LETTERS

Public Art

I enjoyed your comprehensive article on public art in the Dallas area (December).

However, I would like to express my disagreement with your choice of Pepper’s “Land Canal” as some of the best sculpture in the area. I feel it destroys what could be a pleasant garden setting, which, although common, is always pleasing to passersby.

In this always-crowded, car-infested, concrete-layered, popular shopping center mall (NorthPark), we need all the grass, trees and greenies we can muster. These triangular, cold, dirty-colored steel protrusions contribute to the sterility of a parking lot. And, the grass that kept falling off was a sad sight.

I feel that little trees, ground cover and grass would please NP shoppers much more than these strange protrusions.

Elizabeth Jones

I was very interested recently in Janet Kutner’s article taking a critical look at Dallas’ art -or, perhaps, the lack of art. I must agree in part with her facts and conclusions, but point out a couple of exceptions or additions.

First, many local patrons and artists are deeply devoted to the promotion of arts in Dallas. At this point, their interest has been aroused and the sophisticated nature of Dallas citizens shall mature and develop a taste for this area.

Secondly, I have found that it is almost impossible to get any cooperation from the various news media. Thus, this may be the real culprit behind the lagging arts. If these media would unplug their reporters and facilities from the police (radio) channels and cover the more interesting intellectual and artistic events locally, then Dallas should soon become a leader in the promotion of the arts.

Monty T.Waddell

Pay Check Check

I opened up my first copy of D this morning to give it a personal critique and was surprised to learn that either my father or brother, Dr. J. B. Shelmire, is listed in your “Paycheck Peeking” section as presently making $30,000 as chairman, Division of Dermatology, Southwestern Medical School. Being the black sheep of the Shelmire family, I was planning to hit them up for a loan but was told neither had lectured at Southwestern in years and had received no compensation during the decades they did. The present chairman is, in fact, Dr. James Herndon Jr., who occupies the Dr. J. B. Shelmire Chair (my grandfather, 1858-1931) of Dermatology.

Overton Shelmire

(ED: We made an error in interpreting the med school budget. Our apologies to the late Dr. Shelmire and to Dr. Herndon.)



Un-Wise Cruelty

With regard to your January article on Wes Wise, I cannot help but feel that it was unnecessarily cruel. I agree that Wise has been less than ideal as a mayor and leader and I wouldn’t vote for him again, but I don’t think that justifies this type of attack.

As much as I enjoy D overall, I feel that you have lowered your standards and exceeded the bounds of good taste (which your format fairly screams) that I would expect of your type of publication.

Noel A. Swinney

Emulations

Re: “Rednecks, Hippies and Mr. Disney” (January) by David Ritz.

Ah, but emulation is important. Steak and Ale may not be Merry Old England just as the girl next door may not be Rita Hayworth or Doris Day. But the fact of it is that the dream, the ability to emulate vicariously, is at the heart of the human mind.

Has Mr. Ritz, in his musical wanderings, ever heard of Raymond Davies (a la The Kinks)? Mr. Davies three years ago wrote an album on the coming fad of country/western music entitled Muswell Hillbillies. He relegates this fad to the same importance of other fads, whether they be misanthropy, alcoholism, Hollywoodism, or even dieting. Mr. Davies knows full well that while such emulations may be deemed “unimportant” because of their commonness, life, nevertheless, would be hell to get through without them.

Barry R. Carter



Articles Offend

I feel very strongly about your January, 1975, issue and some of the articles contained in it.

The article about Mr. Jim Ling, together with the cover of the magazine were very offensive and completely without merit in my view, and having worked in a secondary way for Mr. Ling since his first association with Temco Aircraft Corporation, I believe I am in a position to judge.

Although I do not personally know Mayor Wise, I have met him on occasion and I feel your article is the most insulting and biased group of words imaginable about the mayor of our city.

Mrs. W.A. Dunn



Piano Dean Speaks

I am writing this letter to complain about an article by Mr. John Merwin on the University of Piano. His criticism of the faculty is reckless reporting to the hilt. He has demeaned our teaching staff without any indication of having examined it.

Nearly half of the faculty has a doctor’s degree; they represent a broad social and academic background, European, Asian, and Latin American. All of our instructors in the College of Arts and Sciences have at least a master’s degree except those who are merely assisting with instruction.

Our teaching ratio is one professor to seven students, a ratio which is about as fine as you can find in any institution of higher learning. Moreover, our freshmen must not wait until their junior or senior year to gain exposure to our senior professors with doctor’s degrees, many of whom have published scholarly works and some of whom have travelled extensively abroad.

I have been teaching in institutions of higher learning for almost three decades, and I must unreservedly disagree with Mr. Merwin’s sly remark regarding our faculty.

Dr. Anthony Kubek

Academic Dean