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Why would Steve Martin care?  Because he apparently has principles about it. 

Are we to start banning more books, too, because they include "questionable material," since "Memory can't be erased"?

One of the most important purposes of fiction, including plays, is to play out scenarios DIFFERENT from how we live our lives, so we can start to understand other people's perspectives, and why a reasonable person would think their choices were reasonable.  I guess if people wish to ignore and shame those who live differently than themselves rather than try to understand, then we might as well only produce plays based on children's book characters. 

Since when has making people uncomfortable, or being uncomfortable yourself, been an unholy sin?  It's usually a sign that something productive is going on  . . .

Good Luck in La Grande, Mr. Cahill.  I appreciate your commitment, we need teachers like you in high schools. 

posted 4 years, 2 months ago
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Gerald Howard's comment below really pin points the problem with taking funds from the Oregon Cultural Trust, he says, take the money and run, and use it to "provide REAL services to citizens."  The idea of the trust being, of course, that the arts are indeed a real service for citizens and human beings, whether they like it or not.  The idea of a cultural trust is that our state government made the tiniest concession back in 2002, whispering that "what you do is important," and by the establishment of the trust, slight as the support may comparably be, the state government came out and admitted that the arts are NOT a luxury, the arts are not superfluous, but they are a necessity of our civilization.  Thomas More wrote in Utopia that there are some things that are good for their own sake, of which art, and music, and reading, and writing are all included.  They are an absolutely essential factor of our society, and the very idea of the trust is that this money is dedicated to a certain and important purpose. 

posted 4 years, 2 months ago
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