Sometimes Those Who Can, Teach: Local educator Danny Kofke, from Hoschton, has been working the publicity circuit lately to capitalize on renewed interest in his 2007 book How to Survive (and Perhaps Thrive) on a Teacher's Salary (Tate Publishing), recently appearing on 11 Alive News and "Good Day Atlanta," among other places. Kofke is riding on the current wave of popularity of books on thrift and risk-avoidance following the 2008 Everything Crash, and his book appears to be striking a chord not only among teachers but with folks finding themselves in the same lower-middle-class income bracket. Kofke's book is a slim volume, less than a hundred pages (I read it cover to cover while waiting for a doctor's appointment), and is not so much a comprehensive guide to personal finance than the story of how he and his wife started out smart and frugal—with a couple of lucky breaks—and profited by it using the principles put forth by David Bach, author of Smart Couples Finish Rich. But for what it is, it's not bad—plain-spoken, reader-friendly, and genuinely encouraging. In these times, it sure couldn't hurt.

Proof That Comic Books Will Make You Stupid: On Aug. 31 the Disney Company acquired Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion, much to the surprise of the market and most of Marvel's creative staff, who now suddenly find themselves subjects of the Mouse King. This could be a good thing, as Disney has been looking for years to increase its market demographic among boys (somehow most boys aren't into Disney princesses), and Marvel will at last have a single distributor for movies and TV properties. Or it could be a bad thing, as Disney is notorious for gratuitous and often disastrous meddling in the affairs of its subsidiaries, as shown by well-publicized disputes with Pixar and Miramax. The worst-case scenario is one in which Disney attempts to soften up some of Marvel's edgier comics in its perpetual quest for family-friendliness. I take that back; the worst-case scenario is Spider-Man Meets Hannah Montana. On the other hand, good news for Hugh Jackman—with some Alan Mencken musical numbers thrown into the next movie, at long last Wolverine SINGS!

Better Proof That Comic Books Will Make You Stupid: As reported by CNN, Denver, CO authorities recently broke up a huge methamphetamine operation, to the tune of roughly $2 million dollars per month. The operation was run by a pair of brothers, Aaron and Alfonzo Castro, who would import the meth from Mexico by way of Phoenix, then use drug mules to carry the stuff to lower-end dealers in the Denver area. Ultimately, the brothers laundered their profits by buying vintage comics, reportedly first-edition Superman and Batman titles, with the final aim of setting themselves up as comic-book dealers. First you get the money, then you get the power, then you get the women, then you get the comics... then you lose the women...

Passing: Dominick Dunne, best-selling novelist, crime writer, and Vanity Fair's man on the scene at high-profile celebrity trials, died Aug. 26 of bladder cancer. He was 83. At one time a movie producer, Dunne was best known as a man who moved among the rich and famous and lent his moneyed-gadfly perspective to the coverage of the trials of O.J. Simpson, Claus von Bulow, Phil Spector and the Menendez brothers. The brother of novelist John Gregory Dunne, his best-known novels were The Two Mrs. Grenvilles and An Inconvenient Woman, and he spent his final months racing against time to finish one last novel, Too Much Money, before succumbing to the cancer. He succeeded.

Sheila Lukins, who with Julee Rosso coauthored the seminal guides The Silver Palate Cookbook and The New Basics Cookbook, died Aug. 30 of brain cancer at the age of 66. Lukins was one of the owners of New York's Silver Palate food shop, an early institution in the foodie revolution, and designed her cookbooks around elegant meals that upscale working people could prepare. New Basics is more of a guide to fundamentals and an excellent resource for people (such as myself) who find themselves often having to make the most of very limited skills. Since 1986, Lukins was the food editor and monthly columnist for Parade magazine.

And the venerable PBS kids' show "Reading Rainbow," the network's third-longest running educational program (after "Sesame Street" and "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood") turned out the lights on Aug. 28, a victim of budgetary constraints and a shift in PBS' focus in reading education, away from comprehensive reading and more heavily on nuts and bolts like phonics and spelling. While there is nothing wrong with teaching mechanics, it's hard to see why there isn't room at the table for a show like this which encouraged kids to enjoy reading once they've acquired their basic skills. There is nothing frivolous about books, as language acquisition increases exponentially when children are exposed to elegant and illustrative uses of language. In the words of the slogan of another institution now penniless in the post-Bush years, reading is fundamental.

Last, but Certainly Not Least: The American Library Association's annual "Banned Books Week" runs Sept. 26–Oct. 3, to bring awareness of the ALA's Office of Intellectual Freedom and its continual battle to preserve the autonomy of America's libraries from the challenges of those who would like to protect us from our own brains. Click on the "Issues & Advocacy" link at www.ala.org for information about events and lists of the most frequently banned and challenged books by year or by author, including classics—I guarantee you'll be shocked.

John G. Nettles