Humor is deeply subversive. It's maybe the best way to get under the skin of the Powers That Be. The Onion does a great job of this on the national level.
Yesterday I was delighted to be sent a copy of a first-rate satirical newsletter created by someone in Silverton. Oops, Silvertongue. Which is close to Mt. Angle. Pleasingly, the masthead says, "A Leisure Service of the Statesman Urinal."
(The Silverton newspaper, published by the Statesman Journal, is called the Appeal Tribune.)
Not an original putdown of the Statesman Journal, but funny nonetheless.
I haven't poured over every detail of the newsletter, but I wanted to share it ASAP, since great humor writing like this needs to be promulgated far and wide in these often-too-serious times. Enjoy.
Download Silvertongue Newsletter Dec 2018
I have no idea, just a guess, who produces the newsletter. It has a Facebook page, but the only clue I found to the identity of the twisted creative mind that fashions the Silvertongue Apple-Peal is above.
A comment on the post said "Thanks, Gus." A bit of Googling makes me think that Gus Frederick is a good possibility, in part based on the forehead resemblance on this web page. But I could be wrong, so if Gus Frederick reads this, and hates being associated with the Silvertongue Apple-Peal, don't sue me, bro.
I'm envious of the mind that creates the newsletter, though also worried about what would happen to my psyche if I possessed a similar mentality.
On the whole, I think I'd enjoy that prospect.
If nothing else, I'd be able to laugh my way through the angry letters to the newsletter editor and threatened lawsuits that might be the lot of the Silvertongue Apple-Peal creator. Unless the Powers That Be in Silverton have more of a sense of humor than their counterparts in Salem, which I doubt.
OK... I'm worried that you might not click on the download link above and then enlarge the print on the PDF file to make it easier to read. So to induce you to explore the marvels of the Silvertongue Apple-Peal, here's a few screenshots to whet your appetite for the occasionally published newsletter.
This issue was a November 2018 election special edition. I enjoyed the NEPCO endorsements, even though I know next to nothing about Silverton/Silvertongue politics. Stu Rasmussen, a former mayor, is the only name I recognized in this thinly-disguised candidate list.
Checking the results, Rasmussen/Ratsmucus lost. By a lot, 37% to 58%. So did Harrod/Horrid. Neideigh/Neihigh won, but so did all of the four candidates for three city council seats other than Harrod/Horrid.
Along with the rest of the newsletter, the classified ads are a work of creative art. Here's an example that I enjoyed.
Lastly, some good news for Salem: downtown resident, business owner, and activist Carole Smith sent me the PDF file of the Silvertongue Apple-Peal. She asked what I thought about someone producing something similar for downtown Salem. I loved the idea.
So did Carole, since she sent me a nicely laid out and creatively-written piece she whipped out in just 24 hours that I'll be sharing soon. Here's a teaser screenshot of the masthead.
Carole said it would be fine to identify her as the creator of Downtown Cherry Pits, since it would be pretty darn obvious to many people who wrote it. Probably the same is true of the Silvertongue Apple-Peal.
Wondering how the Silverton satire is distributed, I scrolled through recent Facebook posts until I came to this comment on a post:
Beautiful. Is it worth a dollar? Hell, yes. A lot more, in fact. Of course, I'm giving the Silvertongue Apple-Peal away for free via this blog post, so don't sue me, Gus.
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