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<DIV><FONT color=#000000>Dear Colleagues:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>What follows is an email conversation that I have had
with Tim Rostron, Arts Editor, of the National Post.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>I am indeed thinking of writing a letter of protest,
though I fear in the current climate, doing so will be a waste of time.
Many of my students are also thinking of writing.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>Btw, please do not infer that I was suggesting to Mr
Rostron that Cushman is an ideal critic: the praise is his, not
mine.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>But better R.C. than NO BODY; and better R.C. in the
print versions, rather than relegated to a website.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>I find myself (almost) wishing that Lord Black (and
Lady Amiel?) were still running the shop. That's an historic irony. (Oh: I
forgot: irony is out of fashion now, at least south of the 49th, on the grounds,
I <U>suppose</U>, that it seeks to reveal the discrepancy between the way
that things <EM>seem</EM> to be and the way that they really <EM>are.
</EM>Mind, irony has almost always been declared passe when propaganda machinery
is running at full tilt and dissent is likened to treason. (If you think I
exaggerate about the latter point, see the week before last's edition of <U>The
Economist</U>).</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>Denis.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message -----
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A
href="mailto:TRostron@nationalpost.com" title=TRostron@nationalpost.com>Rostron,
Tim</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A href="mailto:d.salter@videotron.ca"
title=d.salter@videotron.ca>'Denis.Salter'</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Sunday, October 21, 2001 6:48 PM</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> RE: </DIV></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>We must not despair! Please do make your feelings known to the
editor,<BR>Kenneth Whyte - <A
href="mailto:kwhyte@nationalpost.com">kwhyte@nationalpost.com</A>.
<BR><BR>> ----------<BR>> From: Denis.Salter<BR>> Sent: Sunday, October
21, 2001 17:40<BR>> To: Rostron, Tim<BR>> Subject: Re: <BR>> <BR>>
Dear Mr Rostron,<BR>> <BR>> Thanks for the thorough explanation.<BR>>
<BR>> Would letters of protest help? Or is the matter so much beyond
your<BR>> control that they would be nothing more than wasted labour, ink,
paper,<BR>> and postage (or electricity?).<BR>> <BR>> I look forward to
hearing from you.<BR>> <BR>> Denis<BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>>
----- Original Message ----- <BR>> From: Rostron, Tim <BR>> To:
'Denis.Salter' <BR>> Sent: Sunday, October 21, 2001 1:18 PM<BR>> Subject:
RE: <BR>> <BR>> Dear Denis Salter,<BR>> <BR>> Our new owners have
provided Arts with less than a page a day -<BR>> rather less<BR>> than
before - and a tiny budget. But Robert Cushman does indeed<BR>> still
review<BR>> for us (a review of his appeared in the paper's Toronto section
on<BR>> Saturday,<BR>> and another on the Arts&Life page the day
before that). When there<BR>> is<BR>> absolutely no room in the paper for
a review I have arranged for him<BR>> to<BR>> write, then I place that
review on the National post's web site<BR>> -nationalpost.com - and perint a
reference to it on the Arts&Life<BR>> page. An<BR>> archive of Robert
Cushman's reviews can be found on the web site. <BR>> <BR>> But I share
your regret that I cannot run more reviews by Robert<BR>> Cushman,<BR>>
who I regard very highly and whose work I have been following ever<BR>> since
he<BR>> wrote for Britain's Observer. But the situation here is, as
they<BR>> say,<BR>> beyond my control.<BR>> <BR>> Yours sincerely,
Tim Rostron <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> > ----------<BR>> >
From: Denis.Salter<BR>> > Sent: Saturday, October 20, 2001 14:46<BR>>
> To: <A
href="mailto:trostron@nationalpost.com">trostron@nationalpost.com</A><BR>>
> Cc: PAC4<BR>> > <BR>> > Dear Mr Rostron,<BR>> > <BR>>
> I am not a regular reader of the NP but I was planning to be one,<BR>>
to<BR>> > acquire a broader (critical) coverage of theatre and related
art<BR>> forms in<BR>> > Toronto, and elsewhere that the NP decides to
cover.<BR>> > <BR>> > I believe that your theatre critic is Robert
Cushman. But I have<BR>> not been<BR>> > able to find reviews by him,
or indeed another theatre critic, in<BR>> recent<BR>> > issues.<BR>>
> <BR>> > Am I missing something? As you know, the country has a dearth
of<BR>> first<BR>> > rate theatre critics. I do hope that you have not
decided not to<BR>> have a<BR>> > regular theatre critic.<BR>> >
<BR>> > I look forward to hearing from you.<BR>> > <BR>> >
DWS<BR>> > <BR>> > <BR>> >
****************************************<BR>> > " . . . if Canada is not a
police state it is because we no longer<BR>> need to<BR>> > be. We have
mentally trained ourselves to the point where the<BR>> policeman is<BR>>
> within ourselves as part of our collective thought process--a<BR>>
mental<BR>> > discipline that has made Canada the most successful colony
in <BR>> > the history of the world, whose control systems are no
longer<BR>> imposed <BR>> > from without but arise from the centre of
our being."--John Gray. <BR>> > ********<BR>> > Denis Salter<BR>>
> Professor of Theatre<BR>> > McGill University<BR>> > 853
Sherbrooke St West<BR>> > Montreal <BR>> > H3A 2T6<BR>> >
Telephone (514) 398 6573<BR>> > Email via Fax (309) 294 0444<BR>> >
Regular Fax (514) 398 8146<BR>> > Email < <A
href="mailto:denis.salter@mcgill.ca">denis.salter@mcgill.ca</A>><BR>> >
< <A
href="mailto:d.salter@videotron.ca">d.salter@videotron.ca</A>><BR>> >
<BR>> > Home Office<BR>> > 4965, avenue Connaught<BR>> > Notre
Dame De Grace<BR>> > Montreal <BR>> > H4V 1X4<BR>> > Telephone
(514) 487 2568<BR>> > Email via Fax (309) 294 0444<BR>> > Regular
Fax (514) 487 0157<BR>> > Email < <A
href="mailto:d.salter@videotron.ca">d.salter@videotron.ca</A>><BR>> >
< <A
href="mailto:denis.salter@mcgill.ca">denis.salter@mcgill.ca</A>><BR>> >
********************************************<BR>> > <BR>> > <BR>>
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