All That's Wrong
Tamar Wilner's "The Loud American" [April 3] represented to me all that is wrong with the left-leaning snobs who dare to call themselves Americans.
The dripping sarcasm Wilner uses to describe her fellow Americans, particularly Southerners, shows her contempt for both herself and her country.
Why is it that the same woman who would "tolerate" in delight a Muslim woman's burka garb at West Town Mall shows not the slightest respect for her fellow American abroad? Would she also suggest that Iraqi visitors to the United States bone up on Volunteer football in order to fit in, as she suggests that Southerners in Britain do in regard to Scottish football? I doubt it.
Helen Smith
Knoxville
Anonymous Boycott?
In response to the boycott of the Downtown Copy Center by Lewis King Krieg Waldrop law firm [April 10, Ear to the Ground]:
I was raised by a very strict World War II veteran who was so scarred by his experiences in Papua, New Guinea, and Okinawa that I could barely get him to talk about it. Respect for authority, a fierce devotion to freedom and work ethics were a top priority. The color of his collar before and after the war was blue.
I've had the opportunity to travel and encounter many different kinds of people and cultures in my growing up; some of which I disliked but all of which I tried to get along with. On the 5th floor at One Center Square Downtown are some pretty impressive folks; intelligent, probably thought of as one of the most prestigious group of lawyers around.
Right across the street at 320 West Church is another impressive person I've had the privilege of knowing for over 15 years. Someone whose work ethic, generosity, tenacity and general kindheartedness has always commanded my respect—someone my father would've loved. He's gone quietly about his business for so many years now, many of you up on the 5th floor may not even recognize him. In the evening when we were going out to dinner he was walking to work; in the morning while we had breakfast at Harold's he was already finishing up your order to deliver on time and usually in person to your offices.
You're probably not too concerned with your decision to boycott his business and you have the right to do so. But I fail to see the purpose of a boycott you don't go about openly. I've never boycotted anything I wasn't willing to sign my name to.
Glen Wilkins is just too nice to respond to your actions—he's more likely to defend your rights. I, however, am not so nice sometimes, and this hits a little too close to home. I'm ashamed for and of you guys up on the 5th floor—and I'm proud to be able to live somewhere I can not only tell you but also sign my name on it.
Kim Stephens
Knoxville
Yahoo Rossini II
A word of congratulations is due the Knoxville Opera for the outstanding Rossini Festival Street Fair. What a great experience of Italian culture combined with everything from Celtic music to Big Band sounds to Barber Shop to Blue Grass. It brought Gay Street alive!
A special thanks is owed to Sandy and Monroe Trout for their generous sponsorship of this festival during its first two years. What a great success in such a short time! We are all looking forward to Rossini III in 2004.
Mike Arms
Knoxville
Cineaste?!
Thanks to Jack Neely and Metro Pulse for the nice piece [April 10] on the Tennessee Theatre. It brought back a lot of memories for me, as I'm sure it did for most people who grew up in the Knoxville area.
I saw my first (non-drive-in) big-screen movie there in 1974: Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein, preceded by a short film on an obscure singer/songwriter named Jimmy Buffet. Later on, in the awkward period just after its reign as a first-run house, the Tennessee hosted an extended series of classic-film double features, where I got to watch 40-foot-tall Marx Brothers mug and witness The Maltese Falcon unfold on the big silver—the sort of experiences all but extinct in the home-rental age.
Considering my lifelong love of movies and my current gig as a part-time professional cineaste [for MP, no less], I feel I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to the Tennessee and its darkened charms.
I'm also writing to urge Knoxvillians to appreciate what some surely take for granted, even now. My adopted hometown of Baltimore has neglected or deliberately destroyed all of its classic movie houses, and, as Jack pointed out in his story, have paid dearly to resurrect even one of them. And I also urge the powers-that-be at the Tennessee to keep showing the occasional film once it reopens. There is no substitute for the experience.
Lee Gardner
Baltimore
Shiny Side Up!
In Scott McNutt's [April 17] piece "Bike-Walk-Bus Week launches Smart Trips," one transportation alternative that never seems to get mention is again omitted: the motorcycle. Although they don't have the same environmental benefits as bicycles, motorcycles have almost the same traffic and parking "footprint" as bicycles and the added advantage of being legal for use on the Interstate.
Admittedly, many motorcyclists use their bikes more for costumery than for transportation, but perhaps if there were more than six (count 'em) motorcycle-specific parking spaces in all of downtown Knoxville (in the Locust Street garage, to be exact), more riders would choose to commute on their bikes.
As many as five or six motorcycles can park in the same space as a single car (more in a Yukon-sized spot), and bikes can thread through congested traffic (like the section of Gay Street between Vine and Depot where double-parking is the norm) better than buses and even small cars.
Employers would reap the added benefits of having happy, alert, refreshed employees in the mornings, versus employees late and grumpy from sitting in their cars in traffic.
If Tennessee legislators would work on legalizing lane-splitting instead of removing mandatory helmet laws, motorcycles could help relieve traffic congestion even more.
Fred Sahms
Knoxville
In Dickey's Defense...
Shame on Metro Pulse for its hatchet job on Doug Dickey and the dinner honoring graduating student athletes at Tennessee [Ear, April 17]. I attended that dinner at the invitation of a graduating student athlete who was the university's nominee for a Rhodes Scholarship, and is a Finance major with a 3.75 GPA. Every student athlete in attendance was there precisely because he or she is graduating. Isn't this exactly the kind of excellence we should be honoring at the university?
The unnamed author of the piece maliciously took Doug Dickey's comments out of context. His remark on contacts—"It's not what you know; it's who you know"—was part of a longer plea for student athletes to seek out positive role models, and his point was that especially for student athletes it is important that they avoid the kinds of shady figures who tend to prey on emerging sports stars. He followed that advice up with one other plea: "Become life-long readers."
I am a professor, and I was not unnerved by Dickey's remarks. I am, however, unnerved by your publication's sloppy journalism.
Todd A. Diacon, Head
Department of History
University of Tennessee
Don't Dis the Sentinel
You display great immaturity and a false sense of arrogance every time that you throw an insult at the News Sentinel. I thought, for a little while, that the Metro Pulse had gotten past this silliness, but obviously you have not. Perhaps you view them as a local news competitor, but I assure you that you are not. They provide daily news, from both local and worldwide regions, in a much less biased form than the Metro Pulse does.
Each time that you criticize the News Sentinel—which has been weekly as of late—it makes you look not only bad, but childish as well. Grow up and realize your little place in the large realm of the news world. And next time that you decide to poke fun at a more respectable news source, check your facts first.
For example, you stated in [April 17's] Metro Pulse that the News Sentinel changed the name of their Travel section to Go. You then jokingly added that it probably means that the News Sentinel wants to get rid of its readers. Very funny, but the News Sentinel did not merely change the name, they changed the format and contents of the entire section in order to look at travel and outdoor recreational activities at a more localized level.
So, if you guys are not capable of getting your facts straight before making fun of something, then maybe we all should be laughing at you instead.
Desiree Ketteringham
Knoxville
Vitriolic Point?
Katie Allison Granju's [April 10] column "Flying Solo" had a very positive and important message about dealing with a change in family structure, overcoming pain, and moving on to be a good parent in a new life situation. I found it uplifting and an inspiration to all of us who have found ourselves in a similar place.
I am not sure what the point of Susan Watson's [April 17] letter in response to that column was; she seemed only to be spewing vitriol at someone whose opinion differed from her own.
Wynne Shelton
Knoxville
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