Modesty

Clean-cut, wholesome and decidedly demure. Look at the ultra-Disneyfied costumes in this month's "Hannah Montana" movie and you'll see the latest reflection of the accelerating shift toward more parent-friendly tween fashions. Forget Britney-era bling 'n' bras or clingy American Apparel spandex -- 16-year-old "Hannah Montana" star Miley Cyrus wasn't even allowed to wear leggings while the cameras were rolling.

Washington is full of nerds. I know. I speak nerd, not fluently mind you, at least not anymore. But I certainly know more than a few phrases memorized from a Berlitz nerd-to-English phrase book. I can talk Dungeons & Dragons (both D&D and AD&D). I know about the Golden Age of Comics (as in comic books -- if you thought that was a reference to Bob Newhart's heyday, subtract 20 nerd points right there). Anyway, if you spend any time in Washington you'll find nerds. What happens is most of them sublimate their fixations with comics, or baseball cards, or 1960s British comedies to policy minutiae and political arcana.

Every summer when the temperature goes up, people start stripping down. At the risk of sounding like a prude, I find it unseemly. Toddlers look cute in just a pair of shorts. Middle-aged men do not. Most women don't look good in shorts, period. Yes, there are starlets strutting down Sunset Boulevard beautiful in little short-shorts, but they're the exception. I don't see them at my local grocery store leaning over the frozen food case. What I see reaching for the ice cream is just way too much.

With a rich trail of utterances, Newt Gingrich has outlined an opinion of himself that ranges from lofty to stratospheric. In 1985, Gingrich told the Washington Post: "I have enormous personal ambition. I want to shift the planet. And I'm doing it. " In 1994, he told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "People like me are what stand between us and Auschwitz. " Just the other day, at the Iowa statehouse, he gave himself credit for helping defeat the Soviet Empire. As Gingrich seeks the GOP presidential nomination here, where the first ballots of the 2012 nominating contest will be cast Jan. 3, Iowans are weighing his long experience, conservative credentials and their hope that he is the Republican who could best President Obama rhetorically.

INTERESTING, the attitude our self-hyping, blow-your-own-horn journalists take toward author Jeff Hobbs: "Aw, he's shy. Isn't that sweet?" [" 'Tourists' Friendly," by Scott Timberg, April 23]. Hobbs would at one time have been called "modest." Modesty: that means soft-pedaling your accomplishments; responding graciously when praised; resisting the urge to impose your "self-esteem" on others. Modesty is a virtue. Virtue: That means ... never mind. SYLVIA ALLOWAY Granada Hills

I volunteer to donate my "Dress David" refrigerator magnet set to those good burghers of Capitola, who are offended by [a restaurant sign featuring Michelangelo's nude statue] David's shameless display (June 21). Suitably blown up to size, these tasteful items of apparel would not only meet modesty's demands, but would also give their users the chance for community participation so lacking in contemporary life. DOUG RALEIGH

Now that Madonna has personally informed us how important and powerful she really is, shown her enormous sensitivity for the rights, feelings and opinions of others and demonstrated her great modesty and genuine humility, I have found the word that perfectly describes her "creative" muse: GIGO , or in other words, "Garbage In, Garbage Out." B. DAVID NICHOLS Orange

I was pleased to read Barbara Hansen's article about Broncha "Bea" Stern's cooking project at the Dixie Canyon Elementary School ("A Class Act," Feb. 25). As a retired foods teacher (and colleague), I can well appreciate the organization, advance preparation and schlepping necessary for such a project. Not mentioned (because of Bea's modesty) are the endearing thank-you notes and letters of appreciation from children and parents that she receives every semester. What a wonderful way to develop a love of food and cooking in young children.

Paul Conrad hit the satirical target again with his cartoon showing the two superpowers ready to throw their bombs at each other as a little man juggled a baseball, and containing the caption, "Now here's a job for Peter Ueberroth!". Predictable Peter has no interest in important issues that could be harmful to his political ambitions. It was easy to predict the baseball strike--and that it would last only long enough for publicity-seeking Peter to intervene and after a matter of minutes announce to millions with mock modesty that an agreement had been reached.

Your article on Ramsey Clark was absolutely superb. This man deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. There is an old saying that goes something like this: "Evil flourishes when good men do nothing. . . ." He is definitely the good guy in this respect. To have the courage to stand up for what is right in today's world is so rare. The modesty in this man is to be admired. You as a newspaper did a great service by writing about him. CLIFFORD R. WAESCHLE, Beverly Hills

Every summer when the temperature goes up, people start stripping down. At the risk of sounding like a prude, I find it unseemly. Toddlers look cute in just a pair of shorts. Middle-aged men do not. Most women don't look good in shorts, period. Yes, there are starlets strutting down Sunset Boulevard beautiful in little short-shorts, but they're the exception. I don't see them at my local grocery store leaning over the frozen food case. What I see reaching for the ice cream is just way too much.

Just in time for Easter comes the devotional South Korean documentary "Baboya," about the late Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-Hwan, who died in 2009 at 86. A worshipfully solemn (if awkwardly translated) love letter to one of Korea's most revered religious figures, director Kang Sung-ok's narrated biography has on hand a truly fascinating subject: a Korean loyalist ordered to study in occupying Japan during World War II; a humble country priest who rose to be Korea's first ordained cardinal; and a human rights advocate who fought for society's downtrodden at every turn (washing a migrant worker's feet to stem rising anti-labor protests, attending a prostitute's funeral)

Shternie Lipskier's is a stylish, deep red bob with short bangs. Elana Kornfeld's is a long, dark, glossy brunette that she parts on the side. Chani Wuensch's is a lighter brunette, with auburn lowlights and graduated bangs that fall softly across her brow. Chicly dressed and ranging in age from 29 to 36, the three are discussing their hair, or more specifically their sheitels . Sheitels are the wigs that married Orthodox Jewish women of the most devout, or Hasidic, communities wear in public.

On one of the holiest nights of Ramadan, Marwa Atik chose a crowded Southern California mosque to debut her latest creation. It was just after midnight when the 20-year-old walked into the Islamic Center of Irvine, dressed in a long, flowing burgundy robe, her head wrapped in a charcoal-colored chiffon hijab , trimmed with decorative gold zippers. After the group prayers, sermon and Koran recitation, a woman approached Atik, gesturing at the scarf. "OK, I want one," she said excitedly.

Having neglected to keep up with the journal Psychology of Men & Masculinity, this recent study had escaped my attention: "When Men Break the Gender Rules: Status Incongruity and Backlash Against Modest Men." That is to say, for men, modesty in job interviews comes with risk.  Researchers at Rutgers University found that, when watching staged job interviews, both male and female viewers were a bit turned off by modest men, considering them to be rather weak and uncertain -- "low status" traits to be sure.

President Obama's call for government workers to cut back on driving and travel to reduce air pollution has angered business travel leaders who say he is once again hurting the travel industry. Obama issued a directive last week ordering government workers to commute and travel less to reduce greenhouse emissions 13% by 2020. The move, he said, would eliminate 101 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. But the National Business Travel Assn., a trade group for business travel managers, called the plan a "misguided swing at the travel industry" that could "undermine the slight recovery the travel industry is just now starting to experience."

Zycher's critical comparison of Nader's Proposition 103 insurance reasoning favors Nader. Canute II was not an emperor but the humble king of England and Denmark (1016-18 to 1035), renowned for his modesty and good sense for which history acknowledges his demonstration of the limitations of regal power. His nobles tried to convince him that his command could turn back the ocean tide; he took a chair (not the throne of England), to the Solent where the incoming sea failed to halt as he directed and forced Canute and the nobles to retreat as it lapped their feet.

We found many similarities between our experience with Turkish baths and that of Patricia Beeson ("Turkish Bathos," May 15). Ours, however, was in Kusadasi, Turkey, and apparently was a more pleasant, more sanitary experience. The domed room with the center platform and the basin-lined walls were similar, and the bathing-massaging routine sounded the same. However, we did not have to share the room with 200 Turkish women nor frolicking rodents; we had it to ourselves. We each had a male masseur who was appropriately attired and who gave a bath-massage of appropriate intensity and thoroughness.

Risking earthquakes, Virginia Atty. Gen. Ken Cuccinelli announced Monday that he is discontinuing the use of a new family-friendly state seal he created only days prior in favor of a more pornographic version that has been used for eons. Cuccinelli presented a lapel pin for his staff with the G-rated state seal late last month. The problem with the Revolutionary-War-era seal is that the Roman goddess Virtus had a breast exposed. Granted, she's no Pamela Anderson (or Olive Oyl even)

Seeking a competitive edge, fabric designer Vaneeza Ahmad spent hours on the phone to China but couldn't find anyone to make her new line of dupattas , the omnipresent scarves that Pakistani women drape over their arms, head, chest. China may be the world's factory floor, but its scarf makers aren't equipped for something that can be more than 8 feet long. Ahmad fretted, until, after much wrangling, she found a solution. "I've located a curtain maker who could do it," she said triumphantly.