COVER STORY

At the Tops Market I frequent, I saw a young child looking at the cover of the Artvoice. It’s displayed on a stand of free publications by the grab machine and the quarter toy and candy machines, at the child’s eye level. The boy noticed the candy, and pointed it out to his mother. She picked up the issue, commented that it must be some candy festival, and told him that she’d look into it and maybe they could go. Always on the lookout for something fun to do, after they left I picked up an issue myself.

The photo on the cover advertised something called “The Art of Ypsiliform Dining,” part of the Infringement Festival. The candies on the cover are not, in fact, flowers, but part of the female anatomy.

Ypsiliform dining, a.k.a. dining at the Y, describes something that the Infringement Festival event presumes to give instructions for. (Note that it’s for ladies only—guys have to get their information elsewhere.)

I have no problem with the Artvoice for including the photo within their publication. I have no problem with the festival or this event within the festival. And I certainly can’t hold Tops Markets, or other establishments who feature the Artvoice by their entrances or otherwise easily accessible to children, responsible for its contents.

But if the Artvoice cannot control itself enough to keep pictures of genitalia off its cover, the managers and owners of area establishments can certainly refuse to display it.

James Cooper

Buffalo

At first glance, the promo shot for “The Art of Ypsilform Dining” cover photo for your July 26-August 1 issue seems almost wholesome. Reminiscent of Miss Manners, Donna Reed and Ozzie and Harriet era morals, I’m sure many eyes glanced across the cover, never realizing what it was that they were actually seeing. I, for one, did not, and, as a self-proclaimed “mind in the gutter”-type thinker, am slightly ashamed of myself for not seeing it sooner. Many would probably be shocked to know how sexually provocative that photo actually is, yet in a subtle enough manner, whereas a bowl full of female genitalia candies almost seems to fall below the radar. How many readers or perusers saw that bowl of candy vaginas, for lack of a better description, and had no idea what they truly were, or even realized that they were seeing an advertisment for a sex-ed workshop on cunnilingus?

I applaud the brilliance behind that photographic image. The photo manages to take the prudish sensibility of the 1950s and turns it around, using it as a visual double entendre of female homoeroticism. I also applaud the editorial staff for choosing this particular image as your cover photo. You have successfully recognized the humor in being able to print a rather direct allusion to foreplay, something that many would be offended by, but which their prudish sensibility would not even allow them to recognize.

As a member of the Buffalo theater community, I am always excited to see new, edgy, provocative works being produced. As a student of the Niagara University Theatre Department, I was taught by my professors that theater, as an art form, should not be utilized solely to entertain an audience. Although entertainment value most certainly had it place, it was also important to remember that theater should be utilized to make people think, to be provocative. If the cover photo is any indication, then that is most definitely what the Buffalo Infringement Festival promises to offer. In printing this cover, I feel that Artvoice, too, has made a promise of that offer.

Marc Sacco

Buffalo

A CITY WITHOUT TREES

I am from out of town but spend time in Western New York during the summer. Artvoice is required reading as I’ve learned that Buffalo has a surprisingly vibrant art and music scene, and because of that I actually considered moving here.

The issue about the loss of trees through shameful greed and exploitation in the name of the almighty dollar has changed my idea about Buffalo. In spite of all the positive things this city has to offer, the quality of life is next to nothing in my eyes. Trees make a city beautiful and breathable—without them Buffalo is just another United States’ urban wasteland.

Melanie Waleski

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania