Letters for July 26, 2001

Re “Queens of the Night” (RN&R, June 14):

Before June, I had never heard of the Silver Dollar Court. My first experience with them was when I received a phone call with a friendly voice on the line with an invitation to the celebration, announcing that I had won a scholarship. To say I was elated would be a gross understatement.

I want to confirm everything said in the article by Kelley Lang. This is a great group of people celebrating their own creations, much like an artist celebrates his or her own work of art. We had a great time, and the splendor would have made Liberace proud. They put a lot of time and money into the humor, dancing and costumes, just to have fun and do good deeds for others. They indeed give, asking nothing in return.

Bonnie White
Reno

Time to end nuclear senselessness

Re “Yucca-ed Up” (RN&R, June 7):

The preamble to the Constitution starts with “We the people,” not “Me the president and my rich oil and nuclear friends.” Shame on you, President Bush, for putting the priorities of oil and nuclear companies ahead of the country. Nuclear power is unsafe and not cost-effective. When you talk about building a nuclear dump on a site, Yucca Mountain, that is seismically active with unstable geology, that’s insanity.

Today, we have some of the most brilliant scientists ever, with the most advanced technology to date, just waiting for direction. Who runs this country? President Bush? His financial backers? Is it the same big businesses that helped get him elected? Be our leader, President Bush, and lead our scientists on a mission toward renewable energy such as solar, wind and geothermal sources.

This is a wake-up call for not only Nevada, but for all of America. We demand that something be done to end this nuclear senselessness and that our greatest resource and treasure of all, our planet, is protected.

Calvin Crawford
Reno

Arts coverage: mindless, irrelevant

Re “Pins, Balls, Alleys, Strikes … and Art?” (RN&R Art of the State, June 7):

As a serious artist—that means the type with a degree from one of the most important art schools in the world—I must say that I am sickened and saddened by your coverage of works undeserving of the moniker art. Week after week, I read the mindless critiques you offer up. It is obvious your art education revolves around one lame state college art appreciation class and about three years of public school art classes.

To be an artist and to understand art requires as much education and forethought as being a doctor or lawyer. At genuine art schools, we study sociology, psychology, science, chemistry and of course traditional art and craft for up to seven or eight years. Some of us also create art with non-commercial motives.

VSA arts of Nevada and its idiotic projects serve only to belittle the word art and the artists themselves. It is a thinly disguised commercial endeavor. A serious scholarly view of how bowling pins are created and designed with examples from around the world would serve the public much better. Painting bowling pins to look like celebrities hardly qualifies as art.

The words “local” and “yokel” do not even begin to express my dissatisfaction with the News & Review’s continuously sophomoric coverage of art (among everything else). Please lay off the arts. Dumbing down is the most criminal disservice newspapers can offer.

Jude Gabbard
via e-mail

Attribution information

Re “I Wish the Meese Would Eschew My Car” (RN&R The Price Writes, July 5):

In Mike Price’s column this week, he erroneously attributed a witticism to one “Edgy” Reggie Carpenter. “You can lead a whore to culture, but you can’t make her think” is actually a piece from Dorothy Parker, circa 1926. In her original work, the words were “whore to culture” not “horticulture"—hence the wit.

Rebecca Thomas
Reno