Reykjavík Grapevine - 15.08.2014, Side 4

As a recent visitor to Reykjavik, I
wanted to drop you a line to let you
know how much I enjoyed your pub-
lication while on vacation.
As the Associate Publisher of an
alternative newsweekly in New Or-
leans, Louisiana, your paper truly
gave me an appreciation for how
valuable city papers like ours are for
locals and visitors. Your editorial and
advertising content provided insight
into the local community and the
recommendations I received via your
Best of Issue, made me feel like I was
getting insiders knowledge.
I also followed your mobile site
while visiting and discovered that
the protests at the American Embassy
were taking place around the corner
from our apartment. It was very mov-
ing and insightful to witness the huge
volume of Icelandic citizens coming
out to share their voice to an interna-
tional crisis that is so far from home.
Keep up the great work and thank
you for enhancing my Icelandic expe-
rience.
Takk!
Jeanne
Dear Jeanne,
thank you so much for sending us
such a nice letter, filled with kind
words and praise. Like our friend
Richard likes to say: It’s always
positive that a stranger can give
care and direction, at every turn,
asking for nothing in return.
As a colleague, you should pop by
our offices for a visit if you’re ever
in town again, to lather us with
praise in person. That would be
cool.
ELVES!
The headlines said the Iceland elves
Played a big role in where they delved
Putting a road where there was none
Would surely please most everyone

But not that dream society
Where helping souls comes naturally
They're worried about the bones of past
For their elven ancestors to last

With them I have to agree
You can't destroy what you don't see
Let's leave those creations alone
To care for souls that are forlorn

For me it's always positive
To think that a stranger can give
Care and direction at every turn
Asking for nothing in return

It's out of place for me to say
Iceland should have it all the way
An elven stitution in their land
For something we don't understand.
Here's a submission for a poem I had fun with. Hope you and
perhaps your readers can have a chuckle. My personal lore that
elves are good for Iceland.
Richard Larkin
Dear Richard,
thank you for sending us your poem. What a thoughtful
thing to do, sending around poems like that (and such ap-
propriate timing!). Also, most of your poem is pretty much
right on the money. You’re right in asserting that the dream
society where helping souls comes naturally is worried
about the bones of the past. It’s deeply worried, even. Let’s
hope their concerns turn out to be unfounded—we’d hate to
see anything happen to the bones of the past. Those things
are great.
You’re also correct when you say that it’s positive to
think that a stranger can give care and direction at every
turn, without asking anything in return. Many strangers
do this all the time. It’s like their thing. Such a nice quality,
it kinda makes you wish you knew more strangers.
As for the elven stitution, we wholeheartedly agree. Ice-
landers should definitely have that in their land. We assure
you that you have every right to say that, it’s not at all out of
place for you to say.
Thanks again for sending along that insightful, delight-
ful bit of poetry. It sure brightened our day.
Love,
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Say your piece, voice your
opinion, send your letters to:
letters@grapevine.is
Sour
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Most Awesome Letter of the Issue

YOUR PRIZE FOR THAT MOST AWESOME LETTER OF YOURS IS:
AN ICELANDIC LAMB MEAL FOR TWO AT HRESSINGARSKÁLINN (HRESSÓ)
Dear reader. We love you very much, especially those of you that write us letters all the time. In
fact we love you so much that we keep trying to reward you somehow for writing us those letters.
They entertain us, and they keep us informed of what our readers think. That is a pretty great
deal. Now. Whoever wrote this issue’s MOST AWESOME LETTER gets a prize. And it’s a pretty
great one. Like this delicious meal of ICELANDIC LAMB FOR TWO AT HRESSÓ, that our winner
can treat themselves and a date to! And may we say that Hressó do a really tasty job cooking up
our local mountain-roamers. Lucky, lucky winner! And if you for some reason didn’t write this
issue’s MOST AWESOME LETTER, you can always try again later.