I enjoyed reading Taylor Van Home’s piece about visiting the southland and finding rampant religious intolerance. I felt that some observations, however, were disingenuous, especially Van Home’s seeming conclusion that rural areas represent the south. After the disquieting religious signs described (on the country roads to Penland?), it’s a good thing the director of the Instituto Sacatar found diversity in Charlotte. This visit should have presented a more realistic picture of our evolving culture, but when I read the comment that in Charlotte, “the general acquiescence of the artists we met—the simple shrug of the shoulders—to the ubiquitous religious propaganda disturbed me …” I felt this demonstrated a lack of curiosity about others in the community. Parts of North Carolina & Georgia may be havens of religiosity, but in defense of the rural south, I am afraid Van Home would find similar symbols of religious fundamentalism and “evangelical fervor” stretching across the lower 48. In fact, in light of Sarah Plain’s arrival on the national political scene the state of Alaska should be added to that number. Van Home brings up some very good questions that should concern every residency director out there. Finally, the writer’s own bias was revealed about what artists should do: “Artists are supposed to show the edge where beliefs fray …” we must be reminded that this is but one opinion of what an artist is about.