While I was recuperating this weekend (but still staying up way too late), I watched Saturday Night Live with my son. On Weekend Update, which I love, they did a brief segment on the recent study that ranked America's Most Literate Cities. Amy Pohler mentioned that Seattle was named the most reader-friendly city. Then she said something like "Coming in last place, once again, is Riverside, California". A graphic of a sign in the middle of the desert that said "Whelcum to Reevarsyde Kaleefermia" came on the screen. Arin and I looked at each other, laughing hysterically, not sure whether or not we should be pissed. He said that as soon as he heard her say a city starting with R, he knew it wasn't going to be good for Riverside. Our poor city gets such a bad rap. But even though we ranked poorly on the list--I checked, and we came in 58.5 out of 69 cities; at least we weren't really last!--I know of so many writers and readers and bookgroups and poetry groups within the city limits. As a whole, we may be word-deprived, but pockets of us are keeping language alive, robust in good old Reevarsyde.