BRILLIANTLY SUBTLE

Dear Editor: Was your piece on parking lots meant to be sarcastic
[“Save Our Parking Lots,” Dominic Holden, Aug 21]? If it was, the
subtlety was brilliant. If not, then why are you paying the author to
paint turds? Dominic’s idea that parking lots are the last refuge for
the city is lost on me. I’m stupefied as to why a supposedly
progressive paper would lend a sounding board to NIMBY-minded grouches?
The parking lot is a throwback to the days when we drove everywhere,
when we had so much room we could have a barren lot to park our
Packards. But in a time of environmental awareness and sprawl, it’s
time to build up, and fix our transportation and homeless issues. Let’s
think forward and not try to “hold on to the night,” because even
Richard Marx can’t paint a turd into something it’s not.

Chapter Cavanaugh

THE EDITOR RESPONDS: In answer to your first question,
yes.

ATROCIOUS ATTITUDE

Jen Graves: This by far is the most important and newsworthy article
you have written [“No, Not Here, That’s Not Possible,” Aug 21]. Thank
you for writing it. Although I am no longer painting in a professional
capacity, I spent many years in St. Louis (and here) pursuing a life of
painting. In the late ’80s and early ’90s, I spent many hours in the
St. Louis Museum of Art drawing marble sculptures and copying
paintings. For years to follow, I was always so pleased to see students
of all stripes littering the galleries, engaged in the pursuit of
“art.” I actually considered the weekly or bimonthly trips to the
museum a bust if I didn’t get to see people working. I also felt
especially lucky because I was able to take college credit courses
through the world-famous Laumeier Sculpture Park; I spent many summer
days sitting in the park drawing and analyzing sculpture.

The reasons I quit painting professionally are many, but I do think
one of them is the nature of Seattle. Despite being a member of SAM, I
think it is an atrocious museum. I think the attitude of SAM is
atrocious. And I think painting, specifically, is completely
undervalued in Seattle. Perhaps it is me (and getting much older) or
perhaps it is just the current zeitgeist, but the whole DIY movement
has created an “arty” culture that lacks any art culture.

Jack Wesley Wagstaff

MORE PUKING!

Dear Letters to the Editor: “Li’l Bama” and his malt liquor was the
second Drunk of the Week in a row [Aug 21] that resorted to racist
themes (see: “Richard Swimming Eagle” [Aug 14]). More photos of people
puking in waste bins and showing of their nether regions, less racism!
Thanks.

Minneapolis Matthew

DIABETES RISING

EDITOR: In your New Column section we have three dashing
stories.

Marcus Krittendorn blathering about ice-cream flavors, comic books,
and a teeth-
dissolving product known as a Slurpee [Aug 21]. Is
this the truth, Marcus? This the best you can bring us with the space
allotted to you?

“John McCain’s Swollen Gland” [Aug 7] is about as witty and
enlightening as the rest of his swollen corpse.

“Cancer Rising” [Aug 14]: 7.6 million people died of cancer last
year worldwide. Was “Diabetes Rising” already taken?

Joe Rota

GRAVY-POSITIVE

EDITOR: My father was born near Chickasaw, Oklahoma, and due to this
fact I also have a gravy-positive blood type [“Chicken-Fried Vision
Quest,” Joan Hiller, Aug 21]. Chicken-fried steak was a meal that was
often requested, though infrequently delivered due to the labor of
cooking it for a family of nine. To this day, it is still the meal that
my brothers and I request for our birthdays. Joan’s article brought
back greasy, aromatic memories of my chicken-fried childhood.

Finding a good CFS in the Northwest is not an easy task. Most have
been passable; some have been Lovecraftian creations of pure fucking
terror. The single best CFS I have had in the Pacific Northwest is from
a little restaurant in Centralia called the Country Cousin. I stopped
there on my way to Portland last year and I cannot recommend it enough.
I would advise you to skip the dining room and head straight to the
lounge.

Thanks for the memories.

Ryan Ellis

EDITOR’S NOTE: The response to “Chicken-Fried Vision Quest”
was prodigious. Other readers recommend the chicken-fried steak at
Geraldine’s Counter in Columbia City, Austin Cantina in Ballard, Beth’s
on Aurora, Tommy’s in Renton, and the Cozy Diner in Chico,
California.