People have fond memories of the strangest things. Who woulda thunk Alaska, for example, could be someone's idea of paradise? To be honest, I'd forgotten the place existed. Then I read this article. Turns out the 49th state is a surreal Shangri-La where daylight lasts 20 hours, the sun sets at a hallucinatory 45 degrees, and unobstructed views of the curved horizon provide a constant reminder that you're on a planet, bub. I like the sound of that.

Stranger still is this eulogy to the recently-bulldozed charms of Woolworth's, a chain that for over a hundred years introduced children to the joys of barstools and ice cream floats. I understand the sense of loss the author feels; what I don't get is his teary-eyed longing for the local Woolworth's specialty, Frito Pie. How good could Fritos, beans and jalapeños really be? And couldn't he whip up a home version? We're talking Fritos here.

But I'd be up for a Fritos pie sometime; I'm no snob. Let's move to Alaska and eat Fritos Pies every day while looking at sunsets drunk. The drinks would have to be special concoctions of course, preferably with a Hawaiian motif -- for thematic purposes, you know. Hmm, this could be the beginning of a beautiful fond memory.

Oddly enough, the rest of this Arts section is devoted to arts. One story finds feminazis reworking Shakespeare's sexist The Taming of the Shrew; another questions the Bard's relevance altogether. And the other articles? From mid-century photojournalism to comic-style paintings, from beaded folk designs to old-fashioned musicals, the artistic lesson here is that fond memories are wherever you find them.