I wonder how many of you read Salon.com, the online magazine. I have begun in the past year to read it; and it's fascinating. It's very hip, in the way Rolling Stone used to be, without being heavy-handed; and some of the best writers around regularly have articles appear there. (Hey guys, what about me, huh?)

The stories I read there make me laugh, make me mad, make me think, and even, occasionally, make me cry. It offers everything from essays on politics to essays on motherhood. i love it. (Hey guys, what about me, huh?)

But what's really fascinating about Salon is that it truly mimics the tradition of "the salon," not the beauty salon, but the gathering place where people who thought about things met to talk about their thoughts. People used to host "salons," in France and even in the United States, regular evenings of discussion, in much the same way we host book clubs now -- though i believe people dressed up more and didn't necessarily have to stick to one book. You have to pay to subscribe; but you never have to leave Salon in the boarding area when you get onto the plane, and the cost is what most people spend in two weeks on coffee.

And speaking of books, I recently discovered two other websites I found fascinating. One is booktreasurehouse.com, a website authors and publishers can join that offers a hots of fascinating options for a very modest cost.

The other site is special to me, though it's aimed at young adults and teenagers. it's called atticusclothing.com (or something very close to that) and it features clothing with the name 'Atticus' on it and a picture of a bird lying dead on its back -- a reference, of course, to the book 'To Kill a Mockingbird.'

My youngest son is named Atticus after Atticus Finch, the reluctant hero and the father of the narrator, Scout, perhaps the most enduring character in 20th century American fiction. The author, Nell Harper (Harper Lee) once graciously signed a copy of that book to me, although she doesn't do that sort of thing; and when it was (temporarily) misplaced in a move, I roused the disgust of my family by lying in bed crying for a whole day. The website actually is dedicated to several rock bands, one apparently called Loser Kids; but how loser could they be to choose such a smashing logo?

Anyhow, the youngest of my three older sons will this month stand godfather for his baby brother, Atticus, as his two older brothers have stood godfather for their younger sister and brother.

Since he doesn't read this website, and wouldn't if I paid him to, I can tell you that his gift for this occasion is a t-shirt that reads "Atticus." This son also holds the indoor record for having been forced to read 'To Kill a Mockingbird,' having been assigned to read it in seventh, eighth, ninth and eleventh grade.

In ninth grade, he nearly got kicked out of class for breaking into laughter when his teacher was reading a passage from the book aloud.

It was the part in which Atticus Finch, having failed to save his client from a wrongful accusation of raping a white woman, turns in sorrow to leave the courtroom. Up in the gallery -- what was called the "colored" section of the courtroom in the south of the 1930s -- Scout Finch is watching with the reverend of the church she sometimes attended with the family's housekeeper (Atticus Finch was a widower).

As he passed beneath them, the Reverend said, "Stand up, Miss Jean Louise. Your father's passing."

When she read that part, Marty's teacher began to cry. And my son Marty, who has never, not once, not ever, despite being nearly a straight-A student, received a report card in which he was NOT reprimanded for talking too much, began to laugh. The teacher asked him, "Is there something funny about this to you, Mister Brent?"

And Marty helplessly explained, no, of course not, except for the fact that his mother had read that passage aloud to him probably 50 times; and every time, his mother had done exactly the same thing -- that is, become choked up and begun to cry.

And she is, right now.

Jackie Mitchard