Kudos to the 'Chronicle'

Dear Editor,
    I have been in the throes of putting some events together on behalf of Alan Pogue in Albuquerque, N.M.; Santa Fe, N.M.; and out here where I am living currently, on the Navajo Nation, at the tribal college Diné College in Tsaile, Ariz. (It isn't on all maps – the local PO is a double-wide.)
    Thus, I have been studying publications that have adopted a similar layout style to that of The Austin Chronicle. Actually, I did the same when my wife and I were living in Seattle. I convinced a gallery owner to bring Alan up in 2001.
    I thought I should tell you that across the vast territories of the West, there is no publication that even comes close to being The Austin Chronicle, not even a smidgen.
    There is a lot about Austin that we all tend to take for granted and feel like is probably just as available elsewhere. Not so!
    I thought the Seattle Weekly was likely to be as good as the Chronicle, since the area – with more than 2 million people – prides itself in having lots of writing talent. Whatever all these people are doing, it ain't putting together a truly great weekly. I took to calling it the "Seattle Weakly," since I was so disappointed in it.
    The alternative pubs in New Mexico and Arizona make the Seattle pub look incredibly great. The media out here is pretty much as thin as the water supply. In Arizona, the dominant newspaper, The New York Times of the region, is The Arizona Republic, which is so biased it makes the Austin American-Statesman seem like a towering example of great journalism – and you know how I always felt about that paper.
    Your leadership over the years has made The Austin Chronicle what it is, and I just thought I should take a little time out and tell you that it is really a great publication. I miss it being my local weekly.
    You all have a lot to be proud of.