We are sorry. Your letters made us all think and led to a lively, ongoing office discussion.
To read “The Vegans Are Coming, The Vegans Are Coming,” see https://issuu.com/portlandmagazine/docs/may19_flipbook_fn/24.
I would like to see an apology published by Portland Magazine. We in the vegan community are excited for Copper Branch to open. It will be only the second all-vegan restaurant in Portland (and only a handful of others that have vegan options). Hopefully, they won’t be so turned off by this offensive piece that they avoid advertising in your magazine. They’ve got lots of advertising dollars, and I’m surprised that you would allow such a hideous post from a potential source of revenue.”
—Amybeth Hurst, Old Orchard Beach
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“I email today to point out the disrespectful tone you took with a blurb was listed on the “Chowder” page: “A tasty blend of the fabulous, the eyebrow-raising, and the just plain wrong.” It was in the May 2019 issue. In your blurb, talking about the addition of a new vegan restaurant, you took an unnecessary disrespectful tone towards the vegan audience by perpetuating a stereotype vegans have long been trying to break. Saying “as if we don’t have to listen to vegans talk about their diets enough”, implies that veganism is strictly a diet and not a philosophy. There is nothing hateful in where we are coming from so we just ask the same. We care about animals, our bodies, and the environment; I think those are just fine conversation topics. Also, the blurb was not very welcoming of a new establishment. Why pass so much judgment without even trying it, and why pass that judgment on the everyone else who reads the paper? Please be more considerate of your readers next time.”
—Emily Carter, Waterville
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“I’m super disappointed in the slamming of vegans in your article this month. How can you put people who are trying to save animals and the environment down like that? Ugh, for a periodical (and city) that considers itself progressive and open-minded, you have a lot of work to do.”
—Amy Taylor Grimm
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“I’m sure you’ve been inundated with emails from vegans like myself about the blurb your magazine wrote about the new restaurant Copper Branch. I’ve been thinking about what I want to say about this short article and there are many vegan-related points to be made— but I think one point that may have not been made yet is that this writing is lazy and pandering to an audience that barely exists anymore. I grew up in a family that loved the “meat and potatoes” type of food, and I dealt with a lot of push-back when I changed my diet. However, as years have passed both my family and the general population have started caring more about health and diet. This new restaurant has the potential to be great for anyone who just wants a healthy lunch. You would be better off if you talked up an exciting new option rather than reiterating a tired stereotype. I think you can have higher standards and make much more interesting articles than this one.”
—Krista Marble
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“I saw a picture of a recent article in the “Chowder” page of your magazine, about the new vegan restaurant coming to Portland. I found it really offensive and off-putting. The stereotype of vegans has no place to be perpetuated here. A healthy dining option is being brought to Portland for many of us who don’t consume meat (for a variety of reasons, but treating my Multiple Sclerosis holistically is one of them.) Not all vegans fit the stereotype, and honestly, I can’t believe this article even made it to production.”
—Lindsay Bileau
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“Just writing you to say that we think that your comments about “Vegans” and the new restaurant The Copper Branch were very unprofessional. We are a retired couple who live in Brooksville, Maine during the summer but spent last winter in Portland. We will be back in Portland this fall and can’t wait to eat at The Copper Branch. Hope you reconsider your unwelcoming words.”
—Doris Groves and Bob Jones
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“Really? I’m not even vegan, and I find this incredibly rude. I have friends and family that are vegetarian and vegan, and I think it’s wonderful. I am not sure why this article chose to be so hateful and how it got through. I really hope whoever wrote this finds a new job. I saw the post online from your magazine and had to read it twice thinking the person who posted it must have misunderstood. I think the vegan community is owed an apology in your next issue.”
—Sandy Shelton, CT
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“Like many others, I was dismayed to see this month’s article on the Chowder page, mocking vegans. Many people have dietary restrictions these days – whether from ethical choices, health choices, or allergies – and mocking them is in poor taste. Vegans and others with dietary restrictions are your readers and your neighbors. Thank you for considering the impact of what you publish on those of us who enjoy your magazine, and the influence you have to either connect people with each other or divide them.”
—Valerie Todd
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“I was really disappointed that you thought it necessary to bash vegans in [The Vegans Are Coming, The Vegans Are Coming,” May 2019]. It surprised me that, first of all, you would be so negative and hateful towards a group of people and secondly, you don’t even know if the food is any good yet. Give it a chance, and then rate the business on the service and food [or ask the] opinion of a group of people who choose to not eat animal products. You’re better than that.”
—Marianne Miro, South Portland
Editor’s note: The title, “The Vegans Are Coming, The Vegans Are Coming,” is referring to the 1966 film The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming! about a colorful New England community that comes to embrace the very people they thought they were afraid of.
I think using apps is a great way to get people attending theater, kind of mixes old and new world ideas! I would love to check out some of these theaters this year!
Yes, the demographic of theatre audiences is the elephant in the room. Janet and I were longtime season ticket holders to Penobscot Theatre Company (more than 20 years) until they began to live and die on Juke Box musicals, retreads like Annie–an abysmal work in my min–and second rate plays like Always Patsy Cline. Our departure also coincided with the decision to end the Northern Writes New Play Festival which showcased well staged readings of new plays by playwrights from all over the country. Joe Musso and Mike Kimball being among the winners in the Full Length Division.
Among our other local options only Ten Bucks Theatre Company ever tries anything with any weight to it–save for well worn chestnuts like Death of a Salesman or Into The Woods. In other words it’s just a step better than good college performances and at least UMO still regards Chekov as an artist. Mid-Coast has an occasional short run of one-acts, but also relies on things I can’t imagine paying to see for most of their productions.
The state lacks an incubator company now that Mike Levine is not calling the shots at Acorn. Mike liked to find new plays and playwrights. Dan, like the PTC crowd for whom he’s directed, thinks first about the bottom line and not the art, in my humble, but informed, opinion. All of the plays I have sent PTC have been “too dark” for Bari. Yet, Schoodic Arts out in Winter Harbor is doing staged readings of four of my short and one acts this summer on August 8th and have twice awarded me top prize in their new play contest. I’ve won some other small contests in other parts of the country. I’ve pretty much given up on Maine and hope to find outlast elsewhere. In short, the “big boys and girls” simply go with the flow.
I don’t have all the answers but plays with meagre plots that remind me of the Woody Guthrie line about a depression era “Tater soup thin you could read the newspaper through it,” will never entice me to shell out even five bucks for a seat. Seeing the same actors in play after play is also off-putting.
I taught some theatre classes at UMO and met many great students who hoped to make a living in the theatre and acting world–but many of the sharpest ones were from out of state. That may also tell us a thing or two. When I taught a grad class at UMO back in the nineties I had students tell me they had never had to read a Shakespeare play in HS–just the synopsis for each scene.
So much more…but I have rambled on enough.
All the best
Bruce
On March 28, 2019, the Portland Press Herald’s “Thought for today” was by T.S. Eliot: “Those who say they give the public what it wants begin by underestimating public taste and end by debauching it.” As a Maine-based playwright, who does not see Maine theatres as being all that welcoming to Maine born & bred playwrights (with exception of John Cariani, “Almost, Maine”), I am saddened by the implication that pandering (whether it be choice of programming or advertising) to any age group, not solely millennials, will revive an allegedly lagging interest in live theatre here in Maine. Aside from the staging of revivals of familiar plays and musicals, as well as the force-feeding of PC cutting-edge dramas, I hope there remains room in Maine for what, once upon a time, was simply a night-at-the-theatre, legitimate escapist (garden variety, if you will) entertainment that, despite its make-believe genre, implicitly offered audiences the opportunity–through their compassion, humor, understanding, and love–to gain insight into their own lives and the lives of others. The British have never abandoned that strategic concept. British theatre continues to thrive, even in the provinces. It’s not a complicated formula. Demolishing the fourth wall and talk-backs will not do it. Offering alcoholic enticements or tertiary diversions will not achieve it either. Authenticity of subject matter breeds interest and attracts audiences. The bells and whistles and tricked-out methods of social media marketing will not fill the house.