"When I used to deliver the Chronicle, all the sections were folded inside the first section and the front page was, well, out front," wrote my friend Mike Carlson, an ace auto restorer. "When I get the paper now I don't see the front page first. What I see is a friend (you) smiling at me. It helps start off my day. I don't know how much work goes into the front page but it comes in second every day."

Hi, Mike. I can tell you that a fair amount of work goes into designing the front page. But we are not quite as insane about it here as we have been at various times in the past. Certain SR regimes have been, to my mind, hilariously obsessive about A1. You would think we sold all our papers to people getting on subways in the morning. Then there's the tendency of some editors to act in meetings as if they are in a movie about themselves.

And nobody in "All The President's Men" ever said "Put the features section out front! Run that baby!"

Anyway, the appearance of Empire Life, IN Life and now Today wrapped on the outside in the morning has always cracked me up. Thanks for bringing this up.

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