Love-Hate Mail

Heart and soul Whatever heart and soul the Nashville Peace and Justice Center (NPJC) had was lost the day Lorenzo Ervin was fired (“Liberal-On-Liberal Antagonism,” Dec. 14). I believe it was due more to inside politics. He was the only one from NPJC to give me a call back and the only one to welcome me down to NPJC to form an antiracist action organization, which they want to claim in 2008. Out of all the organizations that make up NPJC, they leave it up to the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) to protest this English-only bill, filling the courthouse halls with a majority of Hispanics. NPJC forgets one basic rule of group organization—an attack on one is an attack on us all. The world breathes for more people like him. There are activists and there are true activists, and Ervin is a true activist. He is the most dedicated and compassionate person NPJC has had or will have working toward social justice in their ranks. Rise above. ANDREW KELLEY ara_nashvilletn@yahoo.com (Nashville) Style guide As a former reporter, editor and journalism professor, it pains me to see journalism flaunt the errors of its ways by repeating them so mindlessly (“Liberal-on-Liberal Antagonism,” Dec. 14). Your caricaturization of the good citizens at the Nashville Peace and Justice Center reminded me of an earlier Scene scat dance—when your coverage of the Green Party gubernatorial candidate amounted to nothing more than how he manages his shit with a composting toilet. But my first thought upon reading your article last week went back to a more similar effort at my own paper 20 years ago. I’d been trying to get the newsroom to cover the debate raging (outside our pages) about clear-cutting the national forests. We had one of the nation’s smallest in our southern Illinois back yard, but a large handful of good citizens had made considerable effort to advance the discussion far beyond what I’d been covering previously as a reporter in Idaho, where timber was to the local economy what music is here in Nashville. Our reporter’s effort sounded much like yours of last week. Much of it was about hippie clothes, hairstyles, footwear and personal scents. As in your article, more attention was given to communication styles than what they actually had to say about issues of great local and national import—which was considerable. I am not a member of the Peace and Justice Center but do know just about everyone mentioned in your article. I know them to be among the most dedicated, public-minded citizens and organizations in our community. Yes, their desire for consensus-based rules of order rather than Robert’s can be maddening, especially to journalists accustomed to the contrived order of mainstream political organizations. But there is plenty more to write about in what they’re doing than your fascination with style over substance apparently allows. Try again. GARY WOLF wolfparkey@aol.com (Nashville) Extra. Stupid. People. Naturally. Randy Horick is on the money with his critique of what’s-his-name from ESPN (“To Merril Hoge, ESPN,” Dec. 14). I think ESPN is still reeling from the Heisman race a few years ago when their influence/bias sent the trophy to Charles Woodson instead of Peyton Manning. Now what’s-his-name continues to deride Vince Young, probably for no better reason than he’s a Tennessee Titan. Chris Fowler’s labeling UT fans as “trailer park trash” after the Heisman controversy apparently wasn’t just meant for UT fans but Tennesseans in general. It would appear he set the tone for how ESPN feels about our state in general. Well, Chris, Swami and all you other ESPN “experts” living in Connecticut, pay your ridiculously high state income taxes—which Tennesseans were smart enough to keep out of the picture, by the way—and hope your owners don’t realize they could move the whole ESPN empire to Nashville and get the day-by-day operations done cheaper than they would if they kept it in Connecticut. Funny, Nashville has two major league professional teams and Memphis has the Grizzlies. How many major league teams are in Connecticut? New ID: Extra Stupid People. Naturally. WAYNE JENKINS, tntruckingpricing@hotmail.com (Nashville) Young gun As a longtime fan of the Texas Longhorns, and of Vince Young, I would like to commend Randy Horick for his recent article (“To Merril Hoge, ESPN,” Dec. 14). Mr. Horick gets what “Vince Young” is. VY is one of the reasons I am a Titans fan. I look forward to reading more of his columns. MICHAEL GARDNER gardnerms@gmail.com (Columbus, Ohio) The revolution starts now The FCC hearings on media consolidation held at Belmont Monday afternoon offered a slice of Nashville life that reaches deep into our history (“Battle for the Airwaves,” Dec. 7). At issue is the right of large corporations to buy multiple media outlets—radio, television, print—versus the right of citizens to be best served by free and public airwaves. While I can’t tell you how the FCC will rule on this issue, I can tell you that Nashville’s music and entertainment industry will be affected by their decision. The core issue is big business versus entrepreneurial business. With so many songwriters and musicians in our town, the overwhelming consensus of the panel, which included experts from Porter Wagoner to Big & Rich, is that less media consolidation means more support for Nashville’s artist community. Nashville’s unique history has given us a powerful voice on this national debate. Thanks to all who participated. DAVE PELTON davepelton@mail.com (Nashville) The biggest losers P.J. Tobia’s story (“The Nativists Are Restless,” Nov. 30) did manage to convey that fat people do not like immigrants. But, while paying such rapt attention to the waistlines of his villainous buffoons, Mr. Tobia seemed to have no time for the fact that a nation that is the prime target for the world’s terrorists cannot afford to have open borders, nor can it afford to have more than 10 million people illegally living within those borders. Calling illegal immigrants “undocumented workers” is like calling a bank robbery an “aggressive withdrawal”—no matter how pure the motives may have been, it’s still wrong. DON ROLLINS de.rollins@comcast.net (Dickson)