According to the Times, most of the response from readers has been overwhelmingly positive. I’m not sure if that means they’re extremely compassionate human beings or just plain goofy.
For my part, being of a suspicious nature, I found myself wondering if Mike Penner was working a scam. After all, the Times, which has lost hundreds of thousands of subscribers since 2000, has been firing staff at a rate that must be nightmarish for those fortunate few still drawing a salary. So, what if this is just a clever career move? What if Mr. Penner is no more a transsexual than Alec Baldwin is, but figured if he claimed to be one, the PC bosses down at 2nd and Spring Street would never dare cut him, you should excuse the expression, from the paper.