REMEMBERING CUMMINGS

“Jazz ain’t nothin’ but soul.”

Forrest Cummings’ thoughtful programming — on WRUR and WGMC
— always was the one of best things about Rochester.
Small gems always seem to shine the brightest, so my hat is off as we mourn the
loss of Forrest. May your heart be always filled with the music you helped us
all to love.

Tom Burke, Birch Crescent, Rochester

“Those cats came here to play” was a familiar cry at jazz
events, from Rochester to New
Orleans, from jazz’s biggest fan and scholar, Forrest
Cummings. Forrest’s knowledge and wisdom of jazz were enormous, but for us and
the rest of his Jazz 90.1 FM listening audience, these gifts were secondary to
the fact that “Jazz ain’tnothing
but soul,” the title of Forrest’s radio show, was the way he chose to live his
life and support others: full of soul. He will be greatly missed.

Petra and Mel Henderson (Paradigm Shift),
Andrews Street, Rochester

WALK!

Regarding the Newspaper Guild’s struggle with
the Democrat and Chronicle (“Bargaining
with Gannett,” The Mail, September 14: How is it possible that bargaining has
gone on for 14 years? Has anyone heard of “strike”?

Raymond Zahn, Sperry Drive, Henrietta

ADMIRING SULAIMAN

Your recent cover story presented readers with
the good information that a native of Rochester, AmirSulaiman, is making a national name for himself as a
Black Muslim activist and spoken-word artist and that he has come under fire
from the federal government for his speech (“Taking the Mic,”
September 14).

Unfortunately, we didn’t learn anything about Sulaiman’s politics, very little about his religion, and
nothing about how this native of Rochester
feels about Rochester today or how
growing up here may have influenced his current outlook on life.

Though Sulaiman has been part of
commercial events like Def Poetry Jam that — along with the whole hip-hop-major-media-newspaper
bamboozle — commodify and co-opt honest and
impassioned dissent in this country, I don’t think he is quite as market-driven
and commercialized as the story makes him out to be. But then you didn’t ask
the tough questions, or if you did they were left out of the story.

If you were afraid to print some of his ideas and poetry,
you could have at least listed his website address so people could hear just
how powerful his spoken-word poem “Danger” really is. You can also buy his
albums at his site, so listing the address would have served a commercial
purpose, if that is in fact Sulaiman’s and City’sraison d’etre.

His website address is: http://www.amirsulaiman.com.

Andrew Coyle,
Brockport

Editor’s note: The
article did list Sulaiman’s website address.

Thanks for giving due spotlight to our homegrown talent, AmirSulaiman. Sulaiman is an amazing artist, activist, and educator, and
I was extremely happy to see that a local newspaper recognized him as such. The
article was extremely well written and painted a reflective portrait of what Sulaiman is actually like. I was lucky enough to hear him
live for the first time this past summer; his words are truly moving, and his
performance absolutely amazing.

Shaza Khan, Pittsford

LISTENING TO MAINS

Mary Anna Towler did not overreact when
comparing Rochester to New
Orleans (“Our Own Storm,” September 21). The problem
is, she did not carry the analogy far enough.

Non-residents of Rochester
who are promoting the Rochester
“renaissance” are also promoting income-generating tourist attractions — for
example, a casino. City living and neighborhood enhancement are not a focus.
Although the casino plan is unlikely, it is still being talked about.

These attractions are trickle-down economics. Tim Mains has
a platform that is concrete and creative. He has plans to prevent the continued increase of poverty. He has proposals to
address the lack of school readiness, limited educational achievement, and the
prevalence of violence based on the uncontrolled anger of children growing up
without hope.

The Rochester Children’s Initiative aims to coordinate the
delivery of existing services from infancy to age 5, and help to fill in
identified gaps in existing programs. Children who are well fed, have proper
health care, and are living with an adult who is able to provide them with
necessary nurturing will be school ready, academically successful, and less
likely to enter into criminal activities.

The Pioneer Tax Rate expedites business investment in Rochester,
which enhances neighborhoods. In fact, if we look at downtown development, it
is clear that new housing developments and places of business are making this
space more of a geographic community than a tourist attraction. Mains
acknowledges the economic importance of visitors to Rochester,
but he argues that “projects” are not the only avenue to redevelopment. Visit
the East End and see for yourself how some of Mains’
thoughts have already come to fruition. Leaders recognize what people want.
Residential property in desirable areas sells. All neighborhoods should be
desirable.

These are two parts of a much larger platform. Leadership is
not about “management by the numbers” or decision-making by committees. Mains
argues for open government, which is not the same thing as setting up a task
force of the favored few. Tim Mains supports a non-binding public referendum on
major initiatives. There is someone running for office with data-driven and
intelligent recommendations on how to address the issues of education, crime,
and jobs.

Is anyone listening?

Ruth Danis, Mulberry Street, Rochester

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 Oct 5-11, 2005.