The Twain Shall Meet

"We came to the shallow, yellow, muddy South Platte, with its low banks and its scattering of flat sand-bars and pigmy islands — a melancholy stream straggling through the centre of the enormous flat plain, and only saved from being impossible to find with the naked eye by its sentinel...

By Patricia Calhoun

April 19, 2007

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"We came to the shallow, yellow, muddy South Platte, with its low banks and its scattering of flat sand-bars and pigmy islands — a melancholy stream straggling through the centre of the enormous flat plain, and only saved from being impossible to find with the naked eye by its sentinel rank of scattering trees standing on either bank. The Platte was 'up,' they said — which made me wish I could see it when it was down, if it could look any sicker and sorrier." The author of Roughing It should have a much better impression when he returns to Denver tonight — in the form of eminent Chautauqua scholar George Frein — for Mark Twain on Humor, a benefit for Colorado Humanities' living-history programs. The wit and wisdom start flowing at 7:30 p.m. in the Seawell Ballroom at the Denver Performing Arts Complex; tickets are $45 ($100 including the VIP reception), and available at www.coloradohumanities.org or by calling 303-894-7951. And remember, as Twain said: "The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter."
Thu., April 19, 7:30-9:30 p.m.

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Patricia Calhoun is editor-in-chief of Westword, the alt-weekly she co-founded in September 1977. She’s been inducted into the Colorado Press Association Hall of Fame, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia Hall of Fame and the Colorado Restaurant Association Hall of Fame. She’s also received dozens of local, state and national awards for writing, including first place for feature writing and first place for column writing with the Society of Professional Journalists. Patricia is a weekly commentator on Colorado Inside Out, PBS 12's public affairs roundtable, which has won two Emmys.

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