s golf course clubhouse, I will always have the memories that took place there. Congratulations, Boo!

Richard P. Wagner
Online Comment

Gettysburg keeps making me come back. Last week was the sixth time. What is it that does that? It has to be the lure of the landscape and historical atmosphere. The National Park Service does a fantastic job in preserving the field. I wish I could come more often.

Frank Holland
Online Comment

Hope for Elephants
I was surprised to learn that Sukiri and two other elephants in Paul Theroux’s “Into the Okavango Delta” (about exploring Botswana by elephant-back safari) were saved and shipped to the Pittsburgh Zoo’s International Conservation Center in Fairhope, Pennsylvania, where these magnificent creatures now reside.

Sydnay Bowersox
Somerset, Pennsylvania

Dirt Don’t Hurt
This is fascinating [“The Secret Life of Dirt,” about how autoimmune disorders may result from underexposure to germs]. Today’s kids don’t play outside like they used to. In my case, I lost my immunity to maple trees when I moved out west to the mountains of Colorado, where they have aspen, for the most part. When I returned East in the spring, the maple trees took their toll on my eyes. I still get hay fever.

Michael J. McClella
On Facebook

Corrections
It turns out that in “Flashes of Light,” (March 2013) we undershot the number of people who aim laser pointers at aircraft at a mere 160. In 2012, the FAA recorded 3,482. In our profile of Cleveland, Mississippi (April 2013), our illustrator missed a pen stroke that resulted in some creative geography. The neighboring state of Arkansas was labeled with Alaska’s postal abbreviation.