Mad about the poems
I appreciated your editorial on the demise of Mad Magazine, and enjoyed your reminiscing over the talented writers and artists who published there. I would like to add another great aspect of Mad in the golden days: the poetry parodies.
I can still recall the excitement of our gang, most of us 8-11 years old, when gathered in the Hasslers' garage on a Saturday morning to listen to Lowell--who was a few years older, and had a paper route, and thus spending money--read to us from the issue he had just bought at the drugstore. What stays with me even now, as my wife can attest, are the parodies of famous poems (though we did not know the originals at the time): Longfellow ("Hiya, Watha!"), Wordsworth ("I wandered lonely as a clod"), Masefield ("I must go down to the garbage dump"), Kilmer ("I think that I shall never hear a poem lovelier than beer."). These parodies inspired not only laughter, but an interest in language (we all learned what an axolotl is.)
Thanks, Mad.
MARK STENGEL
Fayetteville
The big boondoggle
I am pleased to see a lawsuit has been filed to block the new I-30 crossing project going through the downtowns of Little Rock and North Little Rock. This billion-dollar waste of taxpayers' money needs to be stopped. Most residents of my town are against this as it does not benefit us in the least.
Who does it benefit? The white-flighters who don't pay taxes here and only work here then flee town and want to save five minutes during afternoon rush. Is that worth $1 billion? I think not.
ARDOT: Stop this project, go back to the drawing board, get creative for once. The citizens of this state's largest city are against this.
RICHARD MOORE
Little Rock
Snake-oil salesman
I watched part, in no means all, of the two nights of (debate). It was not a debate of ideas, it was who can give away the most free stuff--health insurance, education, housing, guaranteed income, and anything else they could mention. I was waiting on my 160 acres and a unicorn.
I had just watched the 75th anniversary of D-Day, and was reminded that this is the land of the free and the home of the brave. But "free" doesn't mean free stuff--it means freedom of speech, religion, assembly, and the right to bear arms. And in watching the anniversary of D-Day and seeing all the rows and rows of white crosses marking the graves of the men who died to keep our freedoms, the price of freedom is not free--it was paid for with very precious blood.
So I was saddened to watch these supposedly serious people shout about free stuff for all and open borders. We are not Venezuela. We are the United States of America, where all are free to pursue their own life, liberty, and happiness, not sit around and wait to be showered with free stuff and blindly follow the government for everything. It seems the Democratic Party has fallen to a group that wants to just bid for votes and have other people pay for it. We must learn from history and not fall for the snake-oil-salesman approach.
MIKE SCOTT
Little Rock
Don't re-elect Cotton
Tom Cotton has raised $1 million for his re-election campaign. This is a man who sent out emails on July 3 to constituents informing them of disaster relief eligibility with a deadline of June 28.
He has stated in the past that immigrants seeking asylum should apply at consulates in their own country rather than at a U.S. port of entry. He is apparently ignorant of U.S. immigration law. You can only apply at a U.S. port of entry.
He is supporting Trump and encouraging him to pursue a war with Iran!
I believe he has neither our best interests at heart nor the intelligence to represent our state.
TIM WEAVER
Vilonia
Editorial on 07/11/2019