Posted by Ralph N. Shirlet, a resident of another community, on Jul 15, 2011 at 7:00 am

Dear Stan,

I hope you realize that you are gaining an audience for your continuation of Dolores' streetwise. Streetwise was a popular part of The Danville Weekly. Each question seems to appear on neighborhoods e-exchanges and receives earnest and humorous answers.

It is the humor that delights me as various neighbors talk about reading tea leaves, water meters, and missing Burma-Shave signs. There is serious discussion about new on-line news sites for economic news because most commentators want to know how bad off they are.

More commentary is about how people are reading and focuses on tablets including their new iPad2's. It seems that books are not quite portable enough and don't have batteries so neighbors need to feel that their reading is plugged-in.

And of course, I can answer your question beyond my own fiction because I have read fewer than 10 novels in my entire life. Reading fantasy from the point of view of fantasy somehow seems confusing.

Thank you for Streetwise,

Of Ralph through rose-colored glasses