Bragging Wrongs

Bragging Wrongs
Dump the uninformed moron: Each year Scene surprises me more and more with its finalists for best DJ in the Cleveland Music Awards [see this issue]. I would really like to know how you choose these. If it's anything like I think it is -- some uninformed moron randomly selecting his favorites -- that person needs to be fired.

Every year they somehow manage to get one or two good choices, and the rest are a joke. I'm not going to say which are which. The educated people out there know which ones deserve to be on the ballot.

Next year, I would opt for either a new selection method or a new selector. I can think of at least 10 more DJs who deserve to be on the ballot. I just can't see how in the world you came up with those final five, other than by selecting friends or through major politics. Case in point: The largest dance club in Cleveland has many residents, and not one is on your ballot. I hope I see an improvement, so the talented DJs can obtain the bragging rights to being Scene mag DJ of the Year. Not that I take those bragging rights seriously anymore.

Justin Hachat
Akron

Suing Stupids
Idiots break laws too: I really enjoyed Pete Kotz's article "The Men of Wal-Mart" [June 30], until I read the last three paragraphs. Kotz takes the stance that the class-action lawsuit against Wal-Mart is "hard to buy," because it's not as though the male Wal-Mart employees conspired to hold female employees down. Rather, they are just poor and dumb and -- well, what more could one expect?

He writes, "You buy poverty-level managers, you get poverty-level thinking." Right. Because rich people are smarter than everyone else. Rich people would never discriminate based on their religious, hetero-normative beliefs.

My gripe is twofold. First, I challenge the presumptive correlation between income and intelligence. Further, to suggest that the lawsuit lacks credibility because the defendants are "morons" adds insult to the injury. You lose your job for asserting your civil rights, but no one should support your lawsuit because you're suing the village idiot? We shouldn't penalize the poor (or the stupid) for being stupid (or poor). They are just . . . what? Born that way? That's like assuming that all white southerners are racist and then pardoning them for it.

One's background may provide an explanation for behavior, but that's not necessarily an excuse. And it's certainly not a reason for not calling them on it, even if it takes a class-action lawsuit.

Tomar Nicole Brown
Cleveland Heights

Purple Praise
Better slap that parfait on ice: Christine Howey, your layered parfait of existential prose touches that lost-soulful sweet part of my aesthetic tongue.

Your review of Hot and Throbbin' ["Talk Dirty to Me," June 30] seems as nuanced as John Kerry's position on troop deployment. Although I have not seen the show, I feel aroused to do so, though I fear I will be left an emaciated and sorry cartoon by its deleterious end.

Similarly, your review of Grease (certainly a companion to Hot and Throbbin') sums up the innate lack of character the musical itself possesses ["Listerine, Please," June 30]. I've always thought the show an immense piece of twaddle, worthy of patronage only by aesthetes for whom Dr. Laura is a legitimate Ph.D. Your astute and witty wrecking-ball essay makes my heart sing, even if it has to be doo-wop.

All in all, fine work, Ms. Howey. There are many of us out here to whom you are a standard of excellence we will always, unalterably follow.

Peter Zale
University Heights

Drunk Ad Stunk
Hatched from booze-drenched brain cells, natch: A joke! Yes, I can take a joke. But when it comes to drunk driving, nothing is funny about it [Asleep at the Wheel ad, First Punch, July 7]. C'mon, a camouflage bottle for booze? What are you thinking? And the 800 number you gave is for a medical company. Did you try it before printing it? I know it's a joke page, but that is not funny.

Denise Neice
Cleveland

School Cuts Hurt
No teachers, no "where": Regarding "Art Attacked" [June 9]: I am a drama student at the Cleveland School of the Arts. The school board has been harder on us than anyone else. We used to have wonderful teachers who knew how to get us motivated and moving in the right direction, but now we're losing that to budget cuts.

Our school is falling apart at the seams, and the school board is worried about teachers? What about where we learn? The students have been subjected to everyone else's decisions, but we should have a say too. Without the arts programs (for lack of teachers), there will be no CSA.

Sidney Battle
Cleveland

Concert Calamity
Furious fan won't be driving by: Unbelievable! I would seriously like to know what your taste is. Just who do you listen to? I have been an Edwin McCain fan for over 10 years and found your article unfounded [Nightwatch, June 30]. I can't believe this garbage that I am reading. I understand that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I find your review completely wrong. Have you ever been to an Edwin concert and seen the smiles and how much people enjoy his music? People from all ages and all states drive to hear him. I am glad I don't live near you.

Tricia Guadagno
Miami Lakes, Florida