Letters to the Editor: Comics changes, arts coverage, UK basketball season

Change is good

The outrage at recent changes in the paper was amusing and telling. It should be obvious that not everyone will be a fan of all media, but aversion to any change seemed to be the dominant reaction. I am somewhat sickened by seeing values I abhor represented in entertaining media, such as antiquated misogyny (“Dennis the Menace”, “Pickles”, “Dagwood”, “Family Circle”) and pro-police propaganda (“Jump Start”). So I skip those in favor of ones I like. As a young progressive, I appreciate comics like “Doonesbury” and others not found in this paper (see thenib.com for excellent critical comic content). Some comics I miss (“F Minus” and “Wumo”) but have delighted in several new ones. What’s wrong with shaking things up? Old favorites missed can be accessed by other means, and new favorites can be developed. I do not resist change because it is different. I resist harmful comics. (And harmful parenting advice from John Rosemond!).

Thanks to the editor for bringing back the “Dear Carolyn” column. Hax has good boundaries and powerful insights much like Jeanne Phillips (“Dear Abby”), without the occasional supremacist slant.

Joy Miracle, Nicholasville

Arts coverage

Lexington arts organizations are indeed suffering from the devastating effects of the current COVID pandemic. But for the last several years, they have been at the mercy of an even more disastrous pandemic that will still be around after COVID is gone. And that insidious epidemic is the ever-shrinking local arts coverage in the Herald-Leader. With increasing despair in the last few years, I have watched the paper’s art coverage shrivel daily and diligent reviewers (and reviews) disappear. The Friday “arts” is usually a movie review “culled” from a wire service and the comics. This is no way to acknowledge nor encourage our local artists. Whether an artistic endeavor is good, bad, or indifferent, a thriving arts community is dependent on and challenged by a discriminating, knowledgeable journalistic response. A community grows and attracts business and industry by having a robust cultural scene. For a local paper not to embrace and engage in that scene is a dereliction of duty. Serve the community and the community’s artists. It is a joyless exercise to read a newspaper with no arts coverage.

Charles Edward Pogue, Lexington

Guard against scams

With the passage of President Joe Biden’s economic recovery bill, there will be a lot of money handed out to individuals and businesses. There will also be a lot of unscrupulous people who will be eager to take that money away from people. They will call, they will text, and they will use every possible means they can to deceive people. Here are just a few things you need to know: The Internal Revenue Service and the Social Security Administration will not usually call or text. They will usually contact people by mail. Do not ever give out a Social Security number on the phone or in response to a text. Do not open any text from an unknown sender as it could contain a virus allowing the sender to gain access to information stored in your phone. Just remember some of the old adages like “If it sounds too good to be true, it is.” Be careful using your debit or credit cards; they are easily scanned, even by people standing 10 feet or more away. We have learned this the hard way.

Harry E. Tucker, Lexington

Fans need more

I wonder if there’s any chance the University of Kentucky will ever go back to building a college basketball program instead of just being a one year prep school for McDonald’s All Americans who want to go pro. Fans deserve better.

Ray Reeves, Largo, Florida

All together now

Taking the knee doesn’t denigrate the flag. Our athletes’ parents, grandparents and great grandparents have all defended the flag, and even lost their lives in defending it.

We all love the United States of America. We all love the same sports, good food, and great music. We all speak the same language, and love hard-working, talented people. We all want safe, happy, healthy children.

We all want justice for all which means we all have to work for a better America. Let’s encourage true progress, justice, and kindness and discourage retrogression, injustice and oppression, and meanness.

Suzanne Zivari, Lexington