One of my amusements online is reading the Cary Tennis column in salon. Tennis writes an advice column. But this is not the 2 paragraphs of question and 2 of advice format popularized by Dear Abby. These are long, thoughtful, letters, answered by a long-winded, dreamy, self-absorbed writer who is also a recovering alcoholic. And since the column is open to comments, often a hundred or more readers also weigh in on the issue (fortunately, the readers at Salon are a bit more bright and articulate than the letter writers at the Herald Sun). The comments are often more interesting and insightful than Cary's reply.

One of the most recent letters is from a young man who studied journalism in college, only to find the world of print journalism imploding as he graduates and looks for work. Having met several laid-off or otherwise former journalists at ICA in the past (last? previous?) year, I thought this might make interesting reading for some:

http://www.salon.com/mwt/col/tenn/2009/06/29/journalism/index.html

There is also a debate running through the letters about the correct grammatical construction of "past/last/previous years".