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July 28, 2009

STEPHANIE SALTER: Things stuck in the craw and things about which to crow

By Stephanie Salter

TERRE HAUTE — I have this list that is getting longer. It is a two-sided list of contrasting items, of things — as the headline indicates — that stick in my craw and things I am inspired to crow about in a good way.

In no particular order:

Craw — I wish I could get Zen about this instead of allowing it to consume me, but efforts have proven futile. It’s the 30 mph zone on Third Street/U.S. 41 between First Avenue and Crawford Street.

I know why the speed limit is so low on this stretch, especially on the North Third overpass, and I am fine with it. The problem is, I seem to be alone there in the far-right or middle lane — alone, serially tailgated and often the object of other motorists’ ire.

Trying to stay near the speed limit on that stretch invites hostility and people passing you as if you were parked. (Young, middle-age and old people, driving everything from pickups to large Oldsmobiles.) From the U.S. 41-Indiana 63 split south, where the limit is 40 mph, most drivers travel about 60-65 mph. Once in the 30 mph zone, the average speed drops to 50 or 55 until the traffic lights of downtown slow the pace a little.

With city and county revenues as pinched as they are, why don’t we plant one cop with a radar gun on alternating ends of the overpass and just start raking in the dough? We could buy a whole new jail with the money from a month of speeding tickets. And, after a few weeks, people would slow down.

Other cities have speed traps, why not Terre Haute? Or else, just post 60 mph signs from Maple to Margaret and let ’em fly.

Crow — In Sunday’s column about big state cuts to arts funding, I neglected to mention that three local legislators “fought hard” to soften the blow, according to Arts Illiana executive director Jon Robeson. The three are Vern Tincher, Clyde Kersey and Tim Skinner, all Democrats, but that’s probably just a coincidence.

Craw — Back in the traffic … Why are we still dealing with the most idiotic road signs ever posted in the continental United States? Those would be the blinking marquee-type boards on I-70 and U.S. 41 that say only:

ROAD WORK AHEAD

CHOOSE ANOTHER ROUTE

Choose another route? And what would that be for a traveler who is unfamiliar with these parts? What about the many elderly Hauteans who tend to stick close to home on the north, south or east side of town and aren’t all that certain which other route might be near — and not blocked by an all-day stopped train?

The signs are not only useless, they’re infuriating. They’re a metaphor for bureaucratic America: Hey, we told you to choose another route; our job is done.

Crow — Back in the arts … We are so lucky to have a wealth of live theater in this town, not least of it from ISU’s Crossroads Repertory Theatre. The company has just completed its main summer season of four plays in the intimate horseshoe of ISU’s New Theatre. Although three of the productions included copious music, the diversity of subject matter canceled out any repetition.

The established musical “The Fantasticks” was a quiet revelation. This is one war-horse, first produced off-Broadway in 1960 and presented ever since by just about every cluster of singing actors in the country. But director Arthur Feinsod (also Crossroad’s artistic director) shaped the youthful love story with just enough edge to make it a relevant — and funny — parable for 2009.

Musically, I had forgotten how truly great some of the songs are, not just the well-known “Try to Remember.” Local wonder Chuck Shutt, as Henry, and Brandon Wentz, as Mortimer, were two big reasons for the humor.

I fell in love with Wentz as an actor a few seasons ago when he played about 600 roles in the hysterical farce “The Mystery of Irma Vep.” A graduate theater student at the University of Georgia, Wentz played several very different roles in Terre Haute this year, including a sexy, razor-sharp Benedict in “Much Ado About Nothing,” and the endearing Skin Horse in “The Velveteen Rabbit.”

Significantly, though, it was the non-musical offering this year that has remained with me, Christopher Kyle’s “Safety Net.” An ISU alum and successful playwright and screenwriter, Kyle has created a complex and compelling set of characters with equally compelling stories to tell.

Set mostly in Indianapolis and New York, the play mines race relations, family relations, marital and friend relations, and the relation each of us has to our inner self. Directed by Dale McFadden, the production rested on its three leads, Drew Hampton, Koquina Forte and Amy Attaway. All inhabited their roles so well, I find myself wondering how their characters’ lives are going now.

By the way, the entire Crossroads Rep season cost $42. Even in a rotten economy, that’s bargain entertainment.

Craw — I hate to kick the folks at Union Hospital while they’re busy rumbling with Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, but the viperette in me just has to speak up. It’s about the pedestrian walkway over Eighth Avenue, from the physicians’ professional office building to the new hospital.

Back when a bunch of us were fighting the hospital (and most of city government) over the closing of Seventh Street, I remember a Union official shooting down our suggestion to build the new hospital on either side of Seventh and connect the parts with an elevated pedestrian walkway.

Dramatically, the official said, “That would be a homeland security nightmare,” and described what “one truck with a bomb” under the walkway could do.

Apparently, Eighth Avenue isn’t on the standard-issue terrorist’s map.

Crow — I know it has wreaked havoc on the growing season and brought us more bugs than an Amazon jungle, but this summer’s cool weather — rain and all — has been Nirvana for me.

Below-normal temperatures, many days of low dew points and medium humidity have kept the “misery index” way down. Some days, more autumnal than summery, have reminded me of Northern California with its “natural air conditioning” from the Pacific Ocean.

I’m sorry for the lost recreation and agriculture revenue (I really am), but given that we can’t change the weather, I will recall the Summer of ’09 with major fondness.



Stephanie Salter can be reached at (812) 231-4229 or stephanie.salter@tribstar.com.

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