The daily digest of Twin Cities culture | Secrets of the City

Writers: Beat your pens into joysticks; trade your typewriters for Playstation 3s. There is, apparently, a new frontier for your art.

On the front page of yesterday's New York Times is an article by Motoko Rich titled, "Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading?" It's the first in a series that will explore "how the Internet and other technological and social forces are changing the way people read." This installment focuses on the somewhat new debate as to whether online reading promotes literacy, or is detrimental to it.

Prelude: A friend--and faithful supporter of this blog--recently told me to consider taking more risks online. So, following this piece of advice, I offer you an essay about cars, hoping not to step on fellow blogger and serious car enthusiast Chris Birt's toes. A disclaimer: apart from driving them, I am not "into" cars. I think of them as gas-guzzling necessities that get me from point A to point B in case those two points are too far apart to bike.