Love/Hate Mail
Thinking inside the box
Last week’s cover story (“Where Are They Now?” Nov. 21) is a fine piece of work. It shows that sometimes you can do something really, really well without “thinking outside the box.” Sometimes you just need to do a good job with the obvious—in Nashville, that is all too often an “alternative” concept and one that serves your paper quite well.
Robert Qualls
960 Joslin Branch Road, White Bluff
Stephen or Stephania?
Martin Brady’s review of the People’s Branch Theatre’s production of Waiting for Godot revealed an appreciation and understanding of this complex work of Samuel Beckett (“Forever Waiting,” Nov. 21). But he seems to argue in favor of converting the two male main characters, Didi and Gogo, into females, despite the objection of the Beckett Estate (which denied the People’s Branch Theatre’s right to perform the play). Perhaps he overlooked the passage, roughly six pages into the text, wherein Gogo expresses a desire to hang himself to experience one final erection and ejaculation (a frequent occurrence in the hanging of men, not women). Perhaps Mr. Brady doesn’t understand that the two genders do have some absolute differences. Auntie Mame won’t make much sense as Uncle Manny. Perhaps we should make Othello an Asian and Shylock a Baptist. Or perhaps we should stop trying to rewrite the playwright’s intent. Beckett could have made these characters women had he so desired.
Stephen C. Sharp
222 State St., Nashville
A new route
Thank you and the special projects team for the “Get On The Bus” article in a recent edition of the Scene (Nov. 14). Two important messages were clearly conveyed: the need for expanded bus routes, and faster and more convenient services for customers.
Last month, nearly 606,000 people relied on the Metropolitan Transit Authority to get to their jobs, doctor appointments, schools and retail centers. Unfortunately, some of these individuals traveled on buses that are nearly 23 years old, but are still driveable thanks to the magical hands and skills of shop mechanics. The key reason for the aged fleet is that MTA has not had the required funding to acquire new buses over the last decade.
With the recent recommendation of Mayor Bill Purcell and his staff, the Metro Council recently approved capital funding to begin the replacement of our aged fleet. Last week, the MTA board approved a five-year capital improvement plan that calls for purchasing 25 new buses by the end of fiscal year 2003, which is a direct result of the new funding from Metro. Plans are to purchase another 26 by the end of 2004, and an additional 75 buses in subsequent years. That will mean a total of 126 new buses over the next five years— if continued funding is maintained from Metro, state and federal sources.
In addition to this aggressive capital improvement plan, MTA is finalizing plans for improved signage at bus stops, more customer-friendly schedules and a more standardized assessment tool to determine where to place bus shelters and additional routes. We’re hopeful that such significant improvements will result in an increase in riders, more convenient and accessible bus routes and less traffic congestion and air pollution in our community.
Thank you and your reporters again for generating more public awareness about the MTA bus system and the challenges it faces.
Marian T. Ott, MTA Board chair
130 Nestor St., Nashville
Our apologies
The staff at the Special Collections Division of the Nashville Public Library were kind enough to help the Scene find—and then let us borrow—photographs for last week’s cover story, “Where Are They Now?” Unfortunately, we neglected to give these fine folks credit for their work. We’re very sorry.
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