One Last Ruben Studdard Reference Wafts Gently Into The Cool Evening Air

ST. PAUL, MN—Spoken in a hushed and honeyed tone, the name of American Idol 2 winner Ruben Studdard spilled forth from the lips of a local resident yesterday, and, briefly hanging sea and sky between, escaped suddenly into the eternal chill of the crisp autumn air. According to those present, gone, gone is the reference to the rotund songsmith, passing unencumbered through the shared human consciousness and disappearing into the ether, yet another name now lost to the ages, silently fading into shadows numberless, suckled by the night sky. And lo, eyewitnesses report, the reference has taken its place in the heavens, sealed forever in memory forgotten, never to be heard again.