Cheaper Hotels
The article in the Aug. 21 issue of Metro Pulse made a good, but not unique, case for a new, citizen-funded hotel to serve our second convention center to be built in 20 years. The Aug. 25 issue of the local daily made an extreme case against any public funding of this conceptual hotel with a survey showing overwhelming lack of citizens' support.
An even stronger reason to proceed with much caution with any new hotel, however funded, was an online report last week of a distinct turning away from the expensive convention hotels in favor of finding cheaper lodgings via Internet services. It was suggested that 10% of convention-goers are now following the alternate-lodging route. This is a trend that should be closely followed especially in light of the existing downtown hotel vacancy rate.
Carl Porter
Knoxville
East's Still the Best
Thanks, Metro Pulse, for taking me down Memory Lane with your [Aug. 21] article on "Eatin' East." Having grown up in East Knoxville in the '50s and '60s, and having had the opportunity as a teenager to cruise many of the establishments on Magnolia, I can attest that the cuisine was, and still is, the best anywhere.
The Tic-Toc was an every-Friday-night outing for our family with the Bar-B-Que sandwich being our favorite. I have yet to find spaghetti and pizza as good as the Pizza Palace. Of course, on the nights we did cruise the fast-food places, the Krystal 25-cent hamburger was the best deal around for a high-school kid on a date.
I must mention a couple of places that you didn't, and one is the Orange Julius—better known as the OJ—that to my knowledge was the only fast-food place of that era that served the infamous Orange Julius drink and the Nan Denton dip dog. Also, the Cherry Park Inn, which served the best breakfast anywhere.
Although I now live in Maryville, I still go back to the old neighborhood and take a trip down Nostalgia (Magnolia) Avenue and let my mind take me back to those nights of cruisin' and Eatin' East. How about an article on cruisin' in the late '60s!?
Allen McGill
Maryville
Frankly Speaking
Jack Neely's profile of Larry Frank, the new library director, was exhilarating. Just keeping up with Frank must have had Neely out of breath. The part about Frank's willingness to reveal the entire plot of his unfinished novel reveals a refreshing openness that had me laughing, and also a little worried for him. But if Knoxville embraces this alien concept, it might just spread to UT and city government.
Equally refreshing was Adrienne Martini's farewell column, admonishing Knoxville to just cut it out, already. Martini, calling herself a misfit here, is doing, in a sense, what the Misfit in Flannery O'Connor's famous short story, "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," did for the grandmother. After shooting her, he says, "She would have been a good woman if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life." Knoxville, facing a crucial mayoral election, would do well to nail Martini's advice to the refrigerator door and let it shoot them every day.
Martini's too-soon departure is mitigated by Frank's welcome arrival. Best wishes to both during their new stopovers on the journey.
Judy Loest
Knoxille
It's Supposed To Be Good For You
As an educator, I read Katie Allison Granju's column, "Homework, It's what's for dinner," [Aug. 14] with great interest. There's an on-going debate as far as homework is concerned, but the general rule should be 10 minutes per night according to the student's grade level (10 minutes for first grade, twenty for second, etc.).
I know Ms. Granju doesn't believe that doing homework fosters responsibility, but it does. Here's why: Learning to budget time and organize tasks according to priority is directly related to homework. For example, if a fifth grade student has a social studies project to complete, it's safe to say that the teacher did not assign it one day and expect it turned in the next day. Let's say it is assigned on Monday and due back on the following Monday. For the child to wait until Saturday or Sunday to begin work on the project would be a poor choice; it would be much better to spend 10 or so minutes per night on the assignment so that it is not overwhelming to the student (or her parent who should not be involved except as a facilitator, anyway).
As far as the practice homework (worksheets, for example) is concerned, there is some merit to the argument that practice makes perfect, especially in mathematics. Be sure your child has a quiet space to do homework that is not near distractions such as the rest of the family bustling about or a television set. Then, if a parent truly feels that there is too much homework expected of his child, he should make an appointment to see the teacher. A large population of the teaching profession has children at home doing homework themselves; they may be more receptive to your concerns than you think.
Finally, Ms. Granju posed this question: "...we don't bring work home from our jobs each and every night, do we?" In fact, a lot of people do. Just ask your friendly neighborhood teacher!
Dana Stanfield
President, Knox County Education Association
Ketchupville
I am writing in response to the letter written by one Mark Johnson. I think he is a good writer, and, as any good writer would, he implied many things in his letter which I'm sure he assumed most people would get. For instance, one of his paragraphs read:
"Knoxville offers a wide variety of cultural attractions and events. Our restaurants offer something for everyone's palate. Our neighborhoods offer an eclectic background in which all people can cohabitate and prosper."
However, the more obvious and, thus, truthful version would read:
"Knoxville offers a wide variety of cultural attractions and events. That is, if you consider cross burnings a cultural attraction (re: the case of Ms. Willis, my African-American fourth-grade teacher who had to leave the town due to its racism). Our restaurants offer something for everyone's palate. When you get tired of ketchup, you can try barbecue sauce on your hamburger. For those extremists, we also have Teriyaki. Our neighbors offer an eclectic background in which all people can cohabitate and prosper. However, our neighbors can also understand the total of two words from the previous sentence. Those words are "an" and possibly "in"."
I realize my adjustments make his paragraph seem long and wordy, which is probably why he didn't write them. Many thanks, Mr. Johnson! Your brilliance shines down on us all!
Jonathan Alexandratos
New York City
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