Letters to the Editor
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‘Shakespeare And Politics’
Great minds do think alike. Such was our response to Alicia Colon’s column concerning Public Theater’s “free” ticket program for plays in Central Park [New York, “Shakespeare And Politics,” August 25-27, 2006]. On a recent morning jog through the park we saw the long line. The first people on line had been there since the night before.
If you arrived after 9 a.m. there was no chance you would get a ticket when the box office finally opened at 1 p.m. Imagine the uproar of some of those on line if prisoners had to wait for hours to be fed or for a shower. Perhaps this is an example of the privileged getting to experience “hardship.”
We volunteer at the Downtown Boathouse Organization, which sponsors free and public kayaking on the Hudson River from mid-May until October. Besides our daily sunset kayak program, on the weekends we sponsor morning trips to Hoboken and Governor’s Island, among other places.
There are often more people wanting to take part on these trips than we have boats. Rather than first-come, first-served, with a line forming the night before, everyone who is at the Boathouse at 8 a.m. participates in a lottery. This is a true “public” program, which doesn’t discriminate and which, by the way, also has no political agenda. And everyone involved is a volunteer — no one is paid.
ELIZABETH & RICHARD SUSSMAN
New York, N.Y.
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