READ IT AND SLEEP

For the last few years my morning reading ritual has been as follows:

1--Morning Briefing (second page of sports section).

2--Front page of Calendar to see if Howie R. has vilified anybody.

3--Jumble (second page of classified section).

4--The Far Side (comics page).

5--Downstown (comics page).

That’s it.

Now that “Downstown” is gone, one-fifth of my morning has been shot to hell (“ ‘Downstown’ Creator Is Facing a Downtime,” by Charles Solomon, Feb. 1).

I’ve considered taking up Conrad to fill the gap, but then I would occasionally have to read the front page to understand him. Better to just sleep in an extra 30 seconds.

JERRY GORNIK

Claremont