This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

As a Tribune reader for many decades, I have found it useful to keep a short list of favorite must-read columnists and contributors. (Those of us who now dwell in an octogenarian cohort find it necessary to use sticky notes to help retain our most cogent thoughts.)

My current list includes, in no particular order, the deftly humorous Garrison Keillor, the wise and profound David Irvine, and the elegant Leonard Pitts, a voice of our national conscience. Secondarily, I pinned up Don Gale, a long-ago U. of U. classmate who has learnedly written in tight sentences before Twitter forced us to; David Brooks, a refreshingly, ahem, fair and balanced right-of-center political observer; and the piercingly witty Maureen Dowd. And oh my golly, I dearly miss Molly (Ivins).

However, since Sunday, Aug. 14, it behooves me to add another name to my must-read list of literary lights: the eminent playwright David Kranes, whose cuttingly brilliant column on "The Theater of Trump" left me laughing so long and so loud I feared developing a kidney stone. To all, a deep bow of appreciation for their respective contributions to the national discourse in a sadly saturated time of coarseness and asininity.

J. Byron Sims

Salt Lake City