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Failings of the Curator
In Kristian Gravenor's column ["Curator secrets," May 3], Pierre Verge, the Public Curator's tactless PR head, while referring to me, berated the Mirror: "Serious journalists have stopped taking him seriously, so now he's talking to you."
To replace his snarl with facts, in the past year my views on the Public Curator have been published in La Presse and Le Devoir. Two weeks ago, the Montreal Gazette referred the public to us for documents. A national magazine and a national television network are busy preparing articles.
As for credibility, based on our information and prodded by us, the Ombudsman and the Auditor General both prepared for the National Assembly scandalous reports on the Public Curator's widespread failings. The government accepted them unconditionally and urgently instigated a wholesale overhaul of the agency. The head was replaced, its budget was greatly enhanced and staff was expanded from 150 to 500, among them the ungrateful Mr. Verge. Mr. Verge confirms that the Public Curator's mentality is still unreformed, obsessed with public relations over human relations.
--Ura Greenbaum, executive director, Association pour la défense des personnes et biens sous curatelle publique
Criticizing critic criticizers
I am writing regarding Frank Maurice Boivin's letter "Lament of an 'Artiste'" [May 3]. If you would like your reputation as an "Artist, writer and storyteller" to mean anything to anyone, you should affiliate yourself with something tangible. It helps people distinguish between people who just talk shit and those who actually do something. Here are some simple truths to think on:
1) Critics criticize. Someone will always hate what you do. Deal with it. 2) If you can't deal with it, don't bitch about it. If you really think a critic is ignorant then you shouldn't care what they think. Please note: not caring does not mean whining or moaning about how much you don't care. 3) If you can't let it go then you're ruining your own career. If you have to run and defend your "art" every time someone criticizes it then you are tacitly agreeing that your "art" can't stand on its own merits. 4) If you don't like being in the public eye you should probably be an undertaker, not an artist.
Before you start with the "injustices against you" hissy-fit, I want to let you know I have no affiliation with theatre critic Amy Barratt, except that she panned a show I wrote once and with any luck she'll come pan my next bit in the Fringe.
--Matt MacLennan, VA Productions
Who's the Best Politician?
I glanced at the BOM awards ["Best of Montreal," May 3] just like I would a roadside pile-up. This annual exercise by anglo navel-gazers was actually saved by the quality of some answers, but I still can't overcome the idiotic and juvenile questions or topics.
If you need further proof that the BOM are a sham, then you need only go to the Best Politician results. At first glance, the fact that Jean Charest and Lucien Bouchard finished third and fourth is enough to make you wonder about the sanity of participants, but it is the first passage of George Maddux's otherwise excellent article on Paul Cliche that brings us to the above realization: "Paul Cliche belts out a big, slow-developing triumphant belly laugh when told that Montrealers have voted him their favourite politician." Only problem is that the Marijuana Party of Canada leader Marc-Boris St-Maurice was the winner, not Cliche, who finished second. With editorial like this, who needs Pravda (or the Gazette)?
--Lyle Howard Seave, Marijuana Anti-Defamation League
Correction
The Mirror apologizes to both Paul Cliche and Marc-Boris St-Maurice for the error in the BOM article "Enter stage Left" [May 3], which suggested that the winner in the Best Politician category was Paul Cliche. As indicated in the results, the winner was, in fact, Marc-Boris St-Maurice.
Here's how the editorial error happened: votes for the Best of Montreal are tabulated as they come in, and because of deadlines stories are assigned before the final results are compiled. Though Cliche had a comfortable lead, a last-minute surge and diligent counting of the votes saw St-Maurice ultimately win. No slight was intended to Marc-Boris St-Maurice or the Marijuana Party.
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