Take a Number
Thanks for Tom Vannah’s article about how tough it was to understand a math textbook statement about the relationship between an independent change and a dependent variable change (“A Textbook Case of Math Disability,” Sept. 25). Why, hell, Vannah found his attention “starting to wander” the minute an educator suggested an illustrating experiment between temperature and—oh, wait! Tom’s attention is over there now! Well, at least I understand now why so many people just don’t get global warming. Yeah, those number things, they’re really hard.
I have an idea inspired by another article in last week’s Valley Advocate, the piece about the Halfway to Blarney event at UMass (“Meeting Halfway,” Sept. 25): Next Blarney Blowout, someone should test the relationship between how much beer a person gets funneled into the mouth and the amount of “vomit next to a car in the parking lot.” Ah, forget it! I would be too hard to figure which measure was the dependent variable.
Making McGuirk Accessible
Your article regarding construction at McGuirk Alumni Stadium requires clarification. Pete Redington accurately reports that improvements were focused on new facilities and that financial constraints limited UMass-Amherst’s ability to undertake an overhaul of the stadium, including upgrades to improve accessibility for persons with disabilities.
What I should have made clear in our interview is that McGuirk does meet requirements for access based on the age of the facility. For example, special areas are designated for parking, a ramp provides access to the stadium’s interior, and accessible seating is available in front of row one in the west grandstand. In addition, new paving, sidewalks and curb cuts outside the stadium have improved access.
Pete is correct that a stadium overhaul would likely cost additional millions of dollars, including ADA provisions as well as other code requirements. Throughout campus, we have made a demonstrable commitment to improve access by building new facilities and improving aging ones. That includes installing elevators in the Hampshire and Berkshire Dining Commons and redesigning the vast Southwest Concourse to make it accessible. As resources become available, we also aspire to make additional improvements at McGuirk for our fans.
Casino Deceptions
When Governor Patrick promised that casinos would provide 50,000 jobs, some temporary construction jobs, he deceived the public. By the industry’s own estimate, casinos will bring in no more than 8,700 jobs. That is a drop of over 80 percent.
Correction: Last week in my StageStruck column, “The Distaff Side,” discussing the meager representation of women playwrights and directors on professional stages, I named Sharr White as the female author of two plays produced this year by the region’s summer theaters. Trouble is, Sharr White is a man. I had jumped to a gender conclusion, based not only on the name, which I took to be feminine, but on the tone and content of both plays, in which the female characters seem to me more interesting and more sympathetic.
There’s an irony here (he said, wiping the egg off his face). Removing Mr. White from the list makes my point about the scarcity of women stronger, but even more depressing: Out of 35 full productions at the area’s six professional legit theaters last summer, only four were written by women. And I don’t think many women trying to get their plays produced will take much comfort from knowing a man can pass as female with this critic. —Chris Rohmann
