Spanish high.

• Position: Letters

I just read Liesl Schillinger's "Spanish Disquisition" (October) and at first, being a Latino myself, I was kind of disappointed in what she was writing. But as I kept on reading, I ended up loving it. But she is wrong about one thing: Shakira is from Colombia ... not Peru.

CARLOS ALEJANDRO Chicago, Ill. What a brilliant and honest article by Schillinger on the collective perception of the Spanish language in our country! As a Spanish professor and a nonnative speaker of the language, I have a deep appreciation of Spanish, much like Schillinger herself. I applaud her honest analysis and well-written article.

JENNIFER GARSON Pasadena City College, Calif. Enough already! Recent issues of the Monthly have included articles that frankly seem like indulgences on the part of the editors--and "Spanish Disquisition" takes the prize, an inordinately silly piece that makes pompous statements such as "French is a lovely, but preening language--judgmental but...