Drawing the Line

October 23, 2003

Panel discussion: I’d like to think that most people don’t get their information from cartoon strips. Unfortunately, reading one of your letters to the editor, that would appear to be the case — particularly the hyperventilating, sexist, racist nitwit Edie Harrison in the October 2 issue, who thinks that the president “robs” citizens and spends “all that money to kill people,” and then goes on about how if “white men run the country, we’re going to all die.” Apparently, Harrison believes that if nonwhite females were in charge, we’d all suddenly become immortal. And those of us who actually paid attention in junior high learned that it’s the legislative branch that actually makes the budget, imposes taxes and approves wars. Well, except for this last Congress, which, to my infinite disgust, simply abdicated that last responsibility in order to hedge its bets. What’s scary is that Harrison is probably a qualified voter, despite her tenuous grasp of both civics and reality.

The City cartoon, printed on the same page, purports to be an “update” of failures in the War on Terror. It deserves a similar fisking. The first panel claims that “so far, we’ve managed to kill three times as many innocent civilians as al-Qaeda killed on Sept. 11….” It’s appalling enough that Derf sees fit to determine anybody’s “innocence,” but worse that he delightedly compares the months of our liberation efforts on multiple fronts to al-Qaeda’s body count on a single day.

Moral relativism at its finest.

Actually, this summer, fewer humans died in the sweltering war zone in Iraq than French elderly died in their apartments due to the typical compassionate nonintervention of the French government. One might imagine that’s almost not funny enough to make Derf’s comic strip. No, only this country can do wrong.

If Bush’s “regime” was so awfully repressive, how would this bedwetter’s factually inaccurate crap see print?

Maureen Lawlor

Kansas City, Missouri

Surface Tension

You’re so vain: I like the Pitch. I really do.

But I find it amusing that the same Pitch that blasted Abercrombie & Fitch for hiring only “good-looking” people (Ben Paynter’s “Don’t Hate Me Because I’m Beautiful,” September 4) is the same Pitch that tells us to go to a certain McDonald’s because it has “hot Brazilian men” and names the “Best Hottie on Channel 2” as well as a myriad of other completely vain (yet funny) titles (“Best of Kansas City,” October 9).

I’ve got another in-depth story for you to cover. Apparently, there’s a “restaurant” in KC that only hires hot girls and puts them in tight tank tops and even tighter orange shorts. Where’s the outrage? And, I hear that strip joints hire only hot women. Well, good strip joints, anyhow.

Brian Boye

Lee’s Summit

Truck Stop

Checkered flag: Regarding Ben Paynter’s “Your Logo Here” (October 2): Sounds likes Aaron Daniel should quit drinking so much beer and placing bets with money he doesn’t have! (Paynter’s article says he was racing for a house payment.) Also sounds like he needs to support his kids and significant other’s kids the old-fashioned way — a JOB!

Dude needs to grow up and stop blaming some ex-wife! Pitiful.

Name Withheld Upon Request

Cash Cowed

Personal finance: Allie Johnson’s “King of Pain,” regarding the payday-loan situation in KC (September 18), did not address the entire picture. As has been suggested in other letters to the editor, the people who patronize these businesses are unable to obtain loans from other institutions because they are high-risk. Johnson’s article never addressed the number of people who default on their loans and how much money Paul Silverman may lose on these loans. It is unfortunate, but people like Brenda Lewis, who are hardworking and honest and will never default on a loan, end up subsidizing those who won’t pay.

Johnson should have more clearly defined exactly how much Mr. Silverman makes from this operation. He does not live in a million-dollar home, drive a Mercedes or decorate his family with many frills. They are upper-middle-class and are active in the community. If UMB would take a chance on the same clientele, there would be no reason for Mr. Silverman to charge the rates that he does. The other side of the coin is that if Mr. Silverman was not there to help Ms. Lewis, where would she be with her salary cut? Perhaps with no home at all. We need to look at the “big picture” before we condemn someone who is actually a very decent human being.

Steve Williamson

Kansas City, Missouri

Critic Acclaim

Dishing it out: Two years ago, I returned to KC after a seven-year absence and eagerly turned to the Pitch to reacquaint myself with happenings in the metro. When I realized that Charles Ferruzza was the paper’s food critic, I cringed. Eight years earlier, Ferruzza had written disparagingly (in a now defunct Johnson County Sun gossip column) about the couture I had worn to a mutual friend’s birthday party. I felt vindicated when I found the same tone in his food column. Ferruzza typically wrote restaurant reviews that featured himself and his friends as gadabout intellectuals forced to exchange bons mots in dreadful restaurants, located in strip malls and frequented by suburban dullards. Worse, he made disparaging remarks about servers, questioning their intelligence and their cultural literacy.

But over the last two years, Ferruzza has softened, and he seems to have moved away from that mocking and self-aggrandizing tone. Instead, he has been writing columns that showcase his considerable talents. Ferruzza knows food, and his writing informs his readers about cuisine in a sophisticated yet understandable manner. Even those of us with undeveloped palates can appreciate his perspective and can make better dining choices because of his recommendations. He places local restaurants in historical and spatial perspective, reminding his readers of how local neighborhoods and architecture have changed. Similarly, he enlightens the reader with culinary histories ranging from discourses on Italian delicacies to the food staples of Americana. Ferruzza also seems to realize that venues for food and drink are inseparable from the processes of urban redevelopment that Kansas City so desperately needs; when he showcases urban restaurants, a subtext is included that says our city has something to offer.

So thanks, Charles, for a great column. And by the way, I never wear Tevas and white socks anymore.

Ed Scanlon

Kansas City, Missouri

Ribbon Roundup

We know, we know, this is getting kind of repetitive — but Pitch writers and designers have distinguished themselves in yet another round of contests, and we can’t help bragging about it.

Art Director Doug Kubert dominated the Midwest in the 2003 contest put on by Print, the national graphic-design magazine. His covers for the issues of June 20, 2002 (designed around an illustration by Brian Stauffer, depicting the victims of failed plastic surgery), and August 29, 2002 (Kubert called on local artist David Terrill to illustrate a story about a KU girl gored during the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain), were named Regional Annual Winners. And his layouts for “Jacking Around” (a February 7, 2002, story about lawsuits and investigations dogging the Lone Jack Police Department), “Lover’s Leap” (a March 28, 2002, story about a near-murderous romance between skydivers) and “No Contest” (an August 1, 2002, story about an elderly doctor charged with rape) were all named Regional Annual Winner/Feature Spread.

The Pitch also took home several plaques after the Missouri Press Association’s annual awards banquet on September 27. Competing against other weeklies around the state, Kubert won first place for Best Newspaper Design and second place for Best Front Page. Writer Deb Hipp won first and second place in the feature story category (for “Feminine High Jinks,” August 22, 2002, and “Adventures in Tight Lacing,” January 9, 2003, respectively). Joe Miller earned top honors for Best Young People’s Coverage (for “La Familia,” January 23, 2003) as well as for Best Coverage of Government (for “Money Changes Everything,” July 25, 2002; “The Eternal Question No. 1,” October 24, 2002; and “Smell of Success,” March 6, 2003). He also merited an honorable mention in the same category for “Nace Baiting” (February 13, 2003). Casey Logan nabbed second place in the Business Story category (for “Little Blight Lies,” July 11, 2002). And Allie Johnson earned honorable mention in Investigative Reporting (“Hell on Wheels,” September 5, 2002).