On Top of Her Game | Tickin' T.O. | Stomp | True Morality | Oily Ole | God's Big Tent

So very mean: I find this to be a very arrogant and immature way to review a performance and a particular individual in it. While I will admit I am a huge fan and supporter of Diana and have had the pleasure of meeting her numerous times, my reason for writing is not that you did not like her performance. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. It's the way that you harshly stated that you did not care for her performance: "You'll find yourself wishing a big foot would drop out of the sky and squash her flat." I guarantee you many people don't feel that way. Additionally, I find it extremely rude of you to criticize her appearance. This has nothing to do with the show. Finally, Diana is a very dedicated and hard-working girl and is extremely grateful to all of her fans and supporters. When she was doing Hairspray on Broadway she'd consistently meet people at the stage door, sign endless autographs, take endless pictures and never, ever leave without making sure that everyone who wanted to see her got that chance. She would never rush anyone, either, and was extremely polite to everyone. Never have I seen anyone more dedicated to their work and their fans than Diana. If you didn't care for her performance, that's fine, but I don't think it's fair for you to degrade her in this way.

Charles Milone

Long Island, New York

True Morality

St. Don: If you believe in justice, you can suspect that the eye-of-the-needle impediment is going to ban nearly all the truly wealthy from the Pearly Gates & Heavenly Estates super-gated development in the sky.

But J. McDonald Williams ("Change Is Gonna Come," by Robert Wilonsky, August 17) may be one of the exceptions. Brother Williams is a true believer and much more. I speak as someone who has observed him, sometimes close up, for more than 40 years.

My oldest memory of him finds us both facing urinals in a dormitory of a small West Texas church-related college where we were students. Perhaps I'd met him before, but I don't remember that. What I've never forgotten is abruptly being chided while relieving myself for not taking my responsibilities as a student newspaper editor more seriously.

I went on to the University of Texas at Austin for a graduate degree in journalism. Brother Don went on to George Washington University for a law degree. I came to Dallas and was soon stringing for Business Week and The Economist. J. McDonald came to Dallas and was soon saving the Trammell Crow Co. from a bad turn in the world real estate market and utter ruin.

Eventually I came to think of him as a real-life incarnation of Marshal Dillon. Marshal Dillon didn't run Dodge City, but he was as close to a conscience as the place had. Don Williams doesn't run Dallas. But Dallas will probably never see one of its wealthiest businesspeople come any closer to incarnating the truth of Kant's observation that true service of God is moral service, not adoration, prayer and praise. Now if we can just get Highland Park to put him in charge of policing its water usage policies for the duration of the drought.

Dudley Lynch

Plano

Oily Ole

Snobbery of poverty: Kudos to you for your precise reflection of the true nature of Ole Anthony ("The Cult of Ole," by Glenna Whitley, August 3). As a teen I read Camus' The Stranger and never forgot the concept of "spiritual snobbery" and how despite a vow of poverty one can be just as materialistic as a Larry Lea or Robert Tilton. A few weeks ago I listened to Anthony on 105.3 and realized he was no better than those he exposed. I looked at a picture somewhere of him and his bevy of Bible boys in one of their studies and thought they looked as stinky as a bunch of pedophile priests. Thank you for your excellent writing and for affirming what my gut could already sense.

Michele

Rowlett

Hypocrites, all of them: Do you edit? Let me see if I got this story straight. Glenna Whitley writes about a money-grubbing, hypocritical book author, Wendy Duncan, who writes about a money-grubbing, hypocritical Trinity leader, Ole Anthony, who writes about a money-grubbing, hypocritical nut case preacher, Robert Tilton, who the word hypocrite was created for. Then to top it off, you discuss the drug use of Ole Anthony in the Dallas Observer, where on the back page you can find out how to score painkillers without a prescription. This is exactly why people think of Dallas as the hypocritical butthole of the Bible Belt.