Craig Carton

Ageist music critics As a working musician who performs frequently in Philadelphia, the last thing I want to do is raise the ire of Inquirer music critics. But I must protest David Patrick Stearns' comments regarding older musicians in the Philadelphia Orchestra in his Jan. 23 article "Imagining Maazel here, Eschenbach in N.Y. " It seems unfair, ageist and cruel to write that if Lorin Maazel were in Philadelphia "he'd be the one to induce the . . . orchestra's stubborn older players to retire - maybe with cement shoes, if necessary?"

The shock jock may have called Mary Jo Codey a bad mother and questioned her sanity, but he helped her cause. In the 2 1/2 weeks since Craig Carton of New Jersey 101.5 (WKXW-FM) mocked Codey and other women who have had postpartum depression - saying they "must be crazy in the first place" - she has received hundreds of phone calls and letters of support from across the country. And so Codey, who has used her husband's unexpected ascension to the governor's office to speak out about her dark days after her first child was born, has found herself almost grateful for Carton's rant.