To The Editors:
I read Tara Servatius' piece on the Hornets this week ("Don't Let The Screen Door Hit You. . .," May 15) and found there was absolutely nothing I could add or disagre with.
She summed up my feelings on the entire Hornets/uptown arena fiasco to the letter, and I couldn't agree more. Now let's just take her suggestion and make Charlotte a city of subtance, rather than style. After all, our state motto, Esse quam videri, means "to be, rather than to seem." It's time to start being.
Roger Simpson, Jr. Charlotte
Hornets Brought Happiness
To The Editors:
In response to Tara Servatius' article on the Hornets' departure, obviously she has never attended a Hornets game with a child. These games not exciting?! I have been a season ticket holder for the past 12 years and there will never be anything to replace the joy these games have brought my 11-year-old son and me. You also are completely leaving out the Hornets' good works such as the charity and volunteer work the team has done in this community, particularly in the schools. The happiness these games have brought to my family and other faithful regular attendees was well worth the dollars we spent! Good riddance to bad rubbish? I don't think so!
Jill R. Glenn
Huntersville
Bondage Story Not Properly Controlled
To The Editors:
Congratulations to Elizabeth Chapel and your paper for reaching new depths of sensationalistic, unqualified and irresponsible journalism ("Bound and Determined," May 8). Now we're to believe that obvious manifestations of disordered personality, involved in the Dominance/Submission world as it was described by the writer, are really normal.
As someone who possesses a post-graduate education in psychology and who is socially conscious, I find it objectionable for someone to make statements about the adaptiveness of any lifestyle without the benefit of an ongoing, objective relationship to some of the people who comprise that lifestyle. Ms. Chapel did not use or review any standardized testing of her "subjects," and her conclusions were based on cursory meetings with a few of them and a lot of ignorance of psychopathology.
The writer's description of "Ted" yields a picture of someone so anxious about losing control that he's arranged for his entire social milieu to indulge his excessive need to "order" things; what happens to "Ted" when the circumstances of life make his ordering of it limited, especially when he engages in a lifestyle that reinforces the delusion that control is paramount? Conversely, what happens when a major life decision arises and "Beth" must assume the very controlling stance that makes her disintegrate, especially when she's engaged in a lifestyle that has reinforced submissiveness? Would any of us feel comfortable having people like this care for our children?
I don't indict the mental health of an entire subculture. I do question the idea that people with deep-seated personality problems use a superficial cop-out to deal with them. It may sell papers, but it doesn't help people.
Lee G. Kushner
Charlotte
Fit To Be Tied
To The Editors:
Just when I think Creative Loafing might have turned the corner and started putting out a decent publication (no more Jerry Klein, adding Tara Servatius, great movie reviews), you guys run some slimy trash like "Bound and Determined" (by Elizabeth Chapel, May 8) and make me realize I'm wrong. That's got to be one of the nastiest, and just plain weirdest, articles I've read. Why is it that you liberals get excited about such perversion and call it "diversity"? Would you say the same thing about rape? How about child molesting? That article was the last straw for me. I'm not picking up your rag anymore.
Cecil D. Newton
Charlotte
Lucy Causes Punctuation Overload
To The Editors:
If Lucy Perkins ("Highway to Hell," April 24) is so concerned about the environment, why isn't she using CATS, an electric car or carpooling? I carpool in my SUV, saving numerous trips by sometimes six other cars! I may not go off-road but driving Charlotte's terrible roads comes close. I do, however, need my four-wheel drive for frequent mountain driving.
We could cram "Snotty" and his brothers (can't fit enough for a carpool) in Lucy's backseat and see how she concentrates on the road while refereeing fights, etc. Now that's a traffic hazard! (Snotty has an equally endearing nickname for people like Lucy: Grumpy Hags.) Is she saying that we load our SUVs with precious children and drive like maniacs? Hardly! Much of my driving consists of avoiding cars that zip in and out of traffic, make jackrabbit starts/stops (great on gas), and speed! Good thing for my SUV's great view of traffic and safety mirrors!
I can load my SUV (same gas mileage with fewer repairs than my previous van) during errands and make one trip to unload, buy oversized items and take them home instead of hiring a gas-guzzling, pollutant-emitting delivery truck to make a second trip. In affording an SUV, I can also afford maintenance. How safe and good for the environment are the many poorly maintained cars on the road? It seems that more cars are unfriendly to the environment and public safety than SUVs!
Finally, if I were trying to disguise being a parent, I'd remove those bumper stickers, cram my kids (carseats and all) into a "cool small car" and use six times the gas avoiding carpools. Or maybe Lucy just hates kids?
Cami Tepper
Charlotte
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