ONE HAND CLAPPING
What a great job by Sara Miller! She truly captured many of the shapes and sizes, the benefits and bonuses, the highs and hopes of volunteering (“Helping Hands,” cover, April 12). Thanks to her work, maybe more and more people will join those who are already making a difference by just thinking outside themselves and paying it forward to make this great community even greater. Yea, City Paper, for sharing this positive, constructive message! P.S. I loved the quiz survey.
Sally Burnett
2-1-1 Hotline Volunteer Coordinator
Trident United Way
ART NEED NOT BE ‘PRETTY’
In reference to last week’s Unscripted Column (Arts), I just wanted to say that although I agree that Contemporary Charleston was/is a great show for Piccolo, I’m obviously really excited to see a retrospective of my father’s work that will include over 100 paintings dating back to 1965. Although it’s nice to keep tabs on what the Charleston visual art scene is producing, it’s also good every once in a while to put things in perspective. As our society becomes less educated about the work that artists do, and the value of their work, I applaud the City Gallery for taking the opportunity to educate people as well as entertain. As the owner of a “contemporary” art gallery, I, too, have concerns that the focus of art in Charleston is traditional (a.k.a. decorative) painting. William McCullough may be a realist, but he is definitely a contemporary painter, and has been included in several of the previous Contemporary Charleston exhibits. As always, thanks, City Paper, for being such a great supporter of the creative effort.
Currie McCullough,
Curator, 53 Cannon St. gallery
Downtown
NATURALIZED CITIZEN — HERE, HIM ROAR
As someone who has gone through the entire process of becoming a legal American citizen, I find the events that have been transpiring throughout the country in recent days to be a slap in the face. I went through every step and paid all the fees and endured the waiting process to become a citizen. How dare people who are here illegally demand amnesty or citizenship when they never took a single step in the right direction?
As someone who comes from a country whose history has Spanish influence as well, I don’t see this as a race issue at all. I see this as a simple matter of a group of people who want something for free when countless generations of legal immigrants and naturalized citizens worked to get where they are.
If the political view is solely on numbers, then what would Congress say if all of us in this country who are naturalized citizens and whose parents and grandparents are naturalized citizens took to the streets to protest the protests? I would think that our numbers would matter more. We are the legal ones and we are the ones who can vote. Our voice should count more than those who are adding to an out-of-control problem.
I am I.N.S.-approved! I am a naturalized citizen! The ones who should be protesting are those of us who have been slapped in the face by this.
Mark G. Baloya
Summerville
M. GRAHAM, RACIST NAZI
That’s right, racist and Nazi; it may be redundant, but in your case I believe it is appropriate and necessary. Your column, “Down Mexico Way,” (Usual Suspects, Views, April 12) merely shows how ignorant you are and how much of a sheltered life you’ve lived. To say that living in Mexico sucks and that nobody wants to live there clearly tells me that you have never lived there or even visited the country. For your information, there are thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of successful Americans living in Mexico; not just “meth lab technicians and wildly unsuccessful hookers,” as you stated in your column. In your column, you state that the quality of life in Mexico is desperately low. If your definition of a good quality of life is working a 9-to-5 job, and watching television and cutting grass on the weekends, then the U.S. is great place for you. But for those who actually enjoy living life and having real freedom, instead of the apparent freedom we have here in the U.S., then Mexico is a wonderful place to live. I, for one, have very firm plans to retire in Mexico and live a long happy life there. In the meantime, I suggest that you stop believing everything you see on TV and take some time to travel to other countries to get a little bit of culture in you. Until then, it would be a good idea if you stop writing columns about things you don’t know absolutely anything about.
Bruno Lozano Love Best of Charleston? Help the Charleston City Paper keep Best of Charleston going every year with a donation. Or sign up to become a member of the Charleston City Paper club.
Summerville