Letters to the Editor
beryl k gullsgate
Published Letters: 51 Editor's Choice: 4
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...so many gods before us?
[Read the article: Something to believe in]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]There are so many gods to choose from - Christian, Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim - war gods, money gods, power gods...pick your personal pain or prayer of redemption. That just may be the name of the game and love or blame the Silent One of your own choosing. But in these times remember the Good Guys in charge nowadays, who think they are gods. Those who have created one arrogant heaven for themselves; but for others, hell on earth. They are the ones responsible for the suspension of Due Process, the Right of Privacy,and in their self-fullfilling prophecy have redefined torture as acceptable policy to subjugate others. These are the god-like acts of self-proclaiming jehovahs who with those self-fulfilling prophocies destroy the 'beattitudes' of this democracy. Note the Constitution,ripped out,burned and buried in their attendant rose garden. You could say the Good Guy gods are in reality, one god of many heads like Bush-Cheney-Wolfowitz-retired, tired Rumsfeld too...just a few of the god heads sharing the same divine body. Many of their followers still worship prayer in the form of devout patriotism. Yet this many-headed god is more monster than god...take a second look. If there is a god, real or virtual; weeping or doubting or loving in the abstract or personal; if there is a god, he's not telling. Then too, finding god in these times can be like looking for a scapegoat for the mess we're in? Yet in all due respect for the certainties of others, be they believers or agnostics or atheists...maybe it is enough of a blessing to know that both death and birth share this new season; whomever or whatever the force possibly responsible? But who needs certainty? All I can honestly say is...god is great and god is good; god I wish I understood...berylk gullsgate
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An audience is better than a crowd
[Read the article: Classical music falls on deaf ears]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]One could say the lack of a crowd was a blessing for Joshua Bell. My Uncle Cliff played no instrument. Had a voice like a bullfrog when he sang but he was a street performer occasionally and his performance was an experiment too, testing human response to the unexpected. On occasion he would stand on a street corner at high noon on main street, Somewhere,USA and stare intently upwards at one point in the sky. Slowly one,then two; even more pedestrians would stop and follow his gaze upward until " a groundswell of bodies were packed together like sardines" as my uncle would explain. When a sufficient crowd had gathered to make his experiment complete to Uncle's satisfaction, he would slowly slip away leaving the crowd still standing, staring at nothing. A crowd is often made up of many followers who are only stopping and staring at what few have the capacity to see. I loved my crazy Uncle Cliff who was a virtuoso of the absurd and the ridiculous but no musician. Joshua Bell, the finest of violinists - his was another street experiment. Yet Joshua was probably blessed that his was but an audience of listeners. Thank the gods he didn't draw a crowd staring at his genius and hearing nothing. Uncle Cliff would surely agree. berylk gullsgate
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and so goes Kurt Vonnegut
[Read the article: Kurt's canon]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Take a legend like Kurt Vonnegut. Place him in front of a mythical conception called the Pearly Gates. Old tan coat, hair like raggedy-gray bird's nest; cigarette stub burning his fingertips...Kurt rings the bell. No response so he bangs at the gates with his cane which I am told by others,is essentially an old golf club. "Anybody home or have I arrived at the wrong place?" Kurt is talking to himself sizing up the situation when he sees an old man so ancient you could push him over with a pen easily. Elongated white beard is the dominant feature. White Beard hobbles down a very crooked path; something that gives momentary relief to KV - not strictly straight-and-narrow here, "which says something for the place" he cautiously concedes.
Old White Beard has his hand on his ear while holding up his long white robe almost tripping on the dam thing KV notes again...."This old coot, Peter I assume,is so deaf can't hear the bell and a cross-dresser to boot and he's the gatekeeper? What the hell's been going on up here?"
Peter opens the gate which groans on its rusty hinges."Sounds like things are going to pot here too. But then, could be food for the mind and the pen in this god-awful place so what the hell it can't be all bad."
Following Peter down the crooked path wherever he's leading, KV shouts loudly "I DON'T KNOW ABOUT YOU BUT I PRACTICE A DISORGANIZED RELIGION. I BELONG TO AN UNHOLY DISORDER. WE CALL OURSELVES OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL ASTONISHMENT" Kurt tries again..."at least answer me this, are there any entry level openings for satirical scribes in this g-forsaken place?"...and so it goes
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correction on so goes Vonnegut
[Read the article: Kurt's canon]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]correction: Left out "RELIGION" after "DISORGANIZED" in Vonnegut quote, six lines from bottom of page..."enter" should be "any" second from bottom line ...sorry beryl k gullsgate