Just send the option check to Stratton: Your story was excellent ("Tie Me Up, Nawashi," Jeff Stratton, March 1)! I loved it! It made me want to do a film on it. I am now working on my third Asian movie, taking place in 1750 Japan, and if I don't add it in there, I will make a new one with it. Keep doing the real writing! Be blessed!
Gary Davis
West Palm Beach
The Museum Solution
Sometimes a brother ain't a brother: It shocks me to read how black brother is fighting another black brother ("Dead End," Bob Norman, February 15). Young kids too. I own a gallery in downtown Oakland Park. The Mars Gallery exhibits represent events and people who have somehow captivated and brought together the people of the world. Some obvious positive examples are space, Olympics, and Boy Scouts. Negative examples are war, World Trade Center, and Titanic. There are about 1,000 exhibits. We all want peace, but unless we work together, it will never take root and flourish. I believe we as one human race have lost our way. I hope the Mars Gallery will get people to work together.
Alan Marsden
Curator, the Mars Gallery
Oakland Park
Keep It in Texas
Judiciously speaking, she was a bimbo: "Hollywood Transformed" (Tailpipe, February 15) was a well-written piece of work. The letters section (March 1) was not nearly as entertaining, although somewhat amusing. My question is: How do assholes get hold of our local stories anyway? Do they spend hours Googling for info because they are bored senseless with their own lives? Who the hell do they think they are to judge our local media? Maybe Suzanne Chessire's mother should have taught her not to meddle in other's affairs. She should be more concerned about her own neck of the woods in Austin, Texas. What difference does it make about waiting for the funeral's end to call a bimbo a bimbo? Anna Nicole Smith was a lucky, materialistic moron who got rich and famous through no real discernible talent of her own. She personifies everything that is wrong with the idea of "celebrity" these days. People like her, Nicole Richie, and Paris Hilton are nothing more than a waste of sperm and space. Anyone who thinks otherwise is definitely no mental giant.
If Chris Sakorafos was actually from South Florida then he (she?) might actually know that New Times offers way more than news. As a regular reader, I'm offended by Chris' baseless, overly judgmental "crappy effort to get a reaction." Smith was a rich asshole who was here to stay in a $1,000-a-night hotel, buy a boat, and use drugs unwisely. Stupidity had way more to do with her downfall than misfortune. And who the hell is S. Kilpatrick to tell our writers how far they will get in life? Last but not least, to the pussified anonymous shlub from Oceanside, California: As far as some of we locals are concerned, the piece was very informative. So maybe you don't care about the Hooters waitress being late or how this story has affected our community. Then why is it that you read the article all the way through in the first place, pal?
Death Metal Douglas (William Douglas Herring)
Hollywood
Hollywood-Style Payday
In a FUBAR city, failure works better than success: Articles chastising the sleaze, smut, and general unlawful conduct (alleged, for now!) by various crooks, cronies, and criminals in Hollywood government go only so far ("Heartbreak Hotel," Thomas Francis, February 8).
Now, of course, on top of the Wasserstrom fiasco, the Ken Gottlieb/Metro property farce, and the arrest of four of Hollywood's "Finest" (four veteran police officers) for allegedly running drugs and providing "protection" for an organized crime group that was really an FBI sting operation, we find the City of Hollywood facing an $8.5 million budget deficit. Too many millions given away to money-grubbing developers, Mayor Mara? Not enough oversight, City Manager Benson? Too many CRA shenanigans, Mr. CRA Director Neil (on the) Fritz?
Yet, like Bush, Cheney, Condi, and the other neocon perpetrators of a failed policy, these and other subhuman city officers not only remain in power but they all got raises recently! For what? Failure? Add to that the recent joke of an election in Hollywood's District 4 (returning Dick Blattner, "lover of developers extraordinaire," to office) and we can see that Hollywood is simply FUBAR — f—-ed up beyond all recognition).
Harvey Slavin
Hollywood
Just Mom to Me
In some ways, she really made sense: I will begin by saying that I am not an unbiased writer. One of the women you wrote about in this article was my mother ("Can You Hear Me, Adolf?" Ashley Harrell, January 4). I am very aware of the controversial subject that is my aunt's channeling. I will not try here to convince you to believe or not to believe. I myself am not where my mother was spiritually, and I questioned some of her views on the afterlife. My only [complaint] is that the author seeks to undermine her credibility as a social worker or as a human being. My mother worked for more than 30 years as a social worker, most of it in the suburbs of Philadelphia. I remember her coming home crying many a night after having had to take crying children away from their addicted parents. It was a horribly difficult job that paid her miserably. She was in debt when she died, and she left neither my sister nor myself a dime. What she did leave was a loving example of serving those less fortunate.
I am sorry if some of the views she held offended others. She only tried to spread the feelings of love and forgiveness she felt in her heart, and I trust if the people offended would have known her intimately, they would have seen that for themselves. She was my hero.
Peter Cassanelli
Fort Lauderdale
