Joys of Rural Living Dept.

There are many nice things about taking a couple of weeks in Connecticut. Unlike the oppressive heat and humidity of DC, last night I needed a sweater when sitting outside on the porch.

Local newspapers, on the other hand, are a mixed blessing. They are trying valiantly to carve out a niche in an internet age, and that niche is, perforce, going to be a parochial one. Still, this morning's headline in "The Bulletin" out of Norwich, CT, was almost a caricature. I kid you not: "Unopened deli already a hit."

This brought to mind a contest held at the Times of London in the early part of the century in which editors competed to see who could get the most boring headline into the paper. The winner: "Earthquake in Chile Kills Few." The New Republic had a similar contest in the 1980s. I do not recall the gold medal winner - it was banal and had something about reality in the title. But, my fav was the title of a Flora Lewis column: "Worthwhile Canadian Initiative."

Should any newspaper or magazine entertain the idea of having another such contest, I now have my entry: Unopened deli already a hit.