Sexual Healing
To the Editor,Is Dan Huff the new byline of Ed Finkelstein? Huff's self-righteous article "Slimeball Swami" (Tucson Weekly, July 13) about Swami Amar Jyoti offends both his readers and his profession.
Huff doesn't seek truth. He already knows it. Has he only interviewed Marcel? She won a ruling in small claims. Was the Swami in the U.S. or India at the time? She feels she was manipulated. The quotes do not say coerced. Should we blame Jyoti's devotee for not speaking to Huff? He attacks her Holy Man. The rest of the piece is rumors, innuendo and profane bile.
There are other interpretations. Marcel asserts that the Swami presents himself "like a celibate monk." Yet a glance a Jyoti's writing reveals his Tantric roots. His devotees may consider Marcel to be ungrateful for his healing ministries. Discreteness may have been cautioned to forestall jealousy amongst the devotees. Rather than victim/predator we may be viewing a clash of cultural and personal expectations. Huff has taken neither the time nor the perspective to uncover the truth.
What good is Huff pursuing? He isn't telling the Swami's small following any news. This isn't American muckraking. Muckraking is the exposure of entrenched corruption within mainstream institutions. Rather Huff's insults pander to the prurient interests and prejudices of readers. He's building readership on the cheap.
Given the content of your advertisers' messages from which the
Weekly profits and Huff is paid, neither of you have the
high ground from which to pass judgment.
--Jeff Barker
Heavy Psi
To the Editor,Your "slimeball guru" article leaves out one key piece of information, and that is the reason why beings like Amar Jyoti are able to have such influence on receptive people. The general public may believe that victims are simply being taken in by clever, manipulative men posturing as gurus. But these gurus have developed real psychic and spiritual powers that enable them to channel powerful spiritual energies. These energies can make receptive people feel blissful, high, deeply loved, or connected to God. Used by a truly enlightened being, they can be a valuable tool for helping spiritual seekers. But as with all power, when used by someone with corrupted integrity, it can only lead to abuse. Unfortunately, Amar Jyoti has used it to create psychic enslavement
--Ric Weinman
Color Me Brown
To the Editor,I'm amused by Tom Danehy's diatribe against a whining scribe named Kevin ("To The Letter," Tucson Weekly, July 13). I'm also dismayed by Danehy's hostility to those who possess no love for Tucson's fine sports teams, especially the UA's. I didn't move to Tucson so I could fall in love with the Wildcats, nor do I have any desire to. I'm like the Red Sox fanatic in Manhattan, or the Yankee lover in Cambridge, Massachussetts, living serenely in the midst of a hostile sports community. Hostile to his or her team, that is. But why not? There's more to Tucson than our fine local teams, such as our excellent UA art museums and local artists, splendid Mexican cuisine and spectacular natural scenery.
My athletic loyalties belong to the Ivy League, and will forever
remain there, especially to my alma mater, Brown University, despite
a graduate degree from Camp Wildcat. So next spring, I'll be cheering
the victorious Pennsylvania Quakers as they run circles and score
points past the hopeless Arizona Wildcats during the first game
of the NCAA basketball tournament. And, I hope, still living in
Tucson.
--John Kwok
Faculty Fuss
To the Editor,Regarding "New Campus Update" (Tucson Weekly, June 29): Were the faculty members who are agitated by the New Campus site selection, or those who are so offended at the timing of (summer) meetings for the selection, even invited to teach there yet? If we are to believe in the fundamental purpose of the New Campus (and we should!), they will not simply be transplanting tenured faculty to a new location.
I don't believe that the New Campus is named (temporarily?) such
because it is just an extension of the old attitudes and the old
UA. It is my impression and hope that the new University is striving
to be as genuinely new as possible, and therefore will not be
bussing old (of any age) faculty with old attitudes (academic
research, textbook lectures, teaching assistants, scantron exams,
etc.) to whatever location the faculty of the existing institution
sees as most desirable (convenient). The UA faculty has as much
of a right to be concerned with the location of the New Campus
as any other citizen, as well as the right to seek employment
on a faculty with new attitudes (teaching). However, if tenured
faculty members assume that they automatically have a place in
the new school, they have missed the point of it entirely.
--Jamie Williams
Funny Business
To the Editor,I have enjoyed the Tucson Weekly for many years and have never written a letter to you. However, after years of reading the back page, I feel compelled to express my opinion regarding the flip-side cartoon. I don't get it! This Mueller guy is just not funny at all and most of the time his cartoons do not make sense. Of all the great single-frame cartoons I see in print everyday,
--Trenton Blair
Bite The Big Apple
To the Editor,Good grief, how long has it been since M.F. Munday visited New York? Having moved to Tucson two months ago after living in Manhattan for 37 years, I find he is very out of touch with the Big Apple.
In "Neighborhood Knockout" (Tucson Weekly, July 20), Munday writes, "In cities like New York, just turn the corner and you're likely to find a great neighborhood spot." Maybe in a few sections of Greenwich Village, but as for the rest of New York, forget it. Why? High rents.
About Munday's citing the Isle of Capri as a great neighborhood spot: Because we had friends who lived near this restaurant, we had to endure three dinners there. Soft pasta with acid sauces, mushy veal, hard lettuce salads--need I say more? Yes. I doubt the decor had been painted since it opened, and so we looked at dirty walls. I imagine the waiters have been there for 40 years, too. How else could they master such surly indifference so well? The wine list is mercifully short and invites one to ask for San Pellegrino, which, or course, they don't have. Prices--middling expensive; but if one is looking for value--outrageously expensive.
In fact, the Isle of Capri, all 40 years of it, doesn't make the pages of Zagat, New York's best restaurant guide. But Cucina Stagionale does, as does the venerable Chumley's, El Rincon España and other such "good neighborhood spots around the corner." Note: All are in the Village.
But enough of taking Munday to task. The flip side is that thanks
to him, we went to Olson's on Broadway and had an excellent dinner,
served well in pleasant surroundings. Thanks.
--Craig Perkins
