And you thought we didn't read the letters to the editor. We do. For those of us in the newspaper and opinion business, it's a highlight of the day. Mostly.
The letters section is one part of the paper that hasn't been ruined by corporate types and compulsory diversity classes. If you want to know where a community stands, read the letters section.
And the letter writers said at least this much, only last week: You guys print too much bad, and sad, news. Where'z the happy stuff?
Oh yeah? Says y'all. Today, at least, no matter what you just read on the front page, or the sports section, we're going to talk good news. Lower-case good news. We'll talk about the Good News on Easter.
Let's kick it off:
• First, it's cold outside. That's good news. You can walk in the backyard without worrying about skeeters or snakes. The ducks and geese have finally made it down from Canada, and there's already a grocery list half-complete on the fridge for all the fixings for Thanksgiving. Seasonally, all is right.
• We're back to real time now, so the kids aren't walking to school in the dark.
• Nobody's going to have to shell out $200 for a ticket, or $500 for a hotel room (two-night minimum) to see Arkansas in a bowl game this year. When it comes to sports around here, you take the good news where you can find it.
• Movies, the kind you pay to watch at the cinema, seem to be getting better. Joker was one of the best of the year, and it was a comic-book flick. The new Star Wars comes out next month. The sequel to The Shining is playing now. And Tom Hanks is back in theaters.
• They're talking about expanding the streetcars in the metro. North Little Rock's mayor says ridership has tripled.
• The Tyson School of Innovation's robotics team (from Springdale) represented the United States in a global competition in engineering, way over in Dubai. They brought home the silver.
• Lots of folks signed up to run for various elective offices last week. In a healthy democracy, the more the merrier.
• They finally fixed the interstate between Malvern and Arkadelphia. For years, that stretch was like riding on a cheese grater.
• Have you seen the stock market?
• Neil Young has filed for U.S. citizenship.
• One benefit of unpredictable weather means that just because it's November, there's no need to pack away shorts and T-shirts when digging out puffy down jackets and insulated boots. With the high temperature on Sunday being in the upper 60s and the low on Tuesday being 20-something, we'll need both. Think of the time and effort we'll save by not needing to switch our clothes from one season to another.
• It's basketball season. Finally.
Editorial on 11/13/2019