DON’T THREATEN US, WITCH!

TO THE EDITOR: [RE: “Fowl Play,” Jan 18, in which decapitated chickens and
goats have been found near Portland railroad tracks] Whoever is making these
sacrificial offerings is carrying out a ritual because he/she is in serious,
life-altering trouble. So leave them alone. Santeria is not my personal core
belief but I have much affection, affinity and respect for the religion and
those who practice it. If you make a big commotion, then the Christians and
the New Agers will start to whine. Every piece of roadkill will be attributed
to some heathen sacrifice. City Hall will call a meeting with that disgusting
fundamentalist police chief who will have yet another excuse to harass
people and it will be a big fat pain in the ass. Let it go…As some wise old
obean woman once said, “Do not stir the pot.”

Underground Witch Girl

LEAVE DEBRA BEERS ALONE!

TO THE EDITOR: Your art critic labored so mightily to find something to criticize
in the Debra Beers show at the Mark Woolley Gallery [art review, January 4,
Karrin Ellertson] that her review could only be the product of personal vendetta
or professional malpractice. Unable to find an “amazing story” in Beers’ portraits
of Bill, your critic claims the work appears “disingenuous.” To miss the “story,”
your critic had to overlook the many visual clues, such as a foreground dominating
beer glass, a slate “pillow,” a palpable dishwasher’s hose, and “clanking” ceramic
mugs. To describe Bill’s gaze “as only slightly activated” and the product of
“careful posing,” your critic had to ignore the anguish, anxiety, alienation,
alarm, resignation and ultimate determination variously and profoundly portrayed
in Beers’ uncanny found-materials realism.

Your critic’s failings would not merit comment if she had not used the highly charged word “disingenuous.” As two of the many friends and admirers of Debra Beers and her work, we cannot let this charge go unanswered. Only a person of the utmost honesty and integrity and openness would so totally invest her rare talent and sensibility in work that is so raw, painful, uncommercial and uncompromising. Debra Beers is the epitome of courage and tenacity in an art world full of marketing and poseurs.

Your weekly has the obligation to its readers (and to those it reviews) to have critics bring intellect, imagination and experience to their work, not merely attitude and self-importance. You utterly failed in your obligation in this very important instance.

David Wade, Nancy Pobanz

Karrin Ellertson responds: I applaud the passionate (albeit misguided)
response. First, I don’t have a “personal vendetta” against Debra Beers. How
ludicrous; I don’t even know her.
Second, I think it’s clear how I actually used the word “disingenuous.” Lastly,
the charge of “professional malpractice” is most baffling. You are angered that
I criticized artwork. That is what art critics do.

RIBALDRY NOT FUNNY IN SOME CIRCUMSTANCES

TO ANN ROMANO: In your One Day column [Jan 25], you announced the killing
of a Safeway employee by a fellow employee. In what I can only assume was an
attempt to be humorous, you graphically detailed the facts of this killing,
juxtaposing these images against ribaldry, or maybe what you consider clever
remarks.

So, given this, I’ve come to the conclusion, Romano, that you are completely SOULLESS or a complete IMBECILE.

Living in some prissy, Biore-strip world does not grant you the leniency to dehumanize others and that you would use such a gruesome tragedy as joke fodder for your column is despicable. I am completely disgusted with you and your publication.

Former Reader

HULK TOO LACONIC TO UNDERSTAND FUTURE TENSE

TO WM.โ„ข STEVEN HUMPRHEY: [RE: I Love Televisionโ„ข, Jan 25 in which the
author quotes the Incredible Hulk as saying, “HULK WILL SMASH”] Hey! The Hulk
doesn’t say, “HULK WILL SMASH!” The Hulk says “HULK SMASH!” Either he’s laconic
to a fault or he’s too dumb to understand future tense.

Sean Medlock

COMICS SHOULD NOT BE CONFUSING

DEAR MERCURY: Dude, what the fuck is up with your comic page? They don’t
make any goddamned sense! Sad Frankenstein? [Smell of Steve, Jan 18,
Slurpee McFee] Try Stupid Frankenstein! You’d better watch out before all your
comic artists are stolen by the New Yorker.

Ace Maverick