Love-Hate Mail
I’m appalled at what you chose for your YASNI winner (“You Are So Nashville If...,” July 26). Mike Williams has a right to his opinion of gay people and to think what he likes of Kenny Chesney, but I expect more from a publication than I do from a solitary citizen.
I have no idea if Chesney is gay. But if so, so what? Obviously, you think a) if he is, then it is somehow ironic and b) that outing anybody, even an arguably public person, is funny enough to win first prize and go on your cover. Outing somebody is only funny to a small mind that is titillated by the fact that God in His infinite wisdom makes one person different from another, and the other is not like you.
I won’t even address the other winners, except to say that they represent poor taste, at the very least. I’ve lived in Nashville most of my life. There is nothing especially “Nashville” about sophomoric and homophobic humor: it’s everywhere. Nor is there a prominent mean streak in this city. Most Nashvillians would not hurt an individual for a cheap laugh. Regardless of their views on sexual preference, Nashvillians have better manners than that.
Don’t pin your ugly, tasteless, ill-mannered, non-compassionate lack of judgment on Nashville. Nashville is not like that—you are like that.BOB MILLARDteacherbob@hotmail.com (Nashville)
Wherever you are
I loved the winner of the “You Are So Nashville If...” contest (July 26). There are many of us here in Nashville who think Kenny needs to just open the door and come on out. Kenny, come on out, hon. People are still going to buy your CDs, and heck, those redneck chicks might even teach you to throw a punch.
Yee-haw!JOHN BURT blacklab1@bellsouth.net (Hendersonville)
Bottomed out
You are so Nashville if you think Mike Williams is funny (“You Are So Nashville If...,” July 26). Congratulations, Nashville Scene. You have managed to epitomize redneck stupidity with your annual grade-school humor issue. You have legitimized the ignorance and immaturity of a 42-year-old man with a poor sense of responsibility to himself and his surroundings.
His submission regarding Kenny Chesney reading Out & About, insinuating that he is a gay man and that this, in turn, is something to be made fun of, was appalling. You have lowered yourselves below the other newsstand rags and have become the butt of your own joke.
I’m hoping one of the brilliant corporate minds in Kenny’s corral of business associates will step forward in his defense and make you and your paper accountable, beginning with a published apology and ending in the possibility of staff changes at the Scene. You have done a disservice to the Nashville community by choosing to distribute a message that reflects poorly on the fine people of Nashville.AUGIE CHRISTIANaugie.christian@gmail.com (Nashville)
Regarding relevance
The fact that two of the most politically irrelevant newspapers in the Southeast (the Scene and The Tennessean) have endorsed Karl Dean for mayor is enough encouragement for me not to vote for him.PAUL DURHAMpauldurham@comcast.net (Nashville)
Picture pages
The July 26 issue prominently displayed two photos of candidates, Karl Dean (“Dean for Mayor”) and J. Gower Mills (“The At-Large Field”). Your tribute to Mr. Mills was that his phone number was disconnected. Similar to the cover you gave us at Christmas of the homeless man with a large gift in his shopping cart, does your photo of Mr. Mills have a purpose beyond humiliation? Was it for similar humiliation that you endorsed Dean? If so, you missed another joke on our supposed No. 1 advocate for public schools: that he forgot to send his own children to them.MATT GLASSMEYERmattglassmeyer@yahoo.com (Nashville)
The race continues
I’m glad to see that Jim Boyd, in his response to a letter that states he is a racist, sees a problem with making assumptions and accusations about a broad swath of people—in this case the anti-illegal immigration community—based on the words of a few extremists (“Love/Hate Mail,” July 26).
I only wish that Jim would require the same level of proof when it comes to undocumented immigrants. His website peddles a theory that undocumented immigrants are coming to take over the Southwest and either return it to Mexico or create a whole new country. He bases this assumption on the words of a few Chicano extremists and then extrapolates their views onto the 20 million or so undocumented immigrants.
If it is not OK to assume Jim Boyd is a racist because he shares parallel views with some White Nationalists on immigration policy, then why is it OK to assume that Hector the day laborer is secretly plotting the destruction of America because a few Mexican Nationalists feel that way?SEAN BRAISTEDseantbr@gmail.com (Nashville)
Corrections
In last week’s review of the Family Wash, the names of consultant Beth Troisi and former Wash chef Julia Helton were misspelled. (The current chef is Kristen Hobbs.) Also, the hours were misstated: the Wash is open for dinner at 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
In an article on plans to save the Franklin Cinema (“Running Time,” July 19), we listed among Nashville developer Mark Bloom’s holdings some “nondescript lots near the Sommet Center.” Those 5.66 acres, now under discussion for the proposed convention center, were actually sold last January to California-based Tower Investments.
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