Letters to the Editor

Storytelling and arts

Stories for Life, a non-profit organization dedicated to teaching children the art of storytelling, has for the second year in a row, joined Piccolo Spoleto's opening weekend. What amazing performances people experienced.

Storytelling is the most ancient of the arts. It underpins all others, from theater to opera, from music to visual arts, and from dance to poetry. For more than four days in 12 area schools, at the Piccolo Children's Festival and at intimate gatherings across the Lowcountry, audiences were treated to the finest national storytellers, as well as five regional storytellers.

The beauty of the spoken word was demonstrated by the powerful stories of the Holocaust and the Trail of Tears, by the delightful African, Appalachian, Native American and Southern tales, by the marvelous melding of music, poetry, opera and theater by Aquate Mundi at the Maritime Center and by the "Tales of Appalachia" Spotlight series.

As directors, we know, and the public should know, that art does not happen without the support of a community willing to lend time, money and effort. We sincerely thank all our sponsors, which include many businesses and individuals in the community.

Each contributor is a link in the great circle of enthusiasts who support and recognize the need for the public to see, hear and experience the arts.

Thank you to those who have the vision to see, the ability to direct, the means to support and the enthusiasm to participate.

LINDA STOUT

HAWK HURST

Co-Directors

Stories for Life

Serotina Point

Mount Pleasant

School district stats

Regarding the recent annual report in The Post and Courier from the Charleston County School District: I would like to point out some issues that are obvious after close examination of the information.

1) There is fine print in the bottom right hand corner of the third page that reads: "District Absolute Rating: Below Average." I could not help but enjoy the irony of its placement just below the logo for the district that includes the slogan "excellence is our standard."

If that is true, does the school board not realize that below average does not in any way equate with excellence? Perhaps that is the primary problem.

2) According to the district, it has more schools with unsatisfactory and below average ratings (45) than it has with good and excellent ratings (28). Not counting the average ratings should not help or hinder them.

Of the combined schools (a total of 73), only 39 percent score good or excellent. When I was in grade school, that percentage was a failing grade. Even taking into consideration the average schools (88), the percentage of schools rated as good or excellent is only 49 percent, which is still an "F."

3) Times are tough in the school district when the best the district can say is that teachers show up the first day of school and that school facilities are safe.

4) A simple graph showing the number of students taking advanced placement tests has increased conveys only the increase. It does not state the percentage of those have who have passed or whether excellent scores have increased or that specific performances have improved.

It is like saying, "It's hot in the summertime." So what?

I tire of the drivel that states the school district is overflowing with creative and smart people committed to excellence.

Stop saying it and show it.

Matt Smith

Berkeley Road

Charleston

Leave oaks alone

I would rather spend an additional three to five minutes waiting at intersections rather than waiting 100 years to have our grand canopy of trees back.

At my age, I would never see it.

Please, Charleston City Council, listen to what our community wants. We want our trees left alone.

They should be considered endangered.

Cindy Blanton

Held Circle

James Island

Liked 'Patsy Cline'

Let me be among the first to say how great "Always Patsy Cline" at the Footlight Players Theater was.

Lindsay Welch was outstanding and brought back many fond memories. She looked and sounded just like the real Patsy Cline.

Dave Jacobson

Fox Chase Drive

Goose Creek

'Amistad' review

I traveled to Charleston this weekend to attend the Spoleto Festival and found it to be an artistically fulfilling experience.

I was dismayed, however, by the May 31 front-page display of critic Tim Page's review of "Amistad."

Mr. Page is a professional arts critic and certainly has a right to his opinion. But he is not the issue here. The issue is The Post and Courier.

The extremely negative headline, "Amistad a disappointment," sits atop the front page of the newspaper as some sort of final word on the performance. It's as if the newspaper and the city of Charleston had somehow come to this conclusion.

Mr. Page is only one person and offers one opinion, and it is far from universal, as you should know. Knowing the effect it would have, the decision to place this review not only on the front page but above the newspaper's title is difficult to understand.

After the exciting opening night of "Amistad," I was able to meet the director, the composer, the set designer, the lighting designer and many of the singers who were part of the cast and crew of "Amistad."

The passion they all clearly felt in being part of the show was incredible. Stories were told of the time, effort and emotional energy it took to be a part of this demanding yet rewarding production.

It was not perfect, but it was a massive commitment by many people to try to do justice to this complicated opera. That effort deserved better treatment by the newspaper.

Your condemnation of the entire show with your hugely prominent placement and choice of headline thoughtlessly dismissed the efforts of the hundreds of people who worked on this production, in and out of the spotlight.

I look at all these talented, diverse and creative people on one side of the scale and the one negative theater critic on the other, and I wonder how you could, in good conscience, decide to advertise this entire effort as "a disappointment."

Oh, really?

Somehow we in the audience didn't realize it.

Chris Baron

Feathergrass

Irvine, Calif.

Cost of memorial?

Missing in a May 28 Post and Courier article on costs associated with the Sofa Super Store fire is the annual cost to the public of removing the Sofa Super Store property from the tax rolls if the site is turned into a memorial to the firefighters killed in the blaze.

It would be far better to honor the fireman by putting the money to work buying fire equipment or giving it to the food bank — anything but a memorial in the midst of a commercial district where it will serve little purpose.

Let's honor their lives, not the sad place of their deaths.

Fred Sales

Lawton Harbor Drive

James Island

'Power' confirmed

Regarding the May 30 headline, "Riley's power absolute, municipal expert says," on the front page of The Post and Courier:

This at last confirms what many Charlestonians have believed for more than 30 years.

C.W. Watson

Bull Street

Charleston

'Slap in the face'

In reference to the May 24 article titled "A place of honor":

At first I thought it was a great idea that South Carolina now has a taxpayer-funded cemetery for veterans.

Then I realized that, even though I've lived and paid taxes here for 40 years and served in the Navy, I may not use this facility because I did not enter the service in South Carolina.

What a slap in the face to the thousands of veterans who have retired and who pay taxes here.

FRED C. BOMBELYN

Taliaferro Avenue

Charleston