Several years ago now I had the opportunity to deliver a few remarks about a certain writer from Monroeville, Alabama. This took place in the old Monroe County Courthouse, up in the second floor courtroom, which you've most likely seen before even if you've never set foot anywhere near Monroe County. The courtroom was replicated exactly as it was and is in that movie. You know the one, but I'll name it: To Kill a Mockingbird. So what follows here is a slightly edited, and hopefully entertaining, version of those remarks. When I was about ten years old, I used to watch the Merv Griffin Show in the afternoons. We're talking 1971 here. (Remember 1971? I do.) There was occasionally this very odd little man who would come out as a guest, and I never could figure out exactly why he was on there. He wasn't a singer or an actor or a comedian. I didn't know what he did. I would think to myself, Oh, no, not him again. He was a complete puzzlement to my [...]