NEAL CONAN, HOST:
It's Tuesday and time to read from your comments. Last week, we talked about the class of 2012, which graduates this month into one of the worst job markets in a decade. Dana Sullivan Kilroy sent some advice from Reno. I'm a freelance writer with 15 years experience writing for women's magazines, but in the last few years the work has slowed dramatically. I decided to go back to school to learn some new tools, and now I'm midway through a Master's degree in interactive journalism. I'm planning to use all sorts of tools that I know will help me find work when I finish in December. My advice: Never stop learning. Who knows when you might learn that one relevant skill that will make you more attractive to employers.
After our conversation with columnist E.J. Dionne about the Stand Your Ground laws and whether a politician's stance on guns effects how people vote, Jason Crippleman(ph) in Baltimore wrote: Every control your guest advocated is already in place, and he is feckless himself in misdating the role of Stand Your Ground laws. In terms of whether a candidate stance on guns affects my vote for them, as soon as I hear the words rational gun control, I know I'm listening to a liar. We already have it. We only need enforce it.
But Paul Moss(ph) disagreed. He wrote from Sacramento: I'm a gun owner who's a recreational shooter. The notion that we live in a society where a gun is a necessity in order to protect our property and to defend ourselves while walking down the street is false. Why is everyone so scared? It's this fear that seems to be the problem, not gun ownership.
And finally, when we spoke with violinist Joshua Bell about the transition from soloist to conductor, Judy emailed with this remembrance: When I was a child, my parents took me to see Stravinsky conduct the Chicago Symphony. The audience spent a lot of time rustling. Then with no prior notice, a tiny ancient figure was brought out front by two young men, one on each arm. The little man at the podium took up his baton and paused with thousands of pairs of eyes riveted upon him. About two bars into the music, the little man straightened up and through the course of the piece of music seemed to grow. By the end, he looked a good two feet taller, and I will forever identify that experience with the phrase here there be giants. My regards to Joshua Bell, another giant of music.
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