Books

As the organizer of the Twin Cities Pun Slam, I am appalled at the idea that quality can dictate whether or not a pun is a pun. Slate.com writer Simon Akam suggests that portmanteaus (a subset of puns) such as "chillax," "Wikipedia," and "Bridezilla" are not puns because they stray too far from what some text book says a pun should be. He says we are experiencing "the death of the American pun, replaced by something grosser, dumber, uglier."

Diane Wilson is a Minnesota author and Mdewakanton descendant. Her first book, "Spirit Car: Journey to a Dakota Past," retraces her family's Dakota heritage across five generations and won a 2006 Minnesota Book Award. Her second book is "Beloved Child: A Dakota Way of Life." Wilson is also the executive director of Dream of Wild Health, a Native-owned farm in Hugo, Minn., whose dream is to help American Indian people reclaim their physical, spiritual and mental health.

It's said that those who can, do, and that those who can't, teach. In the publishing racket, more than one grousing writer would attest that those who can't do, edit. Not the case with Jerry Freeman of the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder (MSR).