LIANE HANSEN, host:
Time now for your letters. First, a correction from yesterday's show. Journalist Nat Hentoff mistakenly said that McClatchy's Washington bureau had closed. The bureau is not closed. McClatchy CEO, Gary Pruitt, said in a statement the bureau represents our continuing commitment to providing outstanding regional, national, and international news coverage.
Last week, as part of our Eco-nomical Series, we spoke with fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi about how to be stylish while on a budget. He offered this advice.
Mr. ISAAC MIZRAHI (Fashion Designer): If you really want to look a little better, or a little thinner, or a little something or other, you just make your heels as high as you can take them.
HANSEN: That comment made some of you want to throw your shoes at us. Before you grab your spikiest Jimmy Choo's, listen to this advice from John Mesmer of Hummelstown, Pennsylvania.
Dr. JOHN MESMER (Family Physician, Hummelstown, Pennsylvania): As a family physician, I spend an inordinate amount of time managing the damage to women's feet, ankles, knees, hips, and backs from high heels. If women in the '60s had burned their high heels instead of their bras, an entire generation would now be more comfortable. I don't give fashion advice, but my medical advice is to wear heels only if you do not intend to stand or walk.
HANSEN: Nancy Jane Whar(ph) of Austin, Texas was also concerned about the health hazards of wearing high-heeled shoes.
Ms. NANCY JANE WHAR: Isaac Mizrahi broke my heart when he began his otherwise excellent fashion advice with the instruction to wear shoes with the highest heels possible. High-heeled shoes draw the pelvis forward, putting the wearer off balance. It's hard to walk far in them, much less run if you should need to. Please, Mr. Mizrahi, rethink your ideas about high heels and come up with some flat-heeled shoes that both look stunning and allow the wear to walk all over New York City if necessary.
HANSEN: Our segment about Clementine Paddleford, a famous American food writer in the early to mid-20th century, mentioned that she carried a map on her lap while flying her plane because she had a poor sense of direction. That had some of you waving your spatulas at us. Jonathan Spencer of Brighton, Massachusetts, points out that pilots are taught to fly with a map in their lap.
Mr. JONATHAN SPENCER: Everything looks different from the air, and relying on your sense of direction, no matter how good, is definitely not a good idea. Only very recently, with the advent of something called the electronic flight bag, have pilots stopped keeping paper maps on their laps. They still keep the electronic map handy, and many of us still carry the paper map in case the electronic one dies.
HANSEN: If you think we're flying off course, or if we're heading in the right direction, let us know. Go to npr.org, and click on the Contact Us link, or you can respond on our blog, npr.org/soapbox.
This is NPR News.