Letters

Anne Connolly
Phoenix

Flagging Interest
Where can I get an art grant for a flag display, a la the U.S. flag exhibit at Phoenix Art Museum ("Legionnaire's Disease," Michael Kiefer, April 4)? I love the shocked reaction of those who protested, so I have come up with an idea guaranteed to engender emotionally hysterical protesters who will make the American veterans look like supporters.

For beginners, we need to decide on the exact category to use. Presently, I've narrowed the choices to the following: a) Gay-pride flags, b) Japanese flags, c) Afro-American flags, d) Mexican flags, e) Israeli flags.

An allied exhibit, if the latter choice is made, will be a Star of David in a urine-filled bell jar. That should bring all the liberals out of the woodwork! Then we'll see where all the art-for-art's-sake bleeders, who decry the current protests, actually live!

Don Schlaeder
Mesa

I was amused at Elizabeth Hoffman's letter stating that "government funding for the arts is essential to the support of emerging artists . . ." and other good things. I would be interested in hearing an explanation of how this country managed to have art 100 years ago when there was no National Endowment for the Arts. Would Hoffman argue that the art we have today is in any way superior to what was produced 100 years ago, without government support? (If the flag "exhibit" currently at Phoenix Art Museum is any example, her argument would truly be side-splitting to hear.)

Also, I understand that Phoenicians were against using their taxes for a baseball stadium, but were overruled by the politicians. This issue seems ready-made for New Times. Has it done an investigation of the politicians who overruled the public on support for the baseball stadium? It would be interesting to learn whether any of them will profit from their decision.

Brandt W. Pryor
Scottsdale

Editor's note: New Times has published many in-depth articles on the stadium-finance issue, including: "Letting the Diamondbacks Slide" (April 4, 1996); "Stadium Standoff" (June 8, 1995); "Jerry-rigged" (June 22, 1995); "The House That You Built" (September 21, 1995); and "City Complicity" (September 28, 1995).

Bravo for the Elizabeth Hoffmans of this world! Regarding her letter (April 11) about the flag exhibit and funding for the arts, as she says, the arts chronicle our times. It is time our creative artists become first-rate citizens (like athletes, e.g.), but some of our leaders cannot see the importance of the arts and of freedom of expression.

I very much admire how New Times gets to the bottom of the old-boy syndrome politically, but why doesn't it cover classical music instead of that junk? New Times does an excellent job on art, theatre and film. Let's not slide back into what Hoffman called an archaic abyss where arts, culture and freedom of expression are no longer valued.

Dorothy Wirtz
Phoenix

Tales From the Scrip
Lovely! Tell all of our youngsters in Phoenix where and how to get their drugs. True, I'm sure that if kids want to find out the information contained in Dewey Webb's "Drugstore Caballero" (April 4), they will, but why make it that much easier? Why give ideas to kids that they may never have considered before?

Yes, if the public isn't kept informed of the problem, we won't ever be able to solve the problem, but the writer could have left out the "how to" portion of this article.

Mitchell Lurie
Phoenix

Many people benefit from a nonregulated pharmaceutical industry in Mexico. While I believe there should be limits placed on how much one individual may take from across the border for his personal consumption, the Mexico option should not be closed down entirely.

As we know all too well, health care in this country is very expensive and many of our citizens do not have health insurance. Furthermore, medication of any kind is expensive, especially given that in order to obtain a prescription for an ailment, one must shell out about $80 to see a doctor for two minutes to get a prescription.

In Mexico, the total cost for medication is a few dollars, with no doctor's fee attached. Until our health-care system is as sophisticated as those already in practice in countries such as Germany, Denmark and England, I cannot blame poorer Americans for going to Mexico in order to cure themselves without paying an arm and a leg.

Arjun Sinha
Tempe

Fashion Statement
I don't pretend to know much about high fashion, but I hope Dick Kovacic nails Lillie Rubin to the wall ("Formal Complaint, Michael Kiefer, April 4). There isn't a major department store in the Valley that doesn't allow women in men's dressing rooms. Wives and girlfriends come and go as if it's their birthright, and the department stores do nothing to stop it.

To those stores and to those ladies: I'm sure you won't mind if I go into the ladies' dressing room with my wife next time she goes shopping. Further, no regard to men's modesty is ever a consideration at the stores. Odds are that next time I buy underwear, it will be from a woman. I think I'll apply for a job in the lingerie department. I'll be happy to ask the ladies their cup sizes.