Fellow Twainacs ---
    A column I wrote, which appears in today's edition of the (Meriden,
Conn.) Record-Journal (www.record-journal.com), honors our Sam on the 169th
anniversary of his birth. This day should be a national observance (I've
written
about that, too) of all the qualities for which Twain was known: Loyalty,
cynicism, romanticism, skepticism, a smattering of faith.
    Other nations honor writers; why can't we? Sam helped define who we are,
just like all those other guys who preferred politics to litrachur. Let's
get
the momentum going!

Kathy O'Connell