Letters to the editor April 4
Wowza, what a show!
The highest of kudos and thanks for the Homeschool Theater Club production of “Elsa and Anna” and their adaptation of “Frozen” March 29 and 30 at the Whitefish Performing Arts Center. Wowza, the marvelously high caliber of both singing and acting was truly profound, given the young age level and consequent limited amount of prior experience. What a remarkable achievement.
Three overflow audiences were more than treated and thrilled to a complete package of choreography, staging, efficiency of the crew in scene changes, professional directing, costuming, and the number of assorted highly skilled folks needed to make this happen just can’t be applauded and appreciated enough. The time this army of people spent in preparation boggles the mind. From across the board, a fabulous piece of work so well done. And not to slight anyone, I would especially like to commend Madison Wambeke as Anna and her outstanding performance. Boy, did you ‘nail it,’ young lady. Amy Baker as Elsa also shows remarkable maturity of voice and style well beyond her years.
What is particularly unfortunate, however, is the number of valley theater goers who have no idea of what they missed. I can also appreciate the difficulty of getting advanced word out for such giant, mountaintop experiences such as this and the subsequent need of a venue to accommodate the response. God bless FVCC and generous local donors for their efforts as well in this regard.
—Herb White, Kalispell
Bullying and conspiracy theories
Two topics or subjects concern me.
Topic/subject No. 1: We as a nation have for years spent time, energy and money stating that bullying, calling people names, mocking or making fun of people was NOT acceptable. If it wasn’t acceptable in the past, it is not acceptable in the present and it certainly is not acceptable in the future. We now have people (including our president) that practice all of these, which in turn encourages others to do it. NO folks, if it wasn’t acceptable in the past, it isn’t acceptable in the present and it certainly is NOT acceptable in the future! We need to stop this insane behavior, we are better than that, it demeans us as a nation and people!
Topic/subject No. 2: If words matter and if facts matter, how in the world do conspiracy theories happen? I knew they existed but am surprised at how many are out there, how ridiculous some of them are (subjects A-Z). We should be shutting them down from the start. So, NO FOLKS, Democrats aren’t the enemy of the people! Muslims aren’t the enemy of the people! Conspiracies ARE the enemy of the people!
—Linda Edwards, Kalispell
Library storytime selection
I was at the Kalispell ImagineIF library on March 18 with a class of four- and five-year-old children. A children’s librarian read two books to my class. I was shocked and grieved to discover that the second book had as its topic homosexual marriage. I consider this topic totally inappropriate for an audience of preschoolers. I was disappointed that the librarian did not tell me in advance that she would introduce such a controversial subject to innocent children. Had I known in advance, I would not have subjected the children to listening to this book being read.
—Sherry Stockham, Kalispell
[Editor’s note: Stockham’s letter prompted us to ask ImagineIF about the library’s policy on selecting books for storytime. See the article on page A2.]
Terrorists and immigration
I feel compelled to point out a few important things before the kerfuffle over the Mueller report clouds the airwaves.
Most of the terrorists from the Middle East come from one country — Saudi Arabia. Their fortune is used to fund terrorism with the aim of killing or enslaving anybody who is not a follower of Islam. They murdered an American resident journalist in the Turkish embassy. This is all ignored by our current administration.
One other thing we should note; Congressman Steve King’s District in Iowa has tens-of-thousands of undocumented workers who are the backbone of the agricultural factories for milk, chicken nuggets and cheese. ICE hasn’t arrested a single one of these producers who are conspiring to evade immigration and taxation laws since 2011. Not to mention it is easier to get away with abusing undocumented workers doing dangerous work. When permanently disabled from an injury on the job there is no paycheck even though most workers pay the applicable taxes. I would submit this is taxation without representation and nothing I see in the Constitution indicates visitors to our country don’t have the same rights as any human if we truly believe in justice. I’m just saying, maybe it’s time ICE gave Congressman King’s constituents a reminder that it is unlawful to employ workers who got over the wall. Only maybe this time instead of picking on one small dairy farmer go for the big cheese? Pick one of the corporations that are in effect running a conspiracy on an interstate level to evade immigration and taxation laws, state and federal. THAT would be justice.
— Robert Petersen, Evergreen