Letters to the Editor

A TRUE ALTERNATIVE

I've been out of the Lafayette media world for several years now. However, during that time I've kept tabs on The Independent Weekly as it has developed into a true alternative weekly, taking up the scepter another local publication dropped several years ago when it succumbed to corporate malaise. The paper continues to impress me issue after issue, but with this week's cover story on the homeless situation in Lafayette ("Slipping Through the Cracks," June 13), you really blew me away.

Legg did a phenomenal job of melding cold, hard statistics and the living, breathing human beings behind those statistics. To immerse himself in the homeless culture as he did is an act of personal and professional bravery, and the results speak for themselves. And as for the photos taken by the immensely talented Terri Fensel ' well, what can I say that hundreds before me haven't said already? She's a true talent, and her ability never shines through more than when she works in black and white.

All in all, this was a great issue, but given The Independent's recent track record, I can't say I'm really surprised.

(Buckley was a writer for The Times of Acadiana from 1999 - 2001. ' Ed.)