Speak Out 11/14/08

Extremely offensive

I'M GLAD the university is going to offer refunds for those who bought tickets to the play "Sister Mary Ignatius." That was offensive. The short play "The Actor's Nightmare" was not really that enjoyable, either, although I could see there was artistic merit in it. But "Sister Mary" was extremely offensive. It could have been done tastefully. A poke at the excesses of a religion is not necessarily in bad taste, but this was not in good taste. It carried the message about the ridiculousness of our faith to the extreme. In addition, it was mean-spirited, picking on people in the audience.

Time travel

SATURDAY NIGHT, I believe I traveled in time in my sleep and awakened Sunday in some communist country in 1945. I read a newspaper article about the local university theater being forced to refund ticket prices for a play that some powers-that-be perceived as offensive, and a second play was stopped before it even opened for the same reason. Isn't this America? What happened to freedom?

Play censorship

I THOUGHT we had the right of freedom of speech, as plays come to Cape Girardeau without being censored. This was a quality play. You're supposed to give all views.

City cleanup

WHY IS it that when I see trash on the ground, it's never a fiber bar wrapper or a Nutri-Grain box? It's most always a 64-ounce foam cup or an empty pack of cigarettes. Could it be that the people who don't care about their own bodies don't care about how their streets look? I'm a college student, and I pick up trash on my walk to school every day. The city needs to step in with some type of regulation, whether it be higher fines or more public disposal units. Let's keep Cape Girardeau clean.

Local businesses

I WAS born and raised in Cape Girardeau. I never realized our dependence and addiction to corporations until venturing out of the state. I spent the summer in Portland, Ore., a city with around 500,000 people, only to realize that Cape Girardeau has close to as many fast-food restaurants as Portland. I've watched small business after small business go down the drain, while at the same time watching the lines at the discount stores and fast-food drive-throughs grow to disgusting extremes. There are only about a handful of restaurants in Cape Girardeau that are not owned by some out-of-state multimillion-dollar corporation. After the recent closing of Grace Cafe, I felt compelled to bring this to the attention of all Southeast Missourians. It seems like most of the area doesn't care or doesn't understand that buying from a local business is good for the city and good for its people. Have a little city spirit, people.