To the Editor:
As a Wiccan high priestess, I read with interest Jeannette Batz's article concerning Dr. David Rosen's Jungian analysis of the deification and iconization of Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe ("Royal Pain," RFT, March 31).
As part of his analysis, Dr. Rosen theorizes that American society, lacking a "living religion," has veiled Elvis and Marilyn in the archetypal attributes of certain Greco-Roman goddesses and gods: specifically, Aphrodite and Dionysus. This article serves to highlight why the archetypes of the ancient pagan pantheons are still alive and vibrant, if not somewhat unrecognized, in today's modern culture: the failure of the prevailing, jealously exclusive, patriarchal and monotheistic religious systems.
Apparently unbeknownst to Dr. Rosen, there are neo-pagan religions extant in our culture which are living religions. For example, in Wicca, the high priestess and high priest of a coven are the living embodiments of the Goddess and of the God. In certain instances, the high priestess and high priest draw down into themselves the energy of these deities and channel these selfsame divine, archetypal forces. Pagan religious systems are very much alive today, and they exist not in the followings which have sprung up around dead celebrities but in the living worship of ancient deities, which worship still thrives despite all efforts to eradicate it.
Dana D. Eilers
COURT REPORTER
To the Editor:
While it is true that St. Louis University High and DeSmet fans give CBC's team a "verbal beating," it is not because CBC has black players on its team, as Thomas Crone alleged in his article "Nothin' but Net" (RFT, March 24). SLUH and DeSmet fans yell at them simply because they play for CBC. They are a rival and therefore a target, just like the other MCC teams. When SLUH plays DeSmet, the fans of each team yell at the players just as often and as aggressively as they do at CBC's players. It has nothing to do with race and everything to do with rivalries. People at CBC may not believe that, but it is the truth.
Crone should have interviewed the fans he is accusing. He then would have gotten the truth and not just the opinions of some people from CBC. Every journalist is taught to get the whole story, which means talking to everyone involved. Crone reported half the story. He got a few people's opinions and allegations and then reported them as the truth. In doing so, he unjustly accused the fans from SLUH and DeSmet of racism. Crone's article was unprofessional and unfair to the fans from SLUH and DeSmet.
Michael Mueth
AD-RAGEOUS
To the Editor:
(Regarding recent advertising in The Riverfront Times:) The Proposition B supporters have gone too far now. Bringing recent hate crimes into play is outrageous and greatly offends me. Did they get the permission of the families of the three victims to use their pictures? I doubt it!
I am a gay male. Do you really want us (the gay community) carrying concealed weapons? Then what would your children do on the weekends? It would be much too dangerous for them to drive by our bars and shout "Fag" out the car windows, now, wouldn't it?
Chad Carroll
SUITE TALK
To the Editor:
Regarding the "Commentary" "Suffering in the Luxury Suites" (RFT, March 17) by Ray Hartmann:
I have watched Mr. Hartmann on Donnybrook. He has always been able to get right to the core of the problem and strip away all the dross, just as he so succinctly has done with his article on the "suffering of the Kiel Partners."
These greedy people simply amaze me! And that's all it is, monumental greed! I will never understand what has happened to sports. I guess it has fallen into this huge pot of business endeavors that are making only the select few billionaires. But I have a news flash for them -- there is going to come a time when the average citizen is finally going to wake up and you will have such an outcry in this country against this kind of "bilking of the public" that we will never recover from it. Perhaps then we can just get down to the game of "playing ball."
Mary A. Gilliland
LONG-DISTANCE WAKE-UP CALL
To the Editor:
Let me first commend Jo Noero for his attempting to revitalize the city of St. Louis ("Shelter from the Norm," RFT, March 3). I think it is something that St. Louis desperately needs. I am writing this from Portland, Ore. -- my hometown. I have been a visitor to your city over the past year-and-a-half and have found it to be a culturally strong city, with much fabulous history and excellent historical structures. Let me especially commend your art museum and the renovation of Union Station, even if it is into the guise of a shopping mall -- it's a start. One thing that was a little disturbing and puzzling to me during my visits was the seeming lack of care for the downtown area, as well as other historic areas throughout the city: for example, the recently imploded Arena. If that had been in Portland, there would have been activists chaining themselves to the very stones! The demolition crews would have had to file endless paperwork and go through multitudinous committees for their demolition permit. Perhaps it is because Portland's history is so questionably historic (at 150 years) that we feel we have to protect every vestige. Who knows? I was amazed, also, to drive past vacant and condemned rows of once-beautiful brick row houses. It caused me to wonder where the multimillion-dollar-condo developers were hiding. I recall reading an article in the Portland equivalent of the RFT that there was a trend in the late 1990s for suburbanites to move back into the downtown areas to be closer to the good restaurants and cultural events that make city living what it is. I am amazed that no one there has pushed for some sort of urban-planning reform. Please, St. Louis -- wake up and realize what you have, before it's too late. Make your urban areas livable.
Cathey Flickinger
HOME AWAY FROM HOME
To the Editor:
This former St. Louisan just wants to send a heartfelt thank-you for putting the RFT online. When my family and I make our annual return trip, I pick it up as soon as possible, and I always miss it as soon as we leave. Now I can have it all the time right here in Los Angeles, and it truly puts me in a St. Louis state of mind.
My roots go back to the last half of the '60s, when I was a college student and worked for the St. Louis Outlaw, one of those radical rags that sprang up in those heady days.
Today, in a town where the so-called mainstream press has shrunk in terms of quality and content, the RFT really fills the gap with stories about what's really happening in the varied neighborhoods around town. It makes me feel like I'm there again.
One complaint, though. As someone who (mostly through your paper) appreciated the development and growth of the local music scene, I've missed the local coverage in a couple of recent issues. It's fun to read.
Thanks again.
Joel Sanoff
