Using the model of President's day, perhaps November 30 could be celebrated as "Author's Day." Lift a glass to Twain, Emerson, Poe, Crane, and even a few newcomers like Hemingway and Steinbeck. This will help take away the bad taste in my mouth that developed on Thanksgiving when I saw the float for "The Princess and the Pauper," starring that lovable iconess Barbie. Anybody else hear a scraping sound coming from upstate New York? In the immortal words of Chumbawamba, "We're dumbing down, dumb de dumb dumb." Terry Ballard Quinnipiac University