Submitted by Adam_W from Miami, FL

Q: I was on vacation in Orlando last weekend when my friends dragged me into a comic book shop (actually, I think that was the name of it: A Comic Book Shop). I purchased my first comic books, or graphic novels, in years. Specifically, I picked up Watchmen by Alan Moore, as well as a couple sequels he did with the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. I know you're a big Marvel guy, but do you experiment with indie comics at all?

Answered 11/04/09 14:02:17 by Leonard Pitts

A: Sometimes, but rarely. Usually, it's something I've heard incredibly good things about, or some artist or writer whose work I'm stupid for.

Submitted by Exile from Nottingham, UK

Q: I was fascinated by your "Good Hair" column, as I had no idea how much of an industry there was out there making millions off this. I'm curious - and I ask this as someone who's not yet a parent - about what practical advice you'd give for parents on something like this. Philosophically, I suppose it's great to tell an African-American teenage girl "Look, you're beautiful and you shouldn't let yourself be tempted by an industry that makes a profit off you thinking you're not." Practically speaking, that's probably a recipe for lots of slamming doors and high-decibel exclamations on how unfair you are. So, how do parents cope when they're up against multimillion dollar industries?

Answered 11/04/09 13:57:07 by Leonard Pitts

A: I wish I had a pithy, failsafe answer, but I'm afraid I don't. I wrestled with that question during all the years of raising my kids. I dealt with everything from sibling jealousy toward their brother who had so-called "good" hair to an elder relative who singled him out for praise for the same reason. I just kept repeating my mantra: Good hair is any hair that covers your head.

Submitted by Scott from Indianapolis

Q: I think Plato and the Romans may have had it right. A caste of leaders who enjoyed position, provided that it came without wealth, nepotism and was carried out in dignity? Imagine. A sense of gravitas in a citizen body who earned their rights by service to the state? Shocking. With respect to you and disrespec to some quarters of the media, I believe we have an educated public - but having opinion fed to them from every quarter, far too many have forgotten how to form their own opinions and ask their own questions. Is it too much to ask that the extremists on all sides to simply SHUT UP for just one week? Send them all on a cruise. I'd gladly pay far more than a dime, if it just got them out of the personal space of this country and gave it a week... just one week... to breathe.

Answered 11/04/09 13:26:47 by Leonard Pitts

A: Good point. I tend to agree.

Submitted by Chris Chipman from Greenville, SC

Q: On one of your previous Q&A comments you made a comment about a set of parents being disappointed if their musical genius child grew up to be an auto mechanic. You then said that you meant no offense to auto mechanics. I believe you when you say that but it strikes a bad nerve with me, because I have read backhanded comments in your columns before about non college educated people. I absolutely hate to defend Rush Limbaugh because I find him a blowhard, but any column you mention him, you mention the fact that he was a college dropout, almost to suggest that he is less of a human for that characteristic. The man has been extremely successful without a college education, as are many people without degrees, myself (an auto mechanic) included. I read the paper daily, have a variety of interests, and am involved in my community. I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I think I'm a lot more "educated" than many of my college educated friends.

Answered 11/04/09 13:15:20 by Leonard Pitts

A: Well, in the first place I've mentioned Rush Limbaugh's lack of a college diploma exactly once. But I do apologize if you found the reference disparaging to your profression.

Submitted by Mary from Washington

Q: Dear Mr.Pitts, I just wanted to let you know how moved I was after reading your column on "Good Hair" and black beauty. It is obvious you are a talented writer. More than that you have a tender soul. Thank you for making my Sunday morning so heartfelt and inspirational. Well done.

Answered 11/04/09 13:05:58 by Leonard Pitts

A: Thank you. I appreciate the kind words.

Submitted by steven j oltermann from white stone va

Q: re:Your Hair Looks Just Fine What's the difference between this and the women with straight hair who want to get it curled, or the women who spend time in tanning beds to darken their skin(at the risk of skin cancer). Is this a racial thing or is it just human nature to want to look different than the way the creator made us? Is this a form of rebelion against our creator?

Answered 11/04/09 13:05:16 by Leonard Pitts

A: Oh, obviously there's an element of simple human nature at work. But for people of color (or, as the MASH example was intended to illustrate, for anyone who is in a minority or otherwise marginalized) there is also an element of feeling that one is never quite "there," beauty-wise, to whatever degree one deviates from the ideal embraced by the majority color.

Submitted by Terrence Clark from Tacoma, Washington

Q: As a clinician I am taught to attend to race as a clinical risk factor. I think this is bogus, that we really should look at populations and genetics. Are you aware of this issue, and if so what do you think? Note that I have sent a letter to you email for more context. Terry Clark

Answered 11/04/09 13:02:13 by Leonard Pitts

A: Not quite sure what attending to race as a clinical risk factor entails. I mean, it's a documented fact that, for instance, people of African heritage are more susceptible to sickle cell and people of European heritage are more susceptible to skin cancer, so to that degree, it wouldn't trouble me. If we're talking about something other than that, my opinion might change.

Submitted by FormFactor from Miami, FL

Q: Distortion of facts works in all directions when Fox is the subject. O'Reilly, Hannity and others are doing nothing more than you are: giving an opinion. Neither you nor they represent your respective news desks, a distinction you and others fail to make. Do they distort or shade the facts? Yes. Do you? Yes. Fox's sins are plain enough but here are two of yours: 1) you failed to mention study claiming Fox viewers are more likely to be misinformed was from 2003 and pertained ONLY to views on the Iraq war and 2) the politifact.com stats you used were based on ONLY 9 comments made by Fox commentators. Based on 208 comments politifact also found President Obama to be almost as prone to lying as Fox. Should it then be claimed the Herald is guilty of sloppy, biased reporting, not really a news organization and shut out from the White House?

Answered 10/28/09 13:59:09 by Leonard Pitts

A: Nice try. No cigar. In the first place: pundits are not exempt from the ordinary obligation to be factual and when they repeatedly fail, they most certainly do reflect poorly on their news organizzation. In the second place, where Fox is concerned, we're not talking about distorting or shading fact. We're talking about getting them repeatedly and egregiously wrong - indeed, making them up out of whole cloth. In the third place, you're right: I should've mentioned that the study pertained to views on the Iraq war. Not including that made the information incomplete and made the line somewhat misleading. Its exclusion, for the record, was a matter of space, trying to bring the column down to its allotted length. Which is an explanation, not an ecuse: I should have kept the Iraq information and cut something else, period. And yet...at day's end, I didn't make up a study that doesn't exist, did I? No, it takes a Fox pundit to do that.

Submitted by George from Miami

Q: Good point on all of them..How do we go about change?...

Answered 10/28/09 13:51:26 by Leonard Pitts

A: Funny you should ask. I was thinking about that just this morning. Not that I have an answer, except to say that if we wait for it to emanate from government, we're wasting our time. I tend to think even the idealistic and well-meaning lawmaker, once he goes through that system to reach his/her office, is corrupted by it. The change would have to be forced by a critical mass of public pressure.

Submitted by George from Miami

Q: Also, I read the post about the DC sniper..I know you are against the Death Penalty, but, isn't the death penalty made for people like this?...Especially for crimes against children/elderly?...The scum that killed the little girl last week, (They found her in a dump in Georgia), I mean, to me, they cannot put this scum to death fast enough...Am I wrong?..

Answered 10/28/09 13:49:12 by Leonard Pitts

A: Put it like this: if I believed in the death penalty, I'd want it for the DC sniper.