What is the big red newspaper box on the corner of Menalto and Gilbert?

A source that asks to remain anonymous, sent us a tip about a red newspaper box on the corner of Menalto and Gilbert labeled “The Menlo Park Reader.”

Does Menlo Park have a new newspaper? We’re going to let you investigate to find out because what we found inside surprised us.

“It was an abandoned—and an eyesore. We thought, why not turn it into something useful and beautiful for the neighborhood,” said our source who joined with a partner in rescuing the box.

Here’s a story from the first edition: “New research shows that people who read books are more attractive, intelligent, charming and creative than people who do not read books. The research team spent months in the library looking into this widely believed but heretofore never empirically proven belief that readers are awesome.

“On the other hand, researchers found that people who do not read books are esthetically unappealing, uninformed, jejune and languorous. These big words, known as adjectives, were discovered in the dictionary. ‘It has all the words that exit in the whole wide world, even swear words!’ reports one researcher.

“More details on this groundbreaking study will be published exclusively here in The Menlo Park Reader. Until then, researchers urge everyone to read a book. A real one, on paper and everything.”

Photo by Linda Hubbard (c) 2021)