Virgin on ridiculous

FLAT EARTH

SITTING prettily in the Lesser Antilles, the US Virgin Islands are surrounded by the beautiful turquoise waters of the Caribbean. Known for visiting cruise ships and a huge lack of natural resources, the islands were hit hard by a particularly vicious hurricane called Marilyn last September. Four months later, the sun is shining and the happy-go-lucky islanders are dreaming again about the little things in life.

Consider the wish of Roy Schneider, Governor of the US territory and a man who knows injustice when he sees it. During St Croix's ceremonies marking Martin Luther King's birthday, Mr Schneider made his own ''I Have a Dream'' speech. Firmly against discrimination and unwavering in his belief that all newsmakers are created equal, he declared that he would like larger pictures of himself published in the Virgin Islands Daily News. The St Thomas paper, he said, uses big photos of other people, while his own image is reproduced in just one square inch.

Flat Earth likes to make dreams come true. And because editors at the Daily News probably are still laughing too hard to re-size their photos, we are happy to provide deprived readers in the Virgin Islands (including the pictorially challenged Governor) with a good look at a small man.