Shut up, you whiner!
Your Feb. 6 Editor's Corner by Bill Carey sparks a need in me to reach out and try to help him out of his pensive melancholy. It seems he started out in life with a calling to be a difference maker and I want to begin by thanking him for his service to our country, in that pursuit.
However, when he discovered that climbing the ladder in the military meant he might have to kiss up to the big wigs, he quit. I find it very odd that he would then become a journalist, self-proclaimed crusader, and a kiss-up to some local Nashville "big-wigs." I guess if you have to kiss someone's ring, it would be better if they'd just had a manicure.
Time has passed for Bill, and he's still looking out for the little guy by "making life uncomfortable for people who try to sneak unfair bills through the legislature." He says "I really feel like I've let myself down." Has he been weakened by Kryptonite cleverly concealed in his editor's trousers? Well close, he's been infected with the dreaded media(lis) bias(ses) virus. I'm concerned there may be a fever associated with this as he makes the case that George Bush is a popular leader NOT because of the way he's performed since 9/11, but merely because 3,000 Americans were murdered by terrorists on his watch.
Would he be less popular if only 2,000 had died?
Sadly, a bright young man takes the wrong career path, ends up living in Knoxville writing for the local alternative weekly newspaper, and he wonders why he was never able to make a difference. Listen up Bill, self-indulgent whiners rarely make a difference, and they're always jealous of the "rich kid," unless of course they happen to be the rich kid. Rarely can they admit that they merely rose to the level of their actual ability.
The best advice I can offer Bill would be to encourage him to continue to attempt to placate his inner child by blaming others for his mediocrity; it's obviously worked so far. However, when you write baseless, mean-spirited comments about the first genuine president we've had in the past eight years, in the middle of a war, you run the risk of further amateur psycho-analysis. It's never pretty.
David W. Gibson
Knoxville
It's About Time!
Thank you for the excellent cover story "Is Knoxville a Creative City?" Your timing is incredible, in conjunction with the review of the play "Corpus Christi." Richard Florida's economic justification for supporting diversity is greatly appreciated because it changes the focus.
Developing an educated community that is attractive, thriving, accessible, comfortable, and accepting hardly qualifies as an economic revelation applicable only to young creative people. Florida's thesis that businesses follow people has merit, and his efforts to quantify acceptance are admirable. His amazing finding is that acceptance correlates to a "gay index." This would have been more difficult to buy without the controversial play. Extreme reactions, protests, and comments about the play lead me to conclude that Florida's assessments are correct.
I expect business and community leaders to take action to remedy the problems. Take action to protect the rights, freedoms, and well being of all. Voters and investors require it. I request the rational objectivity of non-believers to examine the implications that acceptance has for the separation of church and state. If your employer is competitive, ask when sexual orientation will be protected by the discrimination policy and when benefits will cover anyone in your household. I ask our esteemed leaders who are open, accepting, and affirming to use Florida's concepts as further motivation to assist in educating the community. Please, we need your help to boost Knoxville into the realm of respectable "creative cities" in America.
Legal protections against hate and intolerance are only a beginning. Progress must be made towards tolerance and acceptance with a serious goal of embracing diversity, if competitive economic sense is to prevail.
Paul Balo
Lenoir City
Dead, hell!
Scott Colthorp [interviewed in the Feb. 6. cover story] , hush your mouth! I am sick and tired of people announcing that "the Old City is dead." I live there and I'm not dead. Barley's isn't dead. Blue Cats and Tonic aren't dead. Manhattan's, Patrick Sullivan's, and The Melting Pot aren't dead. Neither are the shops. Jackson Avenue Antiques, Sullivan Street Market, and Legacy all have traffic every day. Then there's Java, Cup-a-Joe, the New City Cafe, and Fiction. Can anybody remember when Knoxville Cigar Company and The Complex weren't open?
Yes, some businesses have close or moved. But new businesses have moved in. Pasta Trio has only been open for eight or nine months and you can't get in on a Friday or Saturday night without a reservation. In case you haven't read the reviews, Kevin has done a great job at the Old City Grill, recreating the diner as one of the best new restaurants in Knoxville. The new Hanna's is quickly establishing a solid weekend crowd. And both places, like Pasta Trio, have only been there for a few months.
More retail is coming in. A pizza place, a gift shop, and a shoe store are all in the works for Central Avenue. A grocery is in the works for Jackson Avenue.
And then there is the residential development on the 100 block of South Gay Street. Surely someone else has noticed the development of the Sterchi Building, the Emporium, and the rest of that block. What neighborhood do you think those developments are in? They are a block away from the corner of Jackson and Central, the heart of the Old City.
We opened our own shop just before Christmas and we have been surprised at how well we are doing. We actually started selling before we advertised or even opened, because of the street traffic.
Street traffic! I keep hearing that Knoxville needs to do something to promote street traffic. We have street traffic in the Old City and we depend upon it to keep the business going.
But we are going to lose it if people keep saying that the Old City is dead. So, hush up, Scott! Yes, a few locations are available for new businesses, just as there are locations available in Knoxville Center, West Town Mall, and Market Square. But people are lining up for those locations in the Old City. (I don't know about those other venues.)
The Old City is not dead. It is not only alive and well, but it is the most interesting, exciting and vibrant neighborhood in Knoxville. We would not live and work anywhere else.
David E. Waite
Knoxville
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