Don't hold your breath...

As has been reported by most papers that subscribe to the AP (read: every lazy paper in America), Springfield is in a sort of competition...by default (the two greatest word in the English language). I think the only resemblance that SpringMo has to the "real" Springfield is the abundance of Reverend Lovejoys and Flanderseses.

I was talking to a women at a bar this weekend from upstate New York. She seemed genuinely surprised at the large number of smokers. I know Missouri uses a lot of tobacco (Number 3...oh yeah...we're after you Kentucky and North Carolina), but is it that much more than the rest of the nation? In reading Hangsaman, like most Jackson, smoking is about as common than blinking. The 17 year old protagonist recalls her parents encouraging her and instructing her how to smoke, I suppose, to be more social or ladylike. Keep in mind this is the 1950s. Is there something like that today? Something that parents encourage their kids to do to be more social at events like cocktail parties? What happened to cocktail parties? Am I still too young for witty banter and conversation? I think not.

I didn't have much to say to her about New York except to rattle off some fairs in the state. Everything is relative to fairs now. "San Antonio, eh? Your Livestock Exposition had record attendance this year. Good for you."