Things to read: the Chronicle

You know how some days you wake up and there's nothing in the paper you want to read? And other days there's all this great stuff? I don't know why it happens, but today the SF Chronicle had one of its best days in recent memory. And I wouldn't post about it except it was truly unusual.

First, a feel-good feature on a Mission High School (that's where I used to teach) teacher who meets with a group of a dozen students on her own time every Saturday morning and teaches them Dante. They're going through The Inferno line by line, and the kids -- immigrants from Asia and Latin America for the most part -- totally dig it. The saintly teacher is only 30 years old... I shouldn't say "only" 30, since that's when you have the energy for stuff like that.

Then there's a front-page analysis story on California Republicans who are fed up with Bush -- real Orange Country types, too. Both heartening and saddening.

Even columnist Jon Carroll -- who long ago lost his edge -- wakes up and contributes a blistering attack on homophobes like the American Family Association. I wish this column could be printed in every newspaper in the U.S., that's how sharp it is. And I wish Carroll wrote like this every day -- or even every week!

San Francisco Chronicle, Heather Knight, education, high school, homophobia, American Family Association, Republicans