Magic Teeth by Gareth Gaudin

Letters - April 2

Likes her landlord

Re: “Renovictims No More,” March 26-April 1

I am a tenant of Dr. Domovitch and have lived in his Yates Street building for three years. I, for one, want to say that the improvements his new manager has brought are more than welcome. The place was a mess before and, I’m sorry to say, some of the tenants were scary: I had one guy who smelled like he hadn’t taken a bath in years on one side and another who smoked pot day in and day out on the other side. The hallways and the lobby looked like hell, and the maintenance people did nothing. In the last six months the place has been completely turned around; all the sordid tenants are gone, the place looks amazing and I am happy to come home after a hard day’s work. And, most importantly, I now feel safe here.

Please don’t stop your improvements, Dr. Domovitch. I know some of my friends wish their landlords would make such an effort.

Michele Clement, Victoria

Hates the sound

Re: “Sound Salvation,” March 19-25

Ah, the mind-expanding listening experience that is university radio . . . or, at least that’s the way I remember it. I grew up in Vancouver listening to UBC’s CITR in the ’80s with its consistently varied and otherwise unheard music: reggae (with a genuine Jamaican DJ!), African, Latin American, electronic, etc. This was also back when alt-music was in full force and the Sub Pop/ Seattle scene was just getting going.

Then I moved to Victoria and assumed I would hear the same eccentric blend and did . . . occasionally. Otherwise, all I ever hear are the same tired old formats: bluegrass, hot jazz, blah, blah—boring. Sorry to burst your bubble, but for any great shows that may have existed on CFUV, there are presently none that I’ve heard that I can tolerate. And this is not because music was better in those days; the programming was better.

Geoff Abel, via mondaymag.com

Smokin’ mad

Re: recent cigarette ads

Nothing undermines the supposed counter-culture stance of Monday Magazine like a full-page, full-colour cigarette ad. It’s hard to take Monday’s editorials and articles railing against things like Big Oil and Big Pharma seriously when it seems so ready and willing to sell out to Big Tobacco.

I know times are tough, but a full-page ad for cigarettes in Monday is not only hypocritical, it’s disgusting. I can only hope that the large-print warning at the bottom of the page was meant as ironic commentary on the ad being there at all.

JoAnn Dionne, Victoria

How did you come up with the bright idea to sell out Monday with cigarette advertising? Your credibility is now worth whatever B&H;pays for a full-page ad. Next time you have something to say in the way of ethics, don’t bother—it’ll sound like a joke.

Rob Thompson, Victoria

The art of conversation

Re: “Controversial Creations,” March 5-11

In a recent newspaper article by Robert Fulford about a new book on renowned artist David Hockney by Lawrence Weschler and his previous book on Robert Irwin, Fulford notes that, “They shift the reader several levels above the peevish bickering that often deadens cultural discussion and remind us that contemporary art, on some of its best days, draws us into the midst of debates that are wonderfully creative and crucially important while nevertheless irresolvable—and also, like a Hockney drawing, deeply and seriously charming.” I long for that level of debate and public criticism in Victoria.

Legitimate artists are people that make works of art primarily because they have to. They are compelled by a sometimes visible but more often invisible and inexplicable muse. One can argue that this impetus to simply do, or make art, is the highest achievement of our species.

When we verbalize or write thoughts about art that bend the arc of cultural conversation from that concerning, say, the emotive aspect of the play of shadow across a sculpture, or the delight or sorrow induced by a combination of colour and shape in a painting, to the “peevish bickering” exemplified in parts of a recent article and in some letters in your magazine, we tragically miss the point and the benefit of art.

Franc D’Ambrosio, Victoria

Punchline: April 1

Re: “The Price of Now,” March 26-April 1

I thought we had plenty of exposure and dedication to “now” in the new Design District with its most modern(ist) stores, the magazine racks at any book store and the advertising that pervades many activities that we seem to participate in.

Let’s hope that despite its “upbeat/Entertainment Tonight/interesting and important” promotion, NOW proves itself to be a museum of “contemporary and modern art and design,” for which many cities is a wonderful asset to showcase and promote what is innovative and visionary.

Rosie Kapust via mondaymag.com

Paddling mad

Re: “TC mails VIM invites,” March 19-25

We strongly oppose the application for a water lease along the shoreline of Lime Bay Park for the proposed Victoria International Marina. This stretch of waterfront along Lime Bay Park was never in any marina plans, so how can it be now? When we bought our waterfront condo in Ocean Park Towers we were not told that a marina was proposed there—because it wasn’t.

It is unacceptable that this public area has been absorbed into the marina plans and suddenly transformed into commercial property. We specifically bought this condo because the shoreline was designated a public park and therefore posed no risk of being developed. Granted, the Victoria International Marina was okayed in front of Royal Quays—but it was never supposed to be built west of Cooperage Place. This change in the plans for the proposed marina has left us, along with many of our fellow residents, outraged and unified to vigorously pursue whatever means we have to speak out against this application.

Not only does this project undermine the public’s right to enjoy this public space, it also threatens a property owner’s way of life that they have worked very hard to achieve.

Janet & Ross Shortreed, Victoria

Visit savevictoriaharbour.com to find out more about opposing the marina development.