Letters to the Editor - Strike back March 04 2004

Great article, my man (Rant, “Boortz, the anti-American,” Feb. 26)! I listen to WSB and all of Boortz and Hannity’s ill-conceived rantings, so it’s refreshing to see someone strike back at them. If you call the show and start really making a point, they cut you off and denounce you as a loon to their listeners. My hat’s off to you. Why don’t liberals have talk-radio shows?

-- Jon Goode, Riverdale

br>?Call his bluff
Good for you in calling Neal Boortz’s bluff (Rant, “Boortz, the anti-American, Feb. 26). A lot of us have been getting pretty damned tired of the way these chicken hawks go around rattling their sabers. For Boortz and his ilk to trash real war heroes like John Kerry and Max Cleland is low-rent behavior, and they shouldn’t get away with it.

-- Phil Muse, Clarkston

br>?Speaking nonsense
I want to thank you for having the intestinal fortitude to let the public know the truth about Neal Boortz (Rant, “Boortz, the anti-American, Feb. 26). For exposing him as the chicken-hearted, gutless waste of plasma that he really is. I’m an Operation Enduring Freedom vet and I respect anyone who’s been in any kind of conflict, and I definitely have no respect for a person/weasel who does not have the heart (lungs) to fight for the country that allows him to speak the nonsense that comes out of his mouth.

-- T. Walker, Lithonia

br>?Enough already
For God’s sake, when will the Creative Loafing editorial staff smell the coffee and spare the rest of us the misery of Hollis Gillespie’s elitist drivel (“Home at last,” Feb. 19)? Can’t you see through her lame attempts to capture a “Sex in the City” lifestyle with a Hotlanta flavor? And what idiot decided to put her on the cover?

For those of us who have to actually get up and go to work in the morning, her wretched tales of hanging out in art galleries with her gay friends in places like France and Italy are enough to make me scream.

Hollis, enough already; I hate the way you write.

-- Nate Reeves, Atlanta

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She’s deserving
I’m just curious why it was necessary to mention that Anne Truitt was a “mother taking care of children when she began her art-making career” (Arts, “Singular vision,” Feb. 19)? I think you probably wanted to show how extraordinary the situation was, but you do yourself and Truitt a disservice.

And who is to say Truitt’s works aren’t (by scale alone) “forceful”? Instead, you favor “intimacy,” interesting, human element, etc. Very feminine. It’s been a strange fact that she did produce some uncompromising and aggressive work very early on and, though grudgingly championed, was shunted aside for many reasons — few having anything to do with her work.

She deserves her place. Shame you make her quaint.

-- Misha Ringland, Chase, Md.

Felicia Feaster responds: I value the uniqueness of Truitt’s experience, which includes her experience of being female. I see your point about not dragging a woman’s reproductive or sexual life into things, when those things are not mentioned when male artists are discussed. But I also don’t think gender is irrelevant in discussing Truitt’s work.

br>?Missed opportunity
It is a shame that Curt Holman (Flicks, “‘Nash’ville,” Feb. 12) was probably not an eyewitness to the sold-out crowds and cheering, clapping children and families at Regal Cinemas for our film The Adventures of Ociee Nash recently in Atlanta.

As we’ve come to understand, children want films across the spectrum, as adults do. It is not necessary to constantly barrage them with action-packed material. We attempted to make a G-rated, safe, narrative story for 4- to 14-year-olds that parents didn’t have to explain to their children when they exited the theater. That children can handle more adult subject matter I feel is a mistake many filmmakers (and Mr. Holman) make. Not to say that some children can’t and don’t handle more. It’s just not the film we were making. Our intention was to create a positive family film with well-defined, wholesome messages. Be brave. Be an individual. Love conquers all.

Ociee Nash is an old-fashioned Disney-esque film no longer being made, and now oddly considered outside the box. We grew up on films like this, children have not seen movies like this in the theater (only on their parents’ old favorite videos), and it is fresh to them.

We are delighted with the response. Thank you to the 6-year-old redheaded boy who stood up at the end of one screening and shouted, “I love this movie! I love Ociee Nash!” Thank you, Atlanta!

--Kristen McGary, director of Ociee Nash, Atlanta

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Not alone
Thanks for your editorial, “Jesus wept” (Fishwrapper, Feb. 5). Your article is an affirmation that there is some semblance of intelligent life still left within the state of Georgia. Please continue to shed light on the sad state of affairs within Georgia.

-- Jamie Higgins, Stone Mountain

br>?Suspended license
If you are trying to piss off Christians, you did (Fishwrapper, “Jesus wept,” Feb. 5). Most of the time, people in your position think that they have been successful in making Christians look stupid. All you have done is made this one think that much less of your publication, as well as strive to be a better Christ-follower.

While we are so busy being tolerant of everyone else’s lifestyle, as a Christian I feel constantly oppressed. I am tired of sitting by and allowing people to talk about me as if they know me (and Christians). You don’t know me, and taking a few “one-liners” from the Bible without understanding what you are reading or even looking into the context of the passage is unfair.

I would like to encourage you to read James 1:26-27. You may choose not to read it, but if you do, just know that there are more people than just me who strive to be this kind of Christian, one who is Christ-like, not just religious.

I guess what I want to say is that if you want to be so dang tolerant, then I don’t think you have the right to pick and choose what you want to tolerate. I will never tolerate sin (including my own), but I will always strive to understand and love people. And I assure you that I am not the only Christ-follower who has God’s intentions in mind and not my own. Don’t practice theology without a license.

-- Clarissa Parker, Atlanta