Hot off the Press: Sanitized edition

This has now been beaten like a dead horse, but at the time I first saw it it was news. An edition of Adventures of Huckelberry Finn to be published in February will not featured the 219 uses of "nigger." The word has been replaced by "slave." The word "injun" is also replaced by "Indian": http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/05/books/05huck.html. This is sick. I am usually a fan of certain measures of political correctness (I am a product of Iowa City), but this goes way too far. The man who came up with this idea said he is "by no means sanitizing Mark Twain." Uh — sorry to break it to you, bud: you are. Also shocking is this:

Ms. Absher teaches Twain short stories and makes “Huck Finn” available but does not teach it because it is too long — not because of the language.

Too long? What?! I don't want to sound like an old fuddy-duddy, but it was not too long 11 years ago when we read it in high school.

Three Iowa cities made the list of 40 Drunkest Cities in The Daily Beast. Iowa's drunkest city: Sioux City. Big shock: http://blogs.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/index.php/2011/01/04/3-iowa-cities-rank-in-drunkest-cities-list/. However, I suppose you have to drink when you live in the most extremist and socially repressive part of the state.

Iowa cities and counties are cutting down ash trees in anticipation of an invasion of emerald ash borers, which could, the article says, kill each and every ash in the state: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20110106/NEWS/101060331/Iowa-takes-an-ax-to-ash-trees.

A Johnson County photographer is POed at Facebook because the social networking site disabled her account after she posted her own maternity photos: http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/Johnson-County-Woman-Upset-with-Facebook-112977494.html. She considers it censorship, but what do you expect from a private organization with policies and terms you agree to abide by when you create an account?

Stand-up comedian Mark Maron, who I remember from old school Comedy Central shows like Lounge Lizards (with that iconic stage and translucent screen) and Stand-up Stand-up (those formative years when Comedy Central aired a lot of stand-up comedy), is making a comeback through Podcasts: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/arts/09maron.html?_r=1&hp. Just when I thought this guy was long gone, forever a relic of the early- and mid-nineties.