LET’S REVIEW

The silliness of the Phoenix’s policy against printing reviews of arts events that have already happened is nowhere more evident than in Tanya Whiton’s recent article about the Bates Dance Festival (“Close for Comfort,” July 19). Whiton is one of your best writers but, having nothing she can do but basically list the events as they are scheduled, she’s reduced to telling us a rather uninteresting tale of her life as a waitress. We hear about dancers’ lives, but know nothing about the significance of the dance programs themselves. Why? Because it’s the Phoenix’s policy not to review them. With such a policy you seriously underestimate your audience, which is just as interested in reading about an arts event that’s gone by as they are about a news event that has already occurred. They are engaged in the subject, want to know what the dancers have done, how they’ve performed and why; it’s the same with musicians and music. By boycotting such things the Phoenix not only misses an entire dimension of the whole arts process but also robs its audience of important information.

Allen Lowe

South Portland

EVERYBODY’S INFLUENTIAL

I wanted to thank you for including Outright and my name in your Portland’s Most Influential issue (“Portland’s Most Influential,” July 19), however I need to make a correction because I feel Outright was misrepresented. Even though I am the Communications & Outreach Coordinator, I am not the only face of Outright. Outright consists of seven staff people who all are the face of Outright in different ways, whether it be in Education, HIV Prevention, Support & Advocacy, Programs, Administrative, Development & Outreach. We do not have an Executive Director, we are all collaborators with equal say and power. This is built into the structure of the organization. In the nonprofit world this is hard to imagine, but we have just gone through a staff restructurýng process that allows seven staff people to be hired as coordinators each owning a particular area of authority. We have done this because Outright Portland is not only a support organization for GLBTQ youth but also a youth/adult collaborative, meaning both youth and adults work together to get work done. Youth are on staff, go out to speaking engagements in schools and local organizations to share their stories, run nightly programs to educate and socialize with each other, co-chair and sit on our Board of Directors, make decisions about money and decide on our agreements on how to run the organization. Youth also help us supervise our staff through a new supervision structure we have created to incorporate community accountability. So to say our organization provides “kids a safe haven” is only semi-true. Yes, we are a safe space for kids, or in our own language, young people, but we are more, we are so much more.

I am assuming that my name was listed because of the information that was exchanged during a phone conversation a couple of weeks ago. If I remember correctly, this information was given to you to be a contact for you as the editor, in hopes of having an article written about us. I was not aware that the information would be printed in this context. Why in the community activists listings did you list individuals, when it is really about the organizations as a whole doing the work?

If you want to know more about the work Outright Portland is doing, I would be happy to talk with you. I think we are a cover story; we are doing cutting edge work with Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning youth. We are being contacted by national organizations for our models of organizational and supervision structure and we are continuing to support over 600 GLBTQ youth a year with our many dedicated volunteers and this is all happening within the Outright community of Portland, Maine.

Liz Gold,

Outright Communications & Outreach Coordinator

Portland

UNTO CAESAR

Thank you for recognizing Maine Veterans for Peace and myself in your latest issue (“Portland’s Most Influential,” July 19).

Maine Veterans for Peace have always strived to give voice to those who have died in battle believing their sacrifice would advance the cause of world peace. Too often, the rhetoric of war masks the reality of war. We, who have dutifully served our nation, have a greater responsibility to serve the cause of world peace by applying the concept of engaging conflict peacefully and without violence.

In this age of descent into fascism, we must understand and recognize the difference between military defense and military adventurism and resist the latter.

“Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double edged sword. It both emboldens the blood just as it narrows the mind. And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind is closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all of their rights unto the leader and do it gladly so. How do I know? I know for this is what I have done. And I am Caesar.” — Julius Caesar.

Jack Bussell

Maine Veterans For Peace

BAD DEAL

Interesting story about the ALD that I read this weekend in the Portland Phoenix (“Bucking the system,” July 26).

Like fax machines and eBay, currency is increasingly useful when someone new joins in (what good would it be if you had the only fax machine in the world?). So you’ll understand my skepticism that the ALD will really ever be meaningful, but I respect the effort.

While the effort is clearly more symbolic than effective, the basis for the ALD’s valuation seems hollow. They will take 20 of your US dollars for 20 of their ALDs, and like driving a new car off the lot, you’ve instantly lost a lot on your transaction. Obviously 20 US$ is worth 20 US$, but given the lack of any widespread market for the ALD, it may be easiest to quantify the ALD exactly as it states on its face, that one ALD is worth 1/10 an ounce of silver. Therein lies the rub — that’s about 46 US cents worth of silver in exchange for the 100 cents you just gave them. That, and the fact that people are clearly keeping the ALD as a souvenir of sorts, could make the ALD a for-profit venture for its backers. Increasing my skepticism is that conveniently ALDs cannot be returned for a US dollar — now that would be a money-making opportunity for me — where’s the love?

Somehow subsidizing the printing of these bills seems neither noble, efficient, or effective. But, hey, I have no problem if you folks want to!

Jesse O’Rourke

Dover, NH

BIG DIFFERENCE

I was disappointed by comments attributed to Flower Noble in the July 19, 2002 edition of the Portland Phoenix (“Flower Power”). Her not seeing “very significant differences between Brennan and Vamvakias” struck me as crassly self serving at best, woefully ignorant at worse. Michael Brennan served on the front lines of social justice in the late ’70s and ’80s in the leadership of Massachusetts PIRG and the United Way of Greater Portland. In the legislature, he has been a champion for affordable housing, quality education, equal educational opportunity for all, child protection, and quality, affordable child care, among other issues. He is respected by supporters and opponents alike for his dedication, effectiveness, and integrity. There may be a reasonable explanation for Ms. Noble’s naiveté (perhaps someone is feeding her misinformation), but, given her aspiration to be in the Maine State Senate, I see no excuse.

Having witnessed the smear campaign against Michael Brennan in the final hours of last March’s campaign funded for Vamvakias by the conservative Republican group Maine United, I was also disappointed by the negative tenor struck by the Green Party candidate’s inaccuracies. I hope that she may learn from this indiscretion and seek a more credible, issue-oriented ground throughout the rest of her campaign.

Dan Murphy

Portland

THANKS, JOHN 1

I appreciated John Eder’s informative letter in last week’s issue regarding the recent study of single-payer health care in Vermont. It is evident to me why he was voted one of “Portland’s Most Influential.” Mainers are in desperate need of quality health care for themselves and their families. Many can not afford adequate coverage. John is an articulate spokesperson for this issue and has the fresh approach that is needed to conquer this formidable problem. John Eder has my vote for State House of Representatives in District 31.

Suzanne Kahn

Portland

THANKS, JOHN 2

Our current health-care “system” is a disgrace. So many people are so poorly served by it (or not served by it) that each year the public outcry grows louder. As a result, many politicians and pundits are paying lip service to the issue — mostly because they can’t afford to ignore it. But few of them have the courage to cut right to the heart of the matter. Indeed, many of the so-called solutions being put forth only manage to further confuse a relatively simple issue.

In this climate, it’s refreshing to see a candidate for political office use the term “single-payer health care,” and in so doing, challenge all other politicians to do the same. John Eder, who is running for State House from the 31st District in Portland, has done this again and again.

Eder knows we don’t want a band-aid on this festering wound. We don’t want “health care reform,” and we don’t want “universal health care,” whatever that means. We don’t want some kind of public-private partnership. What we need is nothing short of full single-payer health care, just like almost every other industrialized nation on earth already has. We need health coverage for all Mainers — and eventually all Americans — regardless of job, regardless of wealth.

I’m voting for John Eder this November, in part because he’s right on the money on this issue. SINGLE-PAYER HEALTH CARE. Learn the words, everybody — especially those of you who would represent us.

Patrick Quinlan

Portland

HEROIN FALLOUT

I am sickened and sadden. When I first saw the picture on the cover (“Heroin and Rock ’n’ Roll,” July 26) I almost screamed; I should have then known better than to read what I knew would be a piece of trash. How stupid could I be? How masochistic?

Where should I begin? I’m sure that Jerry Cantrell must have been thrilled to come to Boston and Portland just in time to see his friend and lead singer portrayed in such a way. I’m sure that, like Dave Grohl, he will always be in the shadow of someone whom he loved but could do nothing to help. Clearly Mr. Ashare has never loved nor tried to help anyone battling an addiction as strong as heroin. It made me sick, sick, sick to hear him write words dripping of disdain:

“Unfortunately, though Stayley may have been in his heart, he apparently wasn’t in his phone book.”

I would personally love to say a big FUCK YOU to him for that. When someone is in the clutches of addiction there is only so much you can do. If you are not using you get pushed away, not by choice, but because they only want to be around people who aren’t going to tell them to stop. Mr. Ashare clearly did not do his research because it’s a well known fact that the pair had not spoken for years. How is Mr. Cantrell supposed to be the one to figure out that he had been dead for two weeks before anyone found him? How was anyone?

To imply that his death was inevitable, that it came as no surprise, is fatuous. When you love someone you have faith that somehow, some way they will pull through. It’s a slap in the face for those who loved him for them to hear the words ‘it was bound to happen’. It is excruciating to see a beautiful, talented, kind, gentle, honest, and funny man reduced to some, as Mr. Ashare said, “casualty” because of an addiction.

I feel that I could not find the point in this article. Saying that heroin will always be a part of rock and roll is well . . . redundant. It’s not only a part of rock and roll, it’s a part of many people’s everyday lives. Like Kurt Cobain, Layne does not deserve to be remembered by history as a casualty of rock and roll or a heroin addict. I understand that, yes, he did do this to himself, and it’s a job to cover newsworthy stories, but please do so with consideration for the loved ones that have been left behind.

I don’t understand the point in this being written now months after his death. Perhaps publicity for Jerry Cantrell? Surely there is more to focus on than his former lead singer. He wrote and sang many of the Alice in Chains songs that he plays live now, and I feel he has every right to play them. Not as some means of capitalizing on Layne’s death but because Cantrell wrote many of the songs that have influenced most popular bands today and he deserves credit for all that he has done musically. It’s nice to see him out playing his heart out and smiling through it all.

Lisa (last name withheld by request)

Westbrook