Buck--I keep trying to explain that I like and admire Keillor but can sympathize with the other point of view. Can't seem to do it, how to explain it--sheer perversity I guess.

   If PHC was associated with my neck of the woods I might prefer to dislike it, but it's not, so I get to laugh about it. It's so ...NICE. The humor is so... KIND.

   I started a thread on tips for living well, saying I was a little depressed and wanted to hear about things that are good. And I did. But at some point it occurred to me how awfully funny it would be if I got on again and said Okay I was just a little depressed but now I want to kill myself. It's not true, but if you have a certain pathology, a little Beckett humor, these things occur to you. I remember someone making a Thanksgiving toast in thanks for all the friends who are with us (nice) and also for others like FirstName Lastname, who aren't (ugly but funny, and having some truth in it).

   I think there's ultimately something ugly in denying every sort of ugliness, or even any kind of intensity, and Lake Wobegone falls into that kind of feel-good humorous mythology. All the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, nobody is an internet troll.