Movie Reviews, Clean Copy and Civil Discourse

A good chunk of my professional background is in film criticism—I have served as a staff critic at home and internationally—but I actually have something better for you in the way of movie reviews. D.K. Holm is a Portland-based film critic and author with the kind of regional respect afforded to old journalistic veterans. His work as a film critic, commentator, and reporter has appeared most notably in Willamette Week and other regional publications in the Pacific Northwest, as well as online, and on the radio. His published works include books on the American cartoonist R. Crumb, Quentin Tarantino, and a close examination of modern film noir. And he's worked for me before. His reviews (see 8A) will be appearing regularly and you can expect comprehensive coverage of anything and everything screening in Valley County from here on out. Holm is planning a trip over the Hi-Line to walk the streets and shake some hands this summer, so please give the man a read. If you don't like his style, you can tell him so yourself.

Those among you afflicted with the curse of the grammarian can rest assured that we're working like crazy to clean up the state of our copy. That said, your staffers here at the Courier are working well past acceptable limits to get the best possible paper into your hands every week and we could sure use some help. We've had offers and then some. Glasgow/Opheim native Gwen Honrud came into the office during the production of this issue to help read pages in search of typos. Her fee: lunch. That's how much she minds the odd typo in her hometown publication. If there's anyone else out there who fancies themselves an English expert and a loyal reader, come on in and see what you've got. Montanans help their neighbors out in a pinch, right? And we'll supply the pizza.

Civil discourse is a civic virtue. It's also a rare thing in most of the places I've represented the Fourth Estate. I couldn't be happier that this issue includes a friendly (but serious) disagreement among our contributors to the opinion page. Chances are I'll be acting as the foil to Mr. Vaupel's curmudgeon for the most part, but Lih-An Yang stepped in unsolicited this time to offer up an oppositional point of view. It has often been said that certain arguments generate more heat than light, but as has been pointed out by writers far more eloquent than me, light is one of those things that only comes from a certain amount of heat in the first place. Serious citizens have serious conversations and I have complete faith in this community's ability to consider at least two sides of an issue. We're counting on your support to aid us in our efforts to provide a forum for free speech in action.