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jft the tribune wednesday august 4 1982 a rv f va editors mail dear mrlthomas 9f thejuly21 issue r the tribune which included both your own editorials comment in addition to letters from con- cerned citizens amply demonstrates that some who haunt art galleries suffer from a conglomeration of afflictions i among which i will number myopia and hardening of the attitudes- although i am not a doctor perhaps the following h might serve to set those above on the road to recovery l 5ithe concerns expressed by your paper break down into two broad categories 1 sexism and 2 pornography let me deal with each of these in turn as to the first jack dales photographs consti- tute if anything a strong feminist state ment his earlier pieces deal literally with the social fragmentation of women an idea which was prompted by the artist having read germaine greers the female eunuch the stained glass pieces further this theme each given an intentionally trite title illustrates that- women a re of ten reduced to or objectified as bodily parts backfront attitudes quiet or roles wash but the strongest statement was found in the three worxs- on the south wallthere de- humanization surfaced as women as cheerleaders they have mouths and speak riot they have eyes and see not dumb blond on tv or a beauty pageant queen each image is paired with a bib lical quotation in which the basic human ity of womanhood is underscored such contradiction between image and quota tion creates irony a type of humor found in much of dales work as to the charge of pornography cum immorality one needs here to distinguish between nakedness and the presenta- tionexploitation of nakedness i am cer- tain no one finds nakedness in itself obscehe it is the context which creates the latter if this were not so then many of the worlds greatest pieces of art would have to be tarred with the same pornog- raphic brush and hidden away in museumbasemenfs so asnot to offend the latcham gallery is not in the busi- ness of exhibiting pornography i found nothing lurid or prurient in jack dales- exhibition and have no more difficulty in discussing this work with my own chil- dren than i woulld a rembrandt nude or a- piece of classical nude sculpture as the above would suggest if anything dales context is polemical not pornographic one further point of clarification i am not the chairman of latcham gallery that position is in other very capable hands but rather its director respectfully- david phillips director the latcham gallery thetrlsorle maybe its best i remain a spectator 11 established 1888 james thomas editor in cruel i u barry wwallace andrew p cook publisher advertising manager editorial 0ept jim holt jim irving display advertising dept rod spicer bryan armstrong classified advertisingcirculation joan marshman office manager doreen deacon i business office eileen glover i national advertising representative dan poyntz 363- 1051 published every wednesday at 54 main st stoullville ont tel 6402101 single copies 25 sbusenptions 13 00 per year in canada s35 00 j elsewhere member of canadian community newspapers association ontario weekly newspapers association ontario press council and suburban newspapers of america second class mail registration number 0896 tre soulfville tribune is one of the meirolario printing s publishing ltd group ol suburrm newspapers which includes the acton free prebs aia whitbv pickcnna news advertiser aurora banner newmarket era aurora 8anner newmarket era weekend edition the bolton enterprise bramp ton guardian the burlington post the burlmton weekend post the fctobicoke adverliser guardian the georgetown independent markham tnornhill economist and sun the milton champion tru- mississauga news the mississauga news weekend edition the north york mirror oakulle beaver oakvilie friday beaver oshawa this week oshawa this weekend tne richmond hji inomhn liberal the scarborough mirror the vvoodbridge svaughan news ro aaa i n g aro u n q a m rtinj cini r v hes good neigiborsam 640 continue siren serenade residents of whitchurchstouf fville are very complacent with respect to singular events as individuals we tend to hibernate all year round because of this unexplained and re- grettable attitude its good to be shocked out of our socks once in awhile so we can stretch our collective arms rub our collectiveeyes and askwhats happening the way to accomplish this is through the sounding of the fire siren nothing stirs us from our lethargy like the wail of this mechanical device perched atop the clock jower most folks will at least raise themselves on their elbows and sniff the air for smoke some will even peer out their doors and windows to find out whats going on to learn the next morning that all the fuss was merely a way of recognizing a cham- pionship ball hockey or soccer team is indeed irritatingto a few irritating enough that fire chief walt smith the recipient of all the complaints feels its not worth the aggrava tion its our understanding and this word comes secondhand because chief smith is currently on vacation that the practisehas been discontinued if this is so wvre asking chief smith to re- consider for it is he who is headmanning the fire departmentnotthesquawkers who seemingly would prefer to sleep in a cemetery- r apart from this theres a tradition at stake here xtradition that should not be undermined by a minority 4 t y the situation came to the forefront of atten- tiori at a parks and recreation board meeting last week the stouffvillestingersva girls team had just won the regional title and will 1 now advance to the allontario championships in kingston this month themanagement felt the feat was of sufficientimportance to war- rant a toot around town chief smith however felt otherwise it would be he who would be chewed out the next day not the coach or players so be it hes undoubtedly been chewed out before for lesser reasons regardless it should be pointed out that a dozen ball players and their supporters can be equally antagonistic so much so should they win the provincial title at kingston theyve promised a cavalcade of blaring car horns that will indeed wake the dead lets hope the fire truck and its accompanying siren are part of the procession onceuponatime there was a country cus tom whereby neighbors banded together in groups of six eight or ten and helped each other i it was strictly volunteer no questions asked no money exchanged just an accepted part of rural life how it all originated im not sure a throw back to pioneer days i suspect when folks did much the same as a lad in my teens i thought it was great for one thing it brought everyone to one place at one time often as many as twentyfive and thirty depending on the task at hand but the thing i remember most were the meals spreads like you wouldnt believe both at home and away while we thought the work was hard and it was what went on inside the kitchens of the various homes was harder still for push button cpnveniences hadnt yet arrived at least not at our place so much of the cooking was done on a coaloil stove thinking back- dont know how my mother ever did it no soon er were the dinner dishes cleared and washed than the table was reset for supper dependingon the weather seldom did threshing or silofilling last more than a couple of days then it was on to the next and the next until all the harvest was in freeman ramer at markham did our threshing work foryears the arrival of his huge rumley tractor was an event in itself i can remember running down the road to meet it then watching in amazement as he would imanipulate both units up the barn hill with effortless easel this same freeman ramer was a superb machinist who kept his cquipmentin excellent shape and nothing everperturbed him- even the morning he arrived todiscover we kids had been trying to startthe big tractor the night before without success in doing so we had flooded it delaying the bee by more than an hour but he never said a word just went about his work until all was rectified i remem ber watching the episodefrom a safe dis- tance the arrival of the combine and the corn- harvester changed all this farmers became more independent and neighborliness bowed to progress never really to return we didnt think much about it at the time for we still conversed over the line fence and helped out whenhelp was needed but the writ ing was on the waillending a hand was no longer automatic folks had to be asked even paid- 1 was part of thisevolutiohary period earning as much as two dollars a day to suggest that farm help exchange is a thing of the past is perhaps unfair undoubted ly in some areas where old customs die hard its still practised but not to the extent it once was v v the- reason i qualify this is the fact that right here in stouffville- theres agooci neighbor sam who practises this policy faith fully every day his name is stewart anderson and he lives on winona drive 7byjim thoaaas- i came to know stewart the dayback in 1975 he purchased thehbme of the late win tim- bers just a stonesthrow up the street he would wave everyjumej drove by although im sure he had noideawho i was then one saturday last summer my elec tric mower went on- the fritz something wrong with the offon switch i didnt have a clue how to repair itstewart somehow sensed myjfeelings of frustrationand through one of the kids offered methe loan of his a really friendlygesture i thought to myself especial- ly to someone he didnt really know f however- now im no longer surprised for good neighbor sam treats everyone the same the most considerate gentleman ive ever met v v despite thefact hes 68 and suffers jrom emphysema ils notunusual to see him shovelling snow or cutting grass at any one of severalneighborsj places at seven vplock int themorning v a he also puts but their garbage and waters their flowers when the need arises x i enjoy helping people- he says it wasmuch thesamewheh he lived at bal lantrae and folks havent forgotten only re cently a formerresident now living in mon treal stopped by to say thanks s there may be many good neighbor sams in whilchurchstouffville residents in the area of winona drive and rupert avenue are thank- ful for one stewart anderson is one-of-a-kind- inmy opinion were very hosts by jim holts a good start the federal governmentssix percent guide line on wages is in our opinion an important and positive step towards beating inflation through its introduction prime minister trudeau has placed the ball in the court of the provinces its their move now at this point in time queens park for one appears reluctant at least hesitantto accept the challenge we cant understand why v r i holding the line on salary increases may not be the total answer but at least its a start with cooperation fromall canadians we can turn the economy around in fact we believe that turnaround has already begun lets hope t fti its been the towns good fortune over the last few years to be blessed with a large num ber of sports visitors both from overseas and south of the border these events have not just happened some where along the line someone put in a lot of hard work organizing them through dozens of phone calls usually at their own expense writing letters cajoling promising and hoping that everything would come off well when the big day v arrived no one can possibly calculate the hours spent in such pursuits it speaks well for the sporting organizations here that when they setout to do something they usually attain theirobjective however it has been brought hometo me most forcibly during the last few months that although the individual organizations do a great job the town falls woefully short of meeting its obligations with respect to its visitors particu larly those from overseas a few weeks ago we were visited by a talented soccer team from west germany also a couple of mexican teams this was in conjunction with the canada day celebrations prior to the games taking place the usual pleasantries were exchanged between- orga nizers and guests but where was the town band where were the dignitaries nowhere in sight except for the presence of mayor eldred king no other representative of the municipal- ity was in attendance we didnt even have a decent loudspeaker system with which to address the crowd t- surely as a community bending over back wards to fete such visitors is an obligation we should take very seriously not to make an effort on these occasions de tracts from the towns hospitable image it is also a slap in the face albeit unintentional for the people who have sweated it out making things happen- to be blunt its damn rude the other evening i attended what not unex- pectedly turned out to be a magnificent soccer game between bochum and woburn at the high school groundsthe event reported else where in the tribune fulfilled everyones ex- pectations as far as thegame was concerned however i was embarrassed out of my shoes for our german visitors apart from a few soc cer supporters councillor bill kamps theexv ecutive of the stouffville soccer clubits play- ers and myself one might have thought it was only a house league game wherewere the flags the banners and bunting the hotdog stands and soft drink booth why wasnt the band in attendance alongwith a huge turnout by the whole town even if youdont particu larly appreciate thegame common courtesy dictates we should all make somceffdrt to put in an appearance if it had been stouffville visiting bochum i can assure you the partying would have gone on till dawn and the whole affair would have been turned into a very big celebration indeed i why you may ask because the continentals take their reppnsibilities as hosts seriously i cannot help but feel that we are inclined to be a little toosmug complacent- and- self- satisfied when it comes to extending the hospit able hand of friendship let the other guy wor- ry about it is too often the attitude no 1 dont need reminding that there was a reception last thursday morning for our gerj man guestsimy complaint- is that coffee cookies and 25 people isnt good enoughs- 7 mumaaek 4- it