Reviewer misunderstood productionIn response to your article "Futuristic Othello downplays racial discussion" (Arts, April 5):

This article completely misses the point. It's absurd to go into a Shakespeare production that's clearly been set in another era expecting a tried-and-true Elizabethan aesthetic. Othello is not a play about race. It's about love, jealousy, deceit, betrayal and ultimately murder, but even looking at it with a modern eye, race is just an undertone. Anyone looking for a play about race in Othello will be very disappointed after the first three scenes. This article is not in any real way about the show that was put on here but rather about the original directorial decision. If the article had been written with any kind of professionalism, the point that constituted this entire review would have been at most a paragraph.

-Miriam Goldman '14

The writer was a member of the cast of Othello

Protests inhibit productive dialogue

In response to your article "Israeli Knesset members speak at town hall-style meeting" (News, April 5):

Neither side is "clean" in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but interrupting a town hall meeting like this is counterproductive to creating dialogue about a sensitive topic and is similar to the boorish pundit activism we see when we turn on the news on a daily basis.

Is this behavior so different from members of the anti-war group Code Pink interrupting Congressional hearings and being arrested accordingly? We remember those activists more for the images of them being handcuffed than we do for the wars they were protesting.

I recall the event in which former U.S. President Jimmy Carter spoke at Brandeis. Carter's book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid was very controversial among the Brandeis community, but he was greeted with a standing ovation. During the question-and-answer portion, questions to Carter were all addressed tactfully, and the event created positive dialogue within the Brandeis community. As an alumnus, I am concerned with this news. I hope this is not the fashion in which current and future Brandeis students will address differences in ideology.

-Damien S. Lehfeldt '09

Jews get more than enough attention

In response to your article "The Jewish community belongs under one roof" (Forum, March 29):

Yes, obviously Brandeis needs to do more for the Jewish population on campus since they clearly have not done enough. It's not as if they have their own chapels, their own study rooms or their own lounges. It's not as if every building on campus was donated by a Jewish family and contains Jewish paraphernalia.

And certainly, the majority of speakers and events that occur on campus are not directed toward the religiously Jewish. Get over it. There are 2,000 other people at this school who are not religious Jews and would like at least some of the school funds and attention to go toward secular activities that encourage community among "the rest of us." Wake up, kiddo; you're not the only one here.

-Alex Zweben '11