Body count
To honor the war dead and fill an information gap in US mass media, City Newspaper will run weekly lists of American/”Coalition” soldiers killed during the ongoing occupation of Iraq. The totals: 844 American soldiers and 117 “Coalition” soldiers have been killed in Iraq since the beginning of the occupation to June 21. At least…
Leaving Lofton
For some students, Josh Lofton Academy provided what other schools did not: a profound sense of belonging and an opportunity to change the course of their lives. Teachers and other faculty members say the Rochester City School District’s second smallest secondary school was a safety net for students who struggled in a more traditional environment.…
GOP chooses choice?
Maybe in an alternate universe, the Republican Party is made up of pro-choice tree-huggers who favor raising taxes for federally funded social programs. One group of GOP activists, however, claims at least one of these precepts to be true right here on Earth. According to the newly renamed Republican Majority for Choice, three…
Big gamble?
Would a casino hurt or help the local economy? Do we want a casino? Will we get one no matter what we want? Plans for this complex, controversial development are proceeding — so far, in secret, with no public input. This week: a look at the status of the casino plan, some questions and answers,…
Big gamble?
Plans to put a $500 million hotel and casino at MidtownPlaza and the SibleyBuilding are barreling ahead, with many local leaders unsure of their role in the proceedings. But word that nobody locally can have a say in the development may be inaccurate. Officials of Wilmorite (owner of the SibleyBuilding and several Rochester-area suburban…
Urban casinos: lessons, suggestions
One group that has been monitoring the casino proposal closely is the Rochester Downtown Development Corporation, a non-profit economic development organization. The RDDC began intensive research on urban casinos and state land-claim settlements once casino talk started surfacing in the media months ago. Much of that research has been compiled on RDDC’s website (www.rochesterdowntown.com/news/casino_news.html). …
Wait just a damn minute!
Do the people of Greater Rochester want a casino downtown? Nobody knows. Nobody has asked. Would a casino help the economy? If so, would the benefits outweigh the costs that legalized gambling brings? Nobody knows. There’s been little chance to study it. Would a casino help downtown development efforts or hurt them? Would…
Family valued 6.23.04
‘Around the World in 80 Days’ Why did it take so long for Disney and Jackie Chan to find each other? When I was a kid, Disney churned out silly, mostly bad, family entertainment. There were the Herbie flicks, and all those silly Kurt Russell vehicles. I’ll admit it: I liked them then, though I…
Bodies taking up space
Our bodies are our obsessions. We feed them, bathe them, decorate them. When our bodies break down we fix them. We project our bodies into and through space literally as well as through a variety of media. As Andy Warhol once said, “before media… there used to be a physical limit on how much space…
Women out of time
Hugh Leonard’s Love in the Title, now playing at Shipping Dock Theatre, is certainly a women’s play, but not the kind anyone is familiar with. Three female actors play three generations of an Irish family’s women. But in Leonard’s fantastical plot, the women aren’t exactly reunited, because they didn’t know each other at these ages.…
The man without a country
Whatever else he has accomplished in a large, varied, and successful body of work, Steven Spielberg’s reputation as a director will probably forever be associated with a number of grand blockbusters. His science fiction flicks include such titles as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, A.I., Jurassic Park, and most recently, Minority…
Also playing…
Co-conspirator ofFrançois Ozon, Marina de Van has emerged with a very personal directorial debut, In My Skin. She plays a young professional with druggy, vampiric looks who, with everything going well with her career and relationship, becomes… overly engrossed in herself, you might say. A tumble in the metal-strewn backyard of a party results in…
The tough road ahead
As expected, last Thursday City Council turned down the Rochester school district’s pleas to give it the funding it wants. The vote came on a technical point: Mayor Bill Johnson’s budget gives the district $7 million less than the city charter stipulates, and Thursday’s vote was on amending the charter. The vote on the…
Cultural mining, at the source
A love of Latin American culture and a taste for adventure have led James Potemkin from a job teaching science to a life collecting Mexican arts and crafts. “I spent several years traveling in Latin America during the summers,” Potemkin says, “and what awakened in my soul wasn’t just the beauty of the landscapes…
Reader feedback 6.23.04
THE PROBLEMS IN FOSTER CARE I largely agree with Richard Wexler’s assertions about the overuse of foster care and the need for other options (“A court’s eugenics revival,” June 9). However, I don’t see how he can conclude that private providers of institutional care are at the heart of the problem. As a former…
