The mail
HOW TO KEEP YOUNG TALENT
I am inspired to write in response to Ms. Fullerton’s letter
in support of Renaissance Square (“Build It Now,” The Mail, December 27).
Ms. Fullerton reiterated the common sentiment that the key
to a great city is retention of “young and creative talent.” I absolutely
agree. However, as a young and creative talent, I can tell you that Renaissance
Square has no relevance to me.
Being creative and young in Rochester
is a frustrating experience. While Rochester
undoubtedly asserts an artistic identity, it only celebrates a mature
creativity — one that can be sold as product at craft fairs or performed for
$45 a ticket. In contrast, youthful creativity manifests as an experience or as
raw, recycled, and/or temporary objects. Unfortunately, the seriousness of Rochester’s
artistic commerce cannot support that culture.
But commerce is not community.
In general, Rochester’s
decision-making body seems preoccupied with developing outlandish
get-rich-quick schemes. I am offended by the attention that is given to a
fictional tourist industry while the actual populace goes neglected. I am
overwhelmed by the pervasiveness of economic desperation in all political
discussions. Is it possible for the resourceful creative youth to become an
acknowledged, supported, and vital force in Rochester’s
cultural climate? Would there be more support if we all promised to stick
around and sell stuff when we get older?
I can’t offer a quick solution here — this is a community
issue. I have a youthful, idealistic dream that a team of relentlessly creative
and ageless people (I can think of more than a few) could come up with great
ideas for utilizing extant Rochester resources in all-inclusive events and
projects.
In this dream, the mayor sees that the commitments of an
active populace are worth more than all the fast ferries and Italian markets in
the world, and grants us the key to the city.
Voila!
Mary Lewandowski, Field Street, Rochester
Editor’s note: Fullerton’s
letter was in support of a performing arts theater for groups like Garth Fagan Dance, not for Ren Square itself.
WHY O’REILLY?
At the recent Lakeside Foundation fundraiser, Bill O’Reilly
said, and I quote: “Do I care if the Sunnis and Shiites kill each other in
Iraq? No….
Let them kill each other. Maybe they’ll all kill each other, and then we can
have a decent country in Iraq.”
A man who would advocate the killing of one person by
another was an appalling choice for a speaker by an organization dedicated to
saving human life.
O’Reilly has conducted a pseudo war on Christmas and wears
his Christianity on his sleeve, along with the so-called Christian right,
jamming perverted views of Christianity down everyone’s throats for the last
six years. The directors of Lakeside Foundation, along with Mr. O’Reilly, would
do well to read the teachings of Christ and, while they’re at it, the basic
tenets of Christianity.
Dale Carselli, Brockport
CONSERVATIVE FUEL?
I regularly listen to Progressive Talk 950 on WROC radio,
and I like Stephanie Miller’s often-sleazy patter (December 27). I like her
politics even more, especially when she becomes sharply witty.
The problem is that Miller has absorbed her sometimes slutty patter only too well from her mentor, Brother Wease.
I shudder when I picture the Right
Wing taping Miller’s sometimes-juvenile patter, occasionally about
homosexuality, sometimes hetero, stringing these comments together, and making
them available to the conservative public.
That could be the start of the Blue States turning pink, and
turning against liberals.
Mitchell Kaidy, Crittenden Road,
Rochester
A ‘GREEN’ TRAIL?
Regarding the trail that is going to be built through the
city (“Trail Mix,” December 20), including Conkey and
Clifford Avenues: The powers that be say that it will provide green space and
recreational opportunity. Who is kidding who?
How is this providing green space, and where is the
recreational opportunity? What’s wrong with sidewalks to walk on?
The police captain in charge of that area says that the way
the trail is now, it provides a getaway for drug dealers running from the police.
If this trail is paved like they want, all it’s going to do is provide a safer
and faster way for the drug dealers to run away.
Who is going to walk a trail that runs through one of the
worst parts of the city? Unless this trail is constantly monitored by police
24/7, I don’t see it succeeding. It sounds to me like a terrible waste of $2.2
million.
Thomas Dolan, LeGran Road, Irondequoit
WRITING TO CITY
We welcome and encourage readers’ letters for publication.
Send them to: themail@rochester-citynews.com or The Mail, City Newspaper, 250
North Goodman Street, Rochester14607.
Our guidelines: We don’t publish anonymous letters — and
we ask that you include your street name and city/town/village. We don’t
publish letters that have been sent to other media — and we don’t publish form letters generated by activist groups. While
we don’t restrict length, letters of under 350 words
have a greater chance of being published. We do edit letters for clarity and
brevity. And in general we don’t publish letters (or longer “op-ed” pieces)
from the same writer more often than about once every two months.
This article appears in Jan 10-16, 2007.
