MAILBOX

This Week: Josh Bernstein gets the OK on eating pork; more Strand employees come out about their experiences at the bookstore; and more thoughts on what Armond White is thinking about when he’s thinking about movies.

Swine Time
I noticed a peculiar article, “Gut Instinct: What Would Jew Do?” (May 7-13) by a Joshua M. Bernstein, where he carries on about how he, a son of a Jewish father and a Catholic mother, eats bread on Passover, as though it is a big sin on his part. While certain denominations of Judaism might consider him a Jew, Orthodox rabbis would not. Consequently, although he thinks that his having undergone a bar mitzvah ceremony makes him a Jew, by Orthodox standards it doesn’t. So what is he knocking himself out for with this article? As far as they are concerned, he can eat all the pork and bacon he wants to. No big deal.

—Ed Goldsmith

Cash Cow
As another worker at the Strand, I found Kimberley Thorpe’s article on the tension inside the Strand (“Struggle at the Strand,” April 30-May 6) to be a welcome look into a situation I and my co-workers encounter every day. It did, however, tend to revolve exclusively around the possible racial discrimination angle, which is just one aspect of the situation in the bookstore. The Strand’s biggest problem is that of its identity. Nancy Bass Wyden does seem to see and manage the store more as a cash machine than a bookstore. Of course, as your readers pointed out, that could be seen as her prerogative. After all, what storeowner wouldn’t want to increase the store’s profit margin?

The realization that the Strand is not some sort of high-minded literary oasis but just another business—as some readers pointed out—is not enough. In fact, it is about time New Yorkers came to terms with the fact that the romantic, literary vibe the Strand advertises is nothing more than a misleading tactic by a management that is quite comfortable with unethical labor practices and seems to have no idea how to deal with their employees. Indeed, the store management did illegally pressure workers to sign the new contract in order to neutralize the possibility of a strike; and the climate that Wyden maintains through her underlings (because that is how she sees them) is one of intimidation rather than sound business practice.

I’m amazed that Wyden cannot see the obvious tension she creates in how she deals with the store’s reputation as a cultural landmark, the expectations of the educated and ambitious store employees and her own expectations as a businesswoman. If a store is entitled to do what it needs to make a profit, at least Wyden shouldn’t be allowed to pretend she’s some sort of patron for the literary arts and take advantage of an image that the store barely deserves. I am sure that the Strand is becoming no different than a Barnes & Noble (only with dustier aisles). So don’t let the grandstanding about a family tradition fool you that this is a mom-and-pop store that doesn’t offend your armchair anti-capitalist sensibilities. It isn’t and it shouldn’t pretend it is.

—George Kakouris, Brooklyn

Kael Was a Wanker, Too
Thumbs up on Armond’s article (“What We Talk About When We Talk About Movies,” April 23-29) Dogme ’95 (tee-hee), as it is correctly spelled, is not legitimate—good call. Most film critics and bloggers are wasting our time, true. I’m also glad that he got something special out of War of the Worlds, but it still boils down to personal opinion. Across the board on either side of the imagined fence (Kael or Ebert) there are cinephiles who haven’t read a book in years and look down their nose at anyone who likes Tarantino or Iron Man. Is the point of a review or a film to remind us we are human? And if so, what does human mean? The same? Whatever a lobby group tells us a movie can say? Planet Terror is a personal film about community, family, xenophobia, believing in yourself and cooking—all issues that are part of Robert Rodriguez as well as the spirit and sport of the genres in which he plays.

In fairness to Ebert, he does great informative DVD commentaries. Kael had her own form of wanking. An idea is just that—whether it comes from a critic or a filmmaker. And just because there is a lot of junk blogging online doesn’t mean people aren’t mentally engaged in serious personal discussion once in a while using a movie as the springboard.

Happy Mother’s Day all the same.

—William La Rochelle, Toronto

The Resistance Will Persist
I wanted to thank you for writing what shall be the most important film essay this year (and of the past 10 years, for that matter). I’m sure you will get the regular bloggers and critics sending you hate mail, and I’m sure that in less than eight hours there will be an online movement against you, but please know that there are film lovers out here that consider you to be the greatest critical mind of our time.

Honestly, your opinion is the ONLY ONE that challenges me on a weekly basis. That should reinforce the points you made in your essay. Please continue your brilliant work (your collection Resistance is one of my bibles).

—Mark Osborn

P.S. Thank you for introducing me to the films of Julian Hernández. If you didn’t have a column, I would have never heard of him or Broken Sky and A Thousand Clouds of Peace.