Letters are posted as we receive them during the week, and before they are printed in the paper, so check back frequently to see new letters. If you'd like to send a letter to the editor, use this postmarks submission form, or email your letter directly to [email protected]. Thanks for your patience.

Dear Editor,
    Your article on the Nacogdoches Generating Facility ["Austin Energy Buys Out Biomass Plant," News, April 26] leaves the impression generating electricity with biomass is analogous to using snake oil. Biomass provides economically and environmentally sound sources of electricity in Scandinavia and Brazil. As long as forests are soundly managed and Brazilian sugarcane is responsibly grown, biomass is indeed a renewable, cost-effective energy source.
    Austin’s problem resulted from management at Austin Energy assuming East Texas wood waste would be a cheaper fuel than natural gas. They, and the rest of humanity, didn’t realize fracking would unleash a torrent of natural gas, which provides a cheaper source of electricity than wood waste. Of course, the price of this “cheap” natural gas doesn’t include the harm wreaked by its emitting greenhouse gases when burned.

Dear Editor,
    [Re: "Anti-LGBTQ Bills Advancing in the Texas Lege," Daily News, April 24:] The article's subhead, "A call to queer Austinites: Your voice is needed at the Capitol,” should be retitled “A call to straight-cis Austinites – your voice is needed at the Capitol.” Queers don’t speak with one voice, and it isn’t up to them to fix this problem in the Texas Legislature.
    Many dedicated, hardworking queers have been fighting for civil justice in Texas for forever, and as a minority contingent, we need everyone else to stand with us in this fight against Senate Bill 17. It shouldn’t be solely up to an oppressed minority to fight for the rights of all Texans. 
    If you value your rights, please help us retain ours – we need you.

Dear Editor,
    I am an avid superhero and comic book fan. And the first time I saw Ms. Marvel aka Kamala Khan, I saw myself. A nerd, a hardcore superhero fan, a teenage girl, and a Muslim born and raised in America. Superheroes are written in such a way that we see ourselves in them – our struggles, our ideologies, our desire to fight for what we believe in. I do see myself in Captain America and Spider-Man, but neither of them face the same real-life struggles that I do. Captain America doesn’t have to try to balance being himself with the demands of immigrant parents, but I do. Spider-Man was never made fun of for his religion – but I was. And Kamala Khan was too.
    I have never heard of a Muslim woman as the titular character of any mainstream media made in America until now, with the somewhat recent news that there are plans for a Ms. Marvel movie. And now I know that there are little girls just like me who will have what I didn’t growing up – a character just like them. Someone they can see themselves in. A hero. And when the way your religion or ethnicity is portrayed in the media is usually only as terrorists, that’s important. That means something, to me and the generation of kids who will have someone like them to look up to. They’ll have a whole blockbuster movie and say, “We’re not bad, we’re just like you. We can be superheroes too.”

Dear Editor,
    We need Medicare for All. It is the best option we have right now for health care in this country, and it is our duty as Americans and humans to do everything we can to make it a reality. It’s undeniable, the current system is broken. It wasn’t made with the welfare of the people in mind, it was designed to help companies make money. Why are so many people having to beg strangers for money just to survive if the system is not fundamentally broken?
    My brother recently had a health scare and had to call an ambulance. Even though he quite obviously needed it, he wasn’t sure if he should call because he was thinking about how much it would cost him. He is in the hospital now, and even though he’s very unwell and needs to be concentrating on getting better, instead he’s thinking about his insurance and what it will cover, what it won’t, and whether he can afford to get better. If he can’t, the government certainly won’t help him.
    What kind of government cares so little for the well-being of its people? Countless countries in Europe and around the world have universal health care. They have systems where sick people can go to a hospital and get better without having to worry about insurance or crushing medical bills. They have governments that actually care about their citizens. America ranks last in health care among developed countries. $650 million is raised on GoFundMe for medical bills every year.
    Instead of forcing people to crowdfund money to keep from dying, why doesn’t the government allocate a small fraction of our excessive $598 billion-a-year defense budget to help keep its own citizens alive? There is no excuse. We need Medicare for All, and we need it now.