Love-Hate Mail
Film Tennessee
Kudos to Jim Ridley and the Scene for your comprehensive, accurate and informative cover story on the need for incentives to attract and encourage more filmmaking in our state (“Reeling Them In,” Oct. 20). While other local print media have virtually ignored House Bill 1684, your article serves to educate and motivate readers to support the necessary carrot dangling that will surely bring hundreds of millions of film “manufacturing” dollars to Tennessee—providing more work for the plethora of talent already residing here and attracting more skilled professionals to boost our economy. As David Bennett has demonstrated, a good film incentive package can mean more than double the money to a state than a lottery. Let’s get it done.
Rand Bishop
randbish@bellsouth.net (Nashville)
Bribes might do the trick
Thanks for the cover story on film in Tennessee. If the film industry here in Tennessee needs some legislation in order to compete with Romania, Louisiana and Georgia, it’s simple. Get the Shelby County delegation aside and “show them the money.” Tada. Instant legislation. This is Tennessee, baby. You can get anything here, except ethics.
Bob Younts
bob@bobbyroberts.com (Nashville)
Campus hypocrisy
Why is no one surprised, but disappointed, by this recent incident at Vanderbilt (“Pig Heads at Vanderbilt,” Oct. 20)? I’m not referring to the student who performed this tasteless act, but rather to Vanderbilt itself. Many of us can remember being college students who did stupid things, usually fueled by alcohol (which was at least legal when the drinking age was 18). A public apology by this young “man” would be an appropriate action for the university to require, but they appear more concerned for his rights than those of others.
The irony of the situation is obvious. After several years and lots of money spent in an attempt to remove the word “Confederate” from a building, as it is offensive to some people, this incident is glaring for Vanderbilt’s hypocrisy. I don’t recall the university expressing a belief that those who chiseled this word on the building did so in an intentional attempt to offend, yet they fought for its removal anyway. Consistent actions would go a long way to convince a skeptical public of the university’s commitment to diversity and tolerance.
Finally, too bad Mr. Dubin has not learned from those who dismissed actions in the early Nazi era as not serious.
Bruce Levy
BLevy@forensicmed.com (Nashville)
Yeah, um, he ran and lost
In 1965, the St. Louis Park Dispatch, one of the era’s weekly (suburban Minneapolis) Scene equivalents, profiled a Central Junior High seventh-grader’s role as an advocate for her community’s open housing movement. The front-page article, headlined “Future Senator...,” detailed my ambition.
That goal, once detailed, was later derailed, for reasons too numerous to mention. But my occupying a front-row seat at the Watergate hearings only a few years later, while a University of Maryland student who lost her idealism before her virginity, offers some insight.
Even my more recent participation in Nashville’s WIN workshops has not inspired me to embark on a journey of fund raising, back-slapping and gathering enough qualifying signatures to make up for the liars who would sign my petition claiming to be registered voters.
So, Roger Abramson, here’s the deal: I’ll be Ross Perot to your John Jay Hooker (Editorial, Oct. 20). Get me on the ballot and I’ll be the people’s alternative to Phil Bredesen, Doug Henry, Gary Odom, Bill Purcell or John Summers. While I won’t make Gary Hart’s mistake of encouraging Phil Williams to follow me around, I promise I won’t embarrass you and our fellow Nashvillians by becoming Gridiron Cabaret fodder either.
Are you man enough for the job? If not, do you have the right to expect anything more than “a bunch of whining” from other “real people”?
Stacy Harris
4215 Harding Road, Nashville
Going gray
Margaret Renkl is indeed a courageous woman. Allowing yourself to turn gray in our society, these days, is not only an act of courage but also an act of rebellion (First Person, Oct. 20). But as someone who has at least nine years on Ms. Renkl and probably thousands of gray hairs, I can say that when your jowls start to sag and your body starts to thicken in areas where it never has before, gray hair is just another way that your body screams “I’m on the way out!” When your hairdresser of 20-plus years ridicules you for wanting your hair to be its natural color and your former good friend says you need to have a more stylish cut, lose weight and buy some more fashionable clothes to be able to get a job, read the writing on the wall: you’re looking old.
This is heresy in the land of the boomer. “We’re not getting older, we’re getting better.” And who’s getting old? You can starve yourself or exercise until you drop to maintain your girlish figure, have plastic surgery to remove the jowls, have your colorist “correct” your hair color in a subtle and believable manner, and buy youthful clothes that are flattering to your figure. Of course, staying in fashion will consume a lot of your financial resources as you head toward retirement (coloring your hair and updating your wardrobe isn’t cheap), but what the heck. There are always the consignment shops or Target.
I come from a background that reveres old age. When I was a child, I stayed with grandparents I loved very much, both of whom had gray hair and wrinkled skin. My mother had beautiful silver trusses that perfectly showcased her beautiful complexion. Skinny white women of an advanced age with harsh black hair look like corpses with wigs, but that’s just me. I agree with Margaret Renkl: the silvery strands that lace through our hair are proof of experience, of wisdom, of tolerance acquired with age. I don’t care what anyone says, I’m keeping my gray.
Lil Ray
moosenhollow@earthlink.com (Franklin)LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: The Nash ville Scene appreciates your letters. Please type and sign. Limit to under 200 words. Include phone number for verification. Email us at editor@nashvillescene.com, and label subject box Love/Hate Mail. Mail to “Love/Hate Mail,” Nashville Scene, 2120 Eighth Ave. S. Nashville, TN 37204-2204. By submission of a letter, you agree that we can edit the letter, publish and/or license the publication of it in print, electronically and for archival purposes.
Comments (0)