For love of art, beauty, hope
If you have recently read news about the Pullman Arts Commission resigning you might wonder, why is Pullman turning its back on love, beauty and hope? I will invite you to see an example of what the arts commission has been up against. Watch the Pullman City Council meeting recording for Feb. 9. If you want to skip to the poignant part, minute 1:24:40, you can watch as a grown man acts like a petulant teenager pretending not to understand what an art walk is.
You will see Al Sorensen combat the arts commission chair in a tantrum as if his parents are making him go to his sister’s ballet recital. The truth is Pullman would like to keep up its art traditions (i.e. Art Fest) in a COVID-safe way. He probably won’t go anyway. Seeing this you might assume he has never been to an art gallery before. I would certainly assume he is not well acquainted with what goes on in the Pullman community that he represents. He acts threatened by art in a window. What, sir, are you afraid of?
When I watch this video, I am compelled to remind people that city council positions are elected roles. Please, for the love of art, beauty and hope vote out toxicity so that talented, well meaning, people will once again volunteer their time to make Pullman a better place to live at a time when beauty and hope can make a difference.
Art Spring
Pullman
Lack of understanding
The Daily News article regarding the ‘End Racism Now’ mural included the following question from Al Sorensen: “When it comes down to it, does any life matter more than another?” This question indicates either a lack of knowledge, or understanding, of the Black Lives Matter movement and racism. No wonder the planning for a mural is in disarray.
It is easy to find answers to Al’s question. A quick Google search or a library search provides many, many resources. CBS News published an article July 8 titled “Why saying ‘all lives matter’ communicates to Black people that their lives don’t.” Parents.com published an article in June titled “6 Reasons ‘All Lives Matter’ Doesn’t Work-In Terms Simple Enough for a Child.”
The Black Lives Matter website is packed with useful information. Anyone working on the mural and all members of the Pullman City Council would benefit from accessing this website and learning what the statement “Black Lives Matter” encompasses.
To quote the Black Lives Matter 2020 Impact Report, Pg. 19: “Black folks have waited over 400 years to be seen, to be heard, to live in a world where their lives are fundamentally valued. Despite the strength of our movement, this has yet to happen.” That is why the statement Black Lives Matter is so important to all of us.
Elizabeth Wilson
Pullman
Robo calls cross line
Idaho Freedom Foundation has gone a bridge too far in its McCarthyite robo-call attacks on Idaho educators, claiming college students are being “trained to attack law enforcement and the Second Amendment,” and to “hate America and American values.”
Same as most older Idahoans, I know many hundreds of recent alumni from our public colleges and universities, and have seen precious little indication of ideological brainwashing. Instead, I’ve consistently seen independent, self-confident young people working as business owners, professionals in virtually all fields, and as tribal leaders.
The huge irony in IFF’s smear campaign is that they are funded by outside “dark money,” representing interests willing to sacrifice our state and its economic future and prosperity by turning us into a poster-child and magnet for intolerance, bigotry and ideological extremism.
To someone who grew up in Klan country prior to 1964 and 1965 civil rights acts, IFF’s smears smack of white supremacist innuendo, and their disinformation and lies about Idaho educators stink the same as the lies we’ve been fed about fraudulent elections, climate change and COVID. Shame. We need to keep our talented young people, not drive them away. IFF’s current fear and hate-mongering is not helping.
Chris Norden
Moscow
The media’s deception
Pete Haug’s His View (Feb. 23) emphasized the importance of truth in communication. A major reason the mainstream media is highly distrusted is because of the deliberate lying and deception that is continually spewed out. It is not just words.
An example is the Associated Press picture on the front of the Slice of Life section of the Daily News on Feb. 20. The caption reads, “Emissions from a coal-fired power plant are silhouetted against the setting sun”. All the emissions appear black because of the filter used and/or light setting. It is a deliberate attempt to portray coal-fired power plants as major polluters, which they are not. The actual emission from this stack viewed in normal light would be essentially a pure white plume of condensing water vapor just as one would see from the UI power plant or above the mill in Lewiston.
Whether it was the continual lying and deception about President Trump, the deceptive words and pictures dealing with climate change (previously global warming), abortion, evolution, race, the environment, etc., the mainstream media no longer seems concerned with the truth. We now need fact-checkers on those who are supposed to be the fact-checkers and the purveyors of the truth.
Truth is not relative; there is not one truth for the news media and another truth for everyone else. People appeal to “science” as the ultimate source of truth, but we have humans interpreting the observed facts and some, even with “scientist” attached to their names, are spinning the facts to support a particular conclusion or forecast that may or may not be true but is presented it as though it is the truth. We are back to needing a news media that should be helping us with the fact-checking but sadly is deliberately setting out to mislead and deceive us.
Larry Kirkland
Moscow
Vaccination process smooth
I would like to express my appreciation for the professional job done by those who are handling the COVID-19 inoculations. Arriving at the University of Idaho parking area I was met by very well-organized personnel helping me to the temporary clinic.
The process in the clinic itself was very professional, starting with friendly greetings to the final nursing station. The nurse had such a warm friendly personality that the shot was over before I realized it. All the people involved should be proud of their efforts.
John Treadwell
Moscow
