In a cover story for last Sunday s Perspective section, I wrote about Ed Cromwell, a Princeton graduate who came to Arkansas as an architect for the federal Resettlement Administration and stayed here until his death in 2001. Cromwell, as talented an architect as this state has ever known, was famous for his historic preservation work.
Humor is important in Arkansas history, in part because it had a lot to do with the state's backward reputation. The boundaries which separate comedy and tragedy are mighty thin.