Letters from the Issue of March 11, 2004

No Time for the Whine Professional protesters like Bork need to get a job — and a life: As long as Kirk Nielsen is the acting head of the Jamie “Bork” Loughner Fan Club, perhaps he can enlighten everyone as to what this professional complainer does for a living (“No…

Letters from the Issue of March 4, 2004

Kendall: Nightlife Hotspot No velvet ropes, no overpriced cocktails, and lots of free parking: After reading Rebecca Wakefield’s article “Rope Tricks” (February 26), I now know why these South Beach nightspots come and go so rapidly: They refuse entry to almost everyone! Do you think Burdines should tell fat people…

Culture Snob Alert

Here on South Beach, folks tend to view current affairs through a slightly warped prism. Did presidential hopeful John Kerry smooth away his visible worries via a Botox treatment? Does Kerry, as one Bush administration aide famously quipped, “look French”? Those are questions this city’s body politic is well prepared…

Letters from the Issue of February 26, 2004

Don’t You Recognize Blind Ambition When You See It? Free weekly snuggles up to ax-grinders: Could New Times go back to attacking real mismanagement and incompetence, or do you support anybody with a personal ambition and an ax to grind (“Sustained Objections,” February 19)? Is there a public defender’s office…

Sofrito con Guacamole

Kidd Cumbia, a.k.a. David Elizondo, is distracted. He’s trying to focus on the surprise success of A Toda Maquina (Full Force), the debut album from his group ATM. Yet he can’t help looking across the lobby of the Sofitel Hotel near Miami International Airport at a group of young men…

Letters from the Issue of February 19, 2004

So Many Questions, So Few Answers When did she shoot? Why did she shoot? Where was the emotion? Did Denise Calvo participate in the murder of her husband? I asked myself that on the evening the crime occurred, when it was covered on television news. When I saw Kirk Nielsen’s…

Scene Stealer

“Havana Suite is sold out?” groused the crestfallen young woman bellying up to the Miami International Film Festival ticket counter. “Are you sure?” Standing nearby, Kulchur tried to offer some words of solace: Don’t worry, I’ve seen it and you’re not missing much. The woman stepped back to re-examine the…

Letters from the Issue of February 12, 2004

Download This Only a techno-moron would say such a thing: I was appalled by the level of inaccuracy in Tristram Korten’s column “Deeply Digitally Divided” (February 5), in which he stated that the e-Equality computer technology center was “the only tech center in town with the resources to dramatically improve…

Myth Makers

While it’s certainly true that one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter, with Che Guevara that maxim has become downright surreal. Today the revolutionary icon’s writings are simultaneously admired by teenage Howard Dean volunteers in Burlington and Taliban leaders in the Afghan countryside; they are parsed for strategies by…

Letters from the Issue of February 5, 2004

In Over Their Heads Let’s thank the volunteers serving on public boards, then show them the door: Tristram Korten’s fine column on the Public Health Trust audits (“An Embarrassment of Audits,” January 29) ought to be a lesson to this community on the consequences of placing public institutions in the…

Letters from the Issue of January 29, 2004

Our Most Sincere Thanks for the Insult Miami’s Pilates professionals will appreciate an apology: I commend assistant calendar editor Juan Carlos Rodriguez on his article about Pilates and the Hub center (“Clearing Mind, Fixing Body,” January 22). The Pilates Method Alliance (PMA) is the international, not-for-profit professional association for the…

Heavy in Hialeah

This week Universal Music Latino releases a compilation called Heavy Hitters: The Best of Spanish Hip-Hop. Who are these heavy hitters? Best-selling rappers like Big Pun, Fat Joe, and Tego Calderón? Up-and-coming rhymers like Don Dinero and Pitbull? Or old-school pioneers like Vico C, Kid Frost, Delinquent Habits, and Mellow…

Miguel and the Money Man

Their hours may be different, but Miami’s leading political figures are looking an awful lot like nightclub owners these days. In the looming August race to succeed Alex Penelas as Miami-Dade mayor, no less than in the competitive world of clubland, lining up a steady stream of VIP appearances is…

Letters from the Issue of January 22, 2004

Bash Us, Lash Us, Trash Us Just don’t bore us: One more time, hats off to Ronald Mangravite — a tough, uncompromising, insightful, passionate, unfailingly decent, and even-handed example of that most dreaded profession: theater criticism (“Aural Sex,” January 15). Even when he “reams” us theater folks, he does it…

The War of Art

“There are five different art fairs in South Florida now!” laughed Manhattan gallery owner Claire Oliver as a well-heeled crowd streamed past her exhibition space at last week’s Art Miami show. “That’s a lot of art for anyone to stay on top of.” Actually there are only three sprawling art…

Letters from the Issue of January 15, 2004

In the Beginning Was the Word And the word was “awesome”: I just finished reading Rebecca Wakefield’s cover story “The Sociology of Suds” (January 8) and had to write to say that it was awesome. I wish there were more journalism being done like this. I thought it was brilliant…

Letters from the Issue of January 8, 2004

I Know a Thing or Two about Beauty Pageants And this one is anything but beautiful: Thanks to Forrest Norman for his article about Mario Princigalli and his Miss Cuban-American pageant (“Tiara Squirm-a!” December 25). I competed in this year’s pageant and I had a terrible experience. My parents were…

Letters from the Issue of January 1, 2004

To Shoot or Not To Shoot That isn’t a question unless you’re packing heat: Mario Barcia may or may not have known he was shooting at a police officer (based on the witnesses and circumstances, he probably didn’t), but what Steven Dudley’s article “A Shot in the Dark” (December 18)…

Mutating Airwaves

For progressives the jury is still out on Miami-Dade mayoral hopeful José Cancela. Is the Radio Unica president poised to take a much-needed, businesslike approach to overhauling county hall, à la Manny Diaz? Or is he simply Alex Penelas with a firmer handshake and a more convincing smile? Is Cancela…

Letters from the Issue of December 25, 2003

FTAA: Thug That would be Chief John Timoney: There was so much righteous, justified, and articulate indignation over Miami’s handling of the FTAA ministerial meetings that I was hesitant to comment. But I want to congratulate New Times and reporters like Celeste Fraser Delgado for your coverage and dedication. If…

That Eighties Show

For the kinder, the Eighties are one long Cyndi Lauper video, all asymmetrical haircuts, striped leg warmers, and fun, fun, fun ’til daddy takes the DeLorean away. For those of us who actually lived through the decade, however, that imaginary nostalgia is leavened with a bit more ambivalence — a…

Letters from the Issue of December 18, 2003

Mission Accomplished We cops prevented chaos and we’re proud of it: After reading New Times’s coverage of the FTAA protests, I wanted to add my view of the events. I was on the other side of the line — the side getting bottles of urine, golf balls, and rocks thrown…