LETTERS TO L.A. LIFE\Fewer guns, more bagels on L.A. Life cover.

Thank you, thank you for finally designing some decent covers for the L.A. Life section of the paper. The last few weeks the covers have been noticeably more colorful, upbeat and informative, even cheery!

For some time, it seemed like all the covers featured movie stars with guns, almost repeating the movie ads. I am so tired of seeing people advertising movies (or anything) using guns. I feel these images should not be featured on the covers because they do not accurately reflect the activities of the community that L.A. Life seems to represent.

I hope the trend away from these dismal and corny covers showing gunplay is a lasting one. Just remember: The paper is on the table every morning and sometimes it's the first thing my kids see when they come in to eat. The headlines are bad enough without a full-size color picture glamorizing guns, too. We expect the newspaper to be more original, more clever than the ordinary schlock we see around.

So thanks for your creative changes. People do notice. We especially liked the cover with the giant bagel on the horizon!

- Carol Leal and family

Sherman Oaks

Inspiration not lacking in runners everywhere

In reading your "Because it's there" article about people running in the L.A. Marathon, it made me think of a friend of mine. My friend, Linda Trudeau, was diagnosed with breast cancer last July and underwent a mastectomy. One of the things her doctors told her was not to run (something she dearly loves) during chemotherapy.

Most people would have listened to their doctors, but not my Linda. I was pretty upset when I found out she had started to run about 10 days after her first chemo, but instead of getting upset with her I started to read. I found an article, in your health section, about a woman who had gone through what my friend was going through and had run the entire time. I cut this article out and gave it to her. She really appreciated the fact that even though I wasn't thrilled that she was running, I was behind her.

People like my friend amaze me. They have a life-threatening disease and yet they keep pushing themselves to have a normal existence during their treatment. I know people like my friend are not that uncommon, but she has touched my life profoundly during the last eight months with her desire and her strength. I can only hope that if I ever have to go through something like she has, that I would be as strong as she has been.

- Dorothy Judy

Newhall

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Photo no caption (L.A. LIFE COVER, BAGEL)