The Final Bow

As chairman of the board of the Evidence Room since its inception 11 years ago, I am as dismayed as anyone on the planet with the circumstances surrounding leaving our home on Beverly Boulevard. Steven Leigh Morris’ review/scold of the Evidence Room’s production of The Cherry Orchard [“Wishing Well,” June 9–15] is an annoyance on top of an aggravation.

The company had begun a formal process of restructuring, under the supervision of an outside consultant. Ms. Adams had no patience for the plan and decided not to give the company a long enough lease to enact it. To characterize Mr. DeLorenzo as being “turned out” is incendiary. Ms. Adams had a vision of how she wanted things to go, and threw the company out. Her building; her prerogative.

Justin Connolly

Pacific Palisades

Warming Trends

In her review of An Inconvenient Truth [“The Tip of the Melting Iceberg,” May 26–June 1], Judith Lewis comments, “Halfway through . . . you may find yourself screaming for solutions the film never adequately provides.” This is true, and means that the film has achieved its goal of jolting your brain into desire-for-solutions mode. But to imply that the burdens of both raising awareness and providing solutions to the global-warming problem lie with this film is simply unfair. Al Gore is no scientist; he is a politician and, as such, is a professional communicator. His mission is one of raising awareness. He (wisely) leaves any science up to the scientists, among whom there is as yet no consensus “solution.” In doing so, Mr. Gore gets his important message across and retains his credibility while avoiding being perceived as a paternalistic charlatan hack by scientists and thinkers, and as a crazy rambling liberal by the blue states.

Matt Deutsch

Los Angeles

I think there may be at least one valid reason to reject carbon dioxide greenhousing as the only cause of global warming. I think what may be another cause, and perhaps even a stronger one, is that the earth’s rotation and orbit are both slowing down.

The carbon dioxide greenhouse effect plus the slowing would yield warmer days, but not warmer nights, and warmer summers, but not warmer winters.

If this slowing down actually is going on, how come the people whose job it is to monitor these motions aren’t telling us? Well, it might be that the observed changes have been so small as to not yet be considered statistically valid. But another reason could be that the social/psychological implications are pretty grim. Cutting back on carbon dioxide emissions is child’s play compared to the mega-engineering it would take to deal with the days, and the seasons, getting longer and longer.

Fact is, maybe we’re already living with some of the negative consequences. Imagine if suddenly (rather than gradually) the day-night cycle became 25 hours long rather than 24. Think you could handle 17 hours, rather than 16, of daily wake time as a permanent thing?

Charles Hockett

Los Angeles

School Violence

This past Monday, a boy was murdered on the campus of Venice High School [“Can’t We All Calm Down?” June 9–15]. He was the victim of criminal gangsterism, the sort of gang mentality our public schools unwittingly foster and nourish. I wish I could say that the fatal shooting of this innocent boy comes as a surprise. Unfortunately, it does not. If intelligent decisions and prudent actions had been made years ago, Venice would have been a safe school today.

Two years ago, I was a teaching assistant at Venice High School. I saw many things that I wish I never had to witness. One incident involved a gangster entering the campus, freely walking through the halls armed with a pistol, intent on killing a student. If it were not for sheer luck, and a malfunctioning gun, the staff at Venice would have met the same catastrophe they did a few days ago.

Venice is not unlike many urban schools throughout California. It is a powder keg of highly combustible violence waiting for the fire of a capricious match.

For years, a cancerous criminal infection has been devouring our public schools; however, it is not too late to administer a cure. By undertaking new policies and procedures, and employing responsible and innovative administrators, we can restore our public schools, such as Venice High School, to their former pillars of education. We can and we should make our schools safe for our children.

Gare Cline

Los Angeles

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