FEATURE, APRIL 3, 2008
Colonel Mustard or Professor Plum?
'Cause it sure wasn't Raoul: I would suggest that readers look at the House Select Committee on Assassinations report on the St. Louis connection to a conspiracy [Ellis E. Conklin's story, "The Assassin's Brother,"] and then determine if it is all made-up nonsense as John Larry Ray contends. "Raoul" and his payments are a cover for the $10,000 or so Ray needed to stay on the lam for fourteen months, which coincidentally followed the July '67 robbery of a bank in Alton, which was likely pulled off by James and John Ray. It is much more plausible that John Sutherland's money and John Kauffman's connections to crime would be behind money given to Ray than some shadowy "Raoul" figure, who no one has ever seen.
DVSDen, via the Internet
FEATURE, MARCH 27, 2008
Christian Nationalists Need Not Apply
Same goes for Republicans: [In regard to Kathleen McLaughlin's story, "Hot Contender," about Sarah Steelman]: We need another Republican "Ann Coulter" wannabe, with anti-gay and anti-reproductive rights mentality, like we need to go invade another country. The only thing the Republicans do right in their right-thinking ways is convince the poor and middle-class citizens that their party really is not elitist and white Christian nationalists. I have pondered how my family can even be mostly Republican when the platform of the Republican Party is to give more power to the wealthy, big business and other government agencies. The ONLY thing I agree with the Republicans on (and reluctantly) is the right to bear arms. If it wasn't for average Americans having arms, the Republican-led government would have installed martial law more than once. We already have a "shadow government" under Bush and Cheney. What we need are more center and left-of-center viable parties like the Green Party. Please don't waste space in your paper validating any more white Christian nationalists and/or Republicans.
Rodney Cook, via the Internet
STAGE, MARCH 27, 2008
Shallow Review
Dennis missed the point: Dennis Brown's review of the Repertory Theatre's production of Ella, "One's Sighs Fitz All," was correct in describing the "evocative delight" of the music, but less so when he complained of a "shallow script" that "rarely gets to the heart of the matter." I found much depth as Tina Fabrique, as Ella Fitzgerald, expressed the regrets and triumphs of the decisions that make a life. She shared the pain of rejection, and she rejoiced at having her son in the audience (so well that it seemed he was really there). Judging by the cheers and tears of the rest of the audience, they also "got it." Dennis, however, missed it, but then he also wrote that "Fitzgerald's beloved older sister died," missing an important plot point. The sister was younger, the child of Ella's mother and stepfather (who didn't "mess with her because she was his own"), a "little bitty thing" trying to protect her big sister. Missing something this basic indicates that one might miss much more, including the depth of a piece.
Mary Garrett, St. Peters
