It was a tad bit disappointing that Valerie Easton did not have the time to visit some superb gardens in parks in New York City ("Urban Legends," Sept. 26). I was in Seattle recently — and finding it still very much in love with its cars and not very pedestrian friendly. We walked from Pike Street to Fremont, and tried to walk to Queen Anne Hill; got a bit lost, to say the least. I still love Manhattan due to the simple fact there is a destination on every corner. You can walk from the top of Manhattan to the tip, cross the bridges to either Williamsburg or downtown Brooklyn. For instance:

Battery Park (tip of downtown);

Hudson River Park: (multi-use park that extends the length of the island. www.friendsofhudsonriverpark.org/ It incorporates the piers to either park use or wildlife sanctuary;

Bryant Park (in back of the 42nd Street library);

Botanical Gardens in Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens;

Olmsted's Parks — Prospect, Central and the Greenwood Cemetery. For more info see: www.nycgovparks.org/index.php

Cloisters www.metmuseum.org/

The hundreds of little landscapes that are peeking between buildings just out of sight and only the locals know about.

One trip to wear out excited tourists:

Breakfast on Montique Street in Brooklyn Heights to the Promenade. North to cross the Brooklyn Bridge. Cross through City Hall Park, down to South Street Seaport and north to Battery Park and along Hudson River Park. Lunch on the public pier near Chelsea Piers. For dinner you could end up at Boat House Cafe at Riverside Park with a view of the sunset on the Hudson River. Later cross over to Central Park and to cocktails at Tavern on the Green. You will have a tale to tell when you get home that you walked/in-line skated the entire length of Manhattan and more.

Yours truly, from the concrete jungle . . .

Eva Lansberry
New York

A common language

I really enjoyed reading Lorane West's immigrant stories ("Latino Voices," Sept. 19) and was deeply struck by the story entitled "Chains," which so poignantly illustrates how debilitating it can be, both socially and economically, to lack the language skills of the country one lives in.

As a volunteer tutor in the Talk Time conversational English as a Second Language program through Literacy Source, I have the opportunity to reach out to immigrants and refugees in our community and help them to build language skills and most importantly social connections that the woman in "Chains" so desperately lacked.

There are many free ESL resources in our community that welcome students with educational backgrounds spanning pre-literate to Ph.Ds, and English skills from beginning to very advanced.

I encourage the community to help immigrants and refugees plug into these fantastic resources, and I encourage anyone looking for a very rewarding way to spend a couple of hours each week to look into becoming a volunteer.

More information about Literacy Source classes can be found at www.literacy-source.org or you can call them at 206-782-2050.

Carol Peterman
Seattle

Getting right to the point

Thank you for your article on Aug. 29 ("Outsource This!") and thank the universe acupuncture can't be outsourced.

I get an acupuncture treatment weekly at the wonderful Harborview Chronic Fatigue Clinic. As a person with fibromyalgia, Graves' disease, costochondritis and chronic fatigue immune deficiency syndrome, I have endured a lot of pain over the years, and nothing works like acupuncture. I take no pain medication. I see the same patients each week as we always are there for our weekly "life-saving" treatment.

Dana Waslenko
Seattle