...but if you have other conditions, you'll have to do something like:
my_model.find(:all,
:conditions => ['col1 = cond1 AND col2 = cond2 AND (status = ? or status = ?)',
'sent', 'read'])
Note the ( ) around the status clauses. You can also use 'IN'
my_model.find(:all,
:conditions => ['col1 = cond1 AND col2 = cond2 AND status IN (?)',
['sent', 'read']])
if you put the set of values that status can match into an Array (and then you don't need to have extra ()'s around the status clauses). Now if this is still too much SQL for you, you can try (because I *haven't*) something like: