Get It Right, Knoxburg!
Coury Turczyn's last Insights article (Vol. 10, No. 33) prompted me to finally write and share with you what I have been telling folks for years. I am a life-long East Knox county resident, and I've watched Knoxville over the years struggle with an identity crisis, much like the one I dealt with some 30-odd years ago as a teenager. Knoxville's just like a teenager in that its people are trying to do and be what they're not; they're never willing to do and be what they are. Maryville, on the other hand, as your article a few weeks ago showed, has matured and embraced who and what they are. And by doing that, are able to grow and expand on that "self." Knoxville has the "image du jour" "This day I am Atlanta, that day I am Asheville, no wait, make that Charlotte, wait, wait, wait, make that New York!" Knoxville just doesn't know what it wants to be when it grows up.
Jack Neely knows much more about Knoxville's history than I do, but I know enough to know that Knoxville has lost several opportunities to be something great because at the time it seemed "too hick" for Knoxville's perceived sophistication. (Does the Mid-Day Merry-Go-Round ring a bell?)
I have some similar thoughts and feelings about the Farmer's Market. It has a tremendous amount of potential, but no one can decide its "image," so there it sits.
When will City Council and/or County Commission accept and embrace who and what we are? We have such a rich heritage here in Knoxville; let's don't lose that.
Betty J. Newman
Kodak
Or Dumber Readers...
In your Aug. 10 review of The Taming of the Shrew, your reviewer strongly advised making more and deeper cuts in the play, because people could not understand the language. I was surprised; my niece, Emily, had no problems with the language (in spite of prolonged fireworks near the river)...and she's 12 years old.
In your Aug. 17 review of Richard III, your reviewer strongly advised that the setting be updated, because people could not understand the characters. Rather than a king, whose smallest decision may bring success or ruin to thousands of his innocent subjects, the reviewer would prefer that Richard III be played as a third-string high school quarterback.
There, she says, would be a character we could "respect."
To sum up, you've had one reviewer who couldn't understand language a 12-year-old could, and one reviewer who missed the theme and tragedy of the play. You need smarter reviewers.
Amy Huber
Knoxville
Educating the Educated
Not all Baptists "have a suspicion of worldly education" as Mr. Mayshark asserts in his article about the Knox County school superintendent ["Are We Internationally Competitive Yet?", Vol. 10, No. 33].
May I remind Mr. Mayshark that Baptists founded what is now Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City, Tennessee, in 1851. Baptists also help sponsor Harrison-Chilhowee Baptist Academy, Seymour, Tennessee, which has its roots in the late 19th century. Both institutions are in this region and they are exemplary examples of another tradition of Baptists which values "worldly education."
I concede that some Baptists in this region are suspicious of education. Perhaps one of the reasons they are suspicious is because of "educated" people like Mr. Mayshark, who make generalities without first checking the history of Baptist education in this region.
The Rev. Kerry Layne Bond
Rutledge
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