Letters

The Road Less Traveled

To the Editor,
Congratulations to Chronogram for your brave articles in the October issue. The events of September 11 presented America with lots of challenges, not least being how to tell what’s going on. Some folks have an easy and ready answer: “It’s the good guys against the bad guys.” I’m proud that you chose to look at the harder questions.

Similarly, I am proud of America, in that so many amongst our journalists, our students, and even many of our leaders seem to be open to the search for answers.

It is publications like Chronogram which save us from the easy and mindless response of the so-called super patriots whose only answer is flag waving and bombing.

Thanks.
Karl Rodman, New Paltz

Todd Paul’s Pathetic
Understanding of September 11

When I read Todd Paul’s infantile diatribe in your October issue, I thought I might send it to a friend who lost his wife in Tower 2 on September 11, but then I thought better of it. To do so would be to encourage him to come up to New Paltz and dump Mr. Paul in the Wallkill River, a dunking he richly deserves.

Even though he made those little efforts to say how sad he was, etc., the effect of his piece just added to the black and white, good and evil polemics surrounding this tragedy. To say, for example, that a friend of his (probably Paul himself) took some satisfaction in the destruction of “those ugly towers” betrays the same attitude that destroyed them in the first place: an insensitive disregard for human life. What does Paul know about what people thought when they “looked down from their corner suites in the World Trade Center?”
We all get Paul’s message: Greed is bad, bankers are insensitive, Bush doesn’t care about the poor, on and on, but to say that this disaster “was the best thing that could have happened for George W. Bush” makes Paul no different from the terrorists. And I mean no different.

The spiritual center of Chronogram (at least from the publisher’s point of view) celebrates the human path to wisdom, insight and consciousness. Mr. Paul displays none of those qualities. When he said at the outset that his piece would make some people angry, he misunderstood his own rhetoric. Sadly, it merely demonstrated how pathetic is his own understanding.

Richard Geldard, New York City

What the World Needs Now: Intelligence, Not Anger

To the Editor,
I am ashamed to say that I have not written a letter to the editor since my high school English class back in the early 1950s when we were given that assignment. I, who am fortunate enough to live in this country where I have the freedom to voice my opinion and have that opinion respected, have not exercised this important right and privilege.

Having said that, I want to express my admiration for the staff at Chronogram for their integrity in printing several articles that invite us readers to open up our minds to a higher perspective than we may have gotten stuck in as a result of our anger and fear regarding the terrorist acts.

I was first taken with the startling cover showing Lady Liberty in all her glory standing on a timepiece with the words New York and the symbol of the American flag. Then, the words, “I Lift My Lamp Beside the Golden Door.” It was so symbolic depicting what our nation stands for…a place where generations of people have been coming to create a better way of life; a place where people can live together respectfully with those who are different from them. Then, I looked at the credits of the artist and found he is a Palestinian who had painted this as a series in 1999 entitled, “My Four Beloved Cities” (the other three being Jerusalem, Paris and Venice.) My first thought was “What a profound statement was made by choosing that as the cover with a Palestinian as the artist.” My next thought was “What goes through peoples’ minds now when they hear that someone comes from one of the Arab countries? Do they make the automatic jump that they are someone to be feared?” All Arabs and Muslims are not terrorists. That fact needs to be reiterated often in these emotional times.

I sat and read six well-written articles with points of view that were well taken to raise our consciousness out of a knee jerk mentality that is so easy to fall into when we are feeling angry, fearful and confused.
One statement from Butler Shaffer’s article I quote here. “Perhaps at no time in recent history has so much clarity of thought been demanded from each of us. The world has an abundance of anger; what it needs right now is our intelligence.”

I have been counseling individuals, couples, and families for 16 years. Each is ready to point fingers and get very excited about telling me all the reasons that the conflict situation is the other guy’s fault and that they are innocent of any wrongdoing. They don’t like it and they put up a lot of resistance when I ask them to do self-examination and discover ways they have helped create this. Over the years, without exception, the successful outcomes resulted from a willingness to do a scrupulous self-examination of beliefs and behavior, a willingness to listen to the others and a willingness to share the hard work involved in resolution at the deepest level.

I believe that any satisfying and long-lasting results for us and the rest of the world is going to, of necessity, follow a path like this. We all need to accept responsibility, we all need to roll up our sleeves and get to work.

I hear some of my fellow Americans saying that those people who are taking a reasoned, questioning, less emotional approach and looking at all that led up to this are unpatriotic, un-American. My viewpoint is that this is the heart and soul of what our democracy stands for. It has always been those brave enough to question prevailing practices based on ignorance and injustice that brought about changes in slavery, women’s rights, child labor practices, domestic abuse and other issues. It is a very American practice to speak out, be heard and be respected. I am going to be a responsible citizen and exercise this privilege starting now.

I hope that Chronogram gets mostly applause for supporting the freedom of speech of these Americans who, in your October issue, appear to be expressing opinions outside the majority mindset at the present time. I’m sure you are also willing to print dissenting viewpoints as we readers write in to express a variety of sentiments.

Respectfully,
Kristin Hansen, via e-mail

Steeping in Myopic Rhetoric

I read Todd Paul’s editorial crap today and I really am getting really tired of this guilty attitude that people take. I mean the real reason we trained Bin Laden was for protecting the Sunni Moslems from the Russian military. I mean we were teaching Bin Laden to protect his people for god sakes! I mean, what is this? Don’t you see that during WWII Jews were getting slaughtered by the millions?!

Why is it that you guys don’t get it?

Our country has done tremendous work with other nations to both feed and clothe their starving! I mean you say we’ve exploited other countries economies, but they really didn’t have economies to exploit! That’s not to say that in certain cases we used other countries for manufacturing items at a cheaper cost to the American consumer, but realize this: it’s better than paying $400 for a telephone or $500 for a pair of cheap shoes.

There are people in this country who aren’t willing to work for anything less than $15 an hour! Try to find a company willing to pay someone to put soles on shoes for $15 an hour and see what you’d pay in the store for a shoe.

Todd Paul’s insensitivity to those innocent people who perished in the World Trade Center indicates to me just what he’s made of and I am really sorry for him. Maybe if he were in one of the towers at the time of the attack he’d see things a bit differently.
I really don’t like much of what Todd has to say because he’s trying to be the spiritual, sensitive, and saddened writer upset at us for our world-wide sins! (By the way Al Gore conceded his own defeat, remember the broadcast?) We’ve done nothing except buy lots and lots of oil from the Arab nations thus making them very rich and powerful while sending aid to their poor.

Todd’s view is thin and ugly, yet typical of someone educated in stupid political sympathies and steeped in myopic rhetoric! I mean: Hey Todd get a life or at least go away!

As for you folks at Chronogram: How much are you capitalists charging for advertising space in your rag? I promise I won’t tell Todd!

Sincerely,
Richard S. Holler, via e-mail

Shades of Gray

Regarding the editorial by Todd Paul:

Yes, America has perpetuated evil in the world. Yes it is destructive in many ways. Yes it is far from an “honest broker” in the Middle East as it has stood by while Israel has practiced rampant expansionism. This is all true—but it is reflexive (i.e. knee-jerk) to extrapolate that Osama Bin Laden and his ilk should not be killed and that if we just did the right thing, no one would hate us. You mention that Switzerland isn’t attacked—and yet, how many European countries have been attacked by Islamic extremist terrorists? You fail to understand that although the US is culpable, some people do not want to negotiate. Some people want a “final conflict” between Judeo-Christendom and Islam. Some people want a world-wide Caliphate. Some people violently object to your freedom to dance, listen to music, fly a kite or wear a revealing piece of clothing (or even show a naked ankle).

Personally, I think if you were a woman living in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan you might have written a somewhat more balanced piece. One difference between “us” and “them” is that we don’t object (i.e. seek to overthrow) their right to dress as they dress and believe as they believe. Sure we export our culture, but they export theirs as well (Islam is, after all, the fastest growing religion here and world-wide—are they “cultural imperialists” too?). But we don’t swear a holy war until every woman is stripped of her chador or Burkha—they swear to an inverse but analogous goal—the annihilation of any culture they find morally objectionable, and, lest we not forget, the total genocide of Israelis, and really all Jews world-wide.

In short, your view is accurate as far as it goes, but it’s one-sided and commits the sins of multiple omissions. Some people in this world are madder, crueler and more evil than you can imagine. And they think that you (I presume, an Infidel) are not human and therefore not worth a moment’s consideration. These people will ruthlessly exterminate you if you let them. Are they representative of the larger face of Islam? Well, if you read the “mainstream” Arabic press, which is almost as rabidly anti-Semitic as their own pronouncements, and actively foments suicide bombings against Israeli civilians, and promulgates the myth that all Jews stayed home from the WTC on September 11 as the Mossad blew it up, you might conclude they are, but whether they are or not, they need to be stopped, killed without mercy, as Hitler’s armies needed to be stopped. It’s very easy to be against all violence, but I submit to you that those who were ignoring and/or appeasing Hitler in 1939 grew to regret their actions (or inactions) later. Some people will not negotiate. Sometimes pacifism is not a realistic response to a threat. By all means bomb the innocent with butter, but take out the guilty as well, and with extreme prejudice.

And while we’re at it—what have you personally done to stop our own state-sponsored genocide in Iraq? A few letters? Where were the hunger strikes outside the White House and the UN? Where was a concerted long-term effort to publicize this activity and stop it? The anti-trade people shut down Seattle, but the left has done mighty little to really object to the US’s human rights record (and by extension, the UN’s—this hand-wringing and finger-pointing feels self-indulgent and simplistic to me. And, by the same token, the US is given no credit in your piece for rescuing Muslims in Kosovo and Bosnia. Did it act late? Yes, but I didn’t see Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, or Bin Laden’s trainees coming in to rescue these people, only the US, belatedly, and dragging NATO in by the ear. Do we only earn discredit with the left? Can we never earn real credit where credit is due? The world is not black and white, only infinite shades of gray.

Samuel Claiborne, High Falls

What Made Us So Unhappy and Bitter?

To the Editor:
I thought Chronogram was just another slickly produced art-zine for weekenders and piled up at the entrance to the antique shops and galleries that have made my hometown, Hudson, NY, USA a much better place to live over the last 10 years. I was really shocked and disappointed to find a series of “commentaries” written against the US, the president (I voted for Gore, but I’m not having a tantrum over it), the capitalist oppressors, etc. Oh yeah, I’m angry/pissed/disturbed by you guys, but I am also very curious.

Chronogram seems to be a capitalist enterprise, the “commentators” seem to be well educated and excellent writers. Where does the hate and bitterness towards our culture come from? All the anti-US, anti-“the system” stuff you usually hear from unbalanced prison inmates or spoiled unhappy college coeds is all over, under and through each of the editorials in the 10/01 issue! Usually you have to have money to go to good schools and have time to intellectualize all the things that make you unhappy and become disenfranchised and move to Cuba or something. What made you so unhappy and bitter? You seem to accept it from Osama, even admire him for it. Our country has done a lot of good for the world, including Israel, Kuwait, Peace Corps, UN, etc., etc. Yes, we’ve sold weapons, but so have many other countries, we’ve also given away tons of money and goods and lost many good people defending others. Yeah we buy oil, but somebody sells it. And somebody buys it and puts it in their SUV and then drives the SUV up the Hudson Valley and patronizes the advertisers that make Chronogram possible. All those things can never justify the killing of thousands of people whether they are Americans or not. I get the idea that the writers (Mr. Paul, Milne, Monbiot) think that the WTC was somehow a justified event and are now gloating over it. Their words are the words of persons distanced from our society. By what? How? Unhappy childhoods? Teachings of disillusioned parents? I am wondering...

Peter Tenerowicz, Hudson

Comfort through Insight

Jason,
Well, I walked into Saigon Cafe (the place where I usually pick up the newest Chronogram) and the bold colored cover grabbed me. Nice choice! I really enjoy looking at it. I flipped open to your Esteemed Reader—always the first read. I couldn’t read it fast enough. Then I read it again. I must applaud you on your careful navigation through a very delicate issue and for getting close to the root of something deeper. I found comfort through your insight.
This issue is a keeper.

Natalie Carlisle-Palome, Poughkeepsie

The Slow and Arduous Moment

I am still weeping periodically. As a person who does not cry easily, I am unaccustomed to spontaneous, seemingly unbidden tears coursing their way down my cheeks. Today it was a simple prompt: calling the customer service line of my telephone company and hearing a taped voice apologize for service disruptions due to a switch that had been located in the World Trade Center towers. A switch: not a person, not an animal, but a switch. It set me to thinking about the melted coils of steel and wire…death and dismemberment.

On Saturday my sister-in-law and I were on the way to the Garlic festival where my husband and his band were playing. My car would not start. After some discussion we realized it was the battery and could jump it. It seemed easier to stay home; I’m into omens these days. I do not struggle to understand new information, cannot muster true disappointment or frustration in the daily travails of human existence. My brain cannot take any more information in. My heart is full.

I do not entertain return to normalcy, but a settling in to a new existence, a paradigmatic shift. I cannot imagine what this will look like, how it will feel. I am afraid of it, am afraid of how much of it will be shaped by our leaders’ response to fear. Theirs and ours. I mourn that my daughters will not know the life before this and wonder, will they have to carry ID cards, will they be submitted to searches and seizures previously deemed unlawful, will they have the opportunity to see the rest of the world without the spectre of terroristic fear? I am angered by easy and simplistic analyses of what the causes and treatments are for this horrendous event by both the right and the left, but am agitated by the constant spinning of my own mind taking it all apart and into such fine pieces that putting it together again into some sense takes me half a night of sleeplessness.

I have always lived with one foot too far into the future. But now I feel locked in the present, as though I don shoes of concrete. It is not comfortable here, but moving will be slow and arduous.

Michelle Hughes, Bloomington

Two Hideous Pages

I find your magazine valuable; the exposés are timely and very needed. However, the Quarter to Three pages by Sparrow are a waste of space, unnecessary, frivolous, and drag down the quality of the other articles. They remind me of the two-year-old who does her first finger painting and you, the proud parent, post it up all over the neighborhood because you think it’s great.

Get rid of those two hideous pages and lengthen your Room for a View features.

Nina Silver, Stone Ridge

Up the Creek

To the Editor:
Thanks for the article and picture on Arm-of-the-Sea Theater’s “Esopus Creek Puppet Suite” in the September pages of your Community Notebook. Approximately 800 people saw its two night incarnation. I’m writing, however, to correct a few factual errors in the article.

First: although the 16 puppet and mask performers in the Suite volunteered their time so that this special project could happen, for virtually all other rehearsals and performances (75-100 shows/year) Arm-of-the-Sea pays its artists.

Second, there was no gamelan orchestra in the Esopus Creek Suite. The Big Sky Ensemble—Tim Allen, Peter Buettner, Brian Farmer, Dean Jones, Thomas Workman and Bill (Otto) Ylitalo—provided the deep river of transcendental sound. A number of the pieces were composed by Mr. Jones for this show through a grant from Meet the Composer, Inc.

Third: the descriptions of two shows in our touring repertoire—“Rip Van Winkle on the River of Time” and “The City that Drinks the Mountain Sky”—as reported in this article, were completely inaccurate. Our “Rip” piece portrays the misadventures and dream voyage of a wayward poet while “City” tells the epic story of the building of the NYC water supply system in the Catskills.
Next summer we plan to expand the Esopus Creek Suite into a three-night festival of mask and puppet theater featuring performances by other Ulster County artists working in this ancient/avant garde medium. That will be August 16, 17, and 18, again at the waterfront park in Saugerties.

Patrick Wadden
co-founder and managing director, Arm-of-the-Sea Theater