Notes from the Cabin in the Sky: July 25,2025

“You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.”
― Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

You never quite know what to expect in the newspaper business. For example, I received a letter from a fellow out in Michigan and ended up talking to him on the phone a bit. He had heard all about the legends of the Comstock and was keen to share his poetry with us. I had never knowingly read a poem from Michigan before this, so I obliged, and below you'll see a nice little piece of medieval romance straight out of Cheboygan.

That might seem random, what with knights and ladies and the Comstock, but I assure you that it's not. Virginia City, after all, was home in the 1800s to an active Knights of Pythias lodge, and you can still see the building up by Piper's Opera House. More recently, the Knights Templar continue to be active in our area, though they operate in calm secrecy and you have to know where to look. I also realized in talking with this fellow that as far as legends go, the Comstock is right up there with King Arthur.

On any given morning in Virginia City or Dayton, it's happy small town life for most of us. We put out our trash cans on time and walk up to the post office for a copy of the paper and drink a cup of coffee and watch to make sure the sun finds its way across the sky. But outside, the world looks at us with different eyes. We, after all, are the Comstock, one of the last strongholds of the Wild West and Miners and Whiskey and Gold and Outlaws and the fact that we're just calmly sipping our coffee knowing full well that there's a tall man lighting a cigar and walking towards us on C street with a black powder pistol on his hip...well, that just proves to the outsider that we really ARE the legends they've imagined. And I'm not about to tell them that old Bill walks down C Street like that every day and is a hell of a nice fellow. The world needs more knights and legends and outlaws and newspapers to keep track of them all and poets in Michigan to write about it. And with that, your humble squire is off to press. Signing off, AG

LETTER TO THE EDITOR:

Greetings, here is a poem I wrote. I hope you like it, and if you do, it will be an honor to be published in the Comstock Chronicle.

NOBLE WEDDING

It was cold and bright
When there appeared a bold Knight
Whose armour shined
And his flag red and white.
He then embraced his new bride
Ever so tight
For they would celebrate long
into the twilight.

- Brian Keith Mino, Michigan, USA