Slice of Life Story Challenge March 27 - Clinging To The News

In the early gloom of morning, I gather the newspaper lying at the far end of the driveway, in front of our house. I spend the next couple of minutes extricating it from the highly resistant plastic wrap protecting it from the elements. For someone who is keen to get in touch with the news of the moment, this problem solving activity creates some level of frustration. I grimace. I rip and tear. Finally, the plastic yields to my will. The news is mine…

Once the paper is freed from its cling wrap cocoon, it is down to some serious reading. The smell of the newsprint and the sheer pleasure I gain from reading the world is all I need to get my brain swirling.

Recently my newspaper of choice made a deliberate decision to shrink from a broadsheet to a tabloid configuration. It saves the publisher money and it makes the paper much easier to manage the fold and read for newsprint addicts. The change of size is an adjustment.  My news is now condensed and has a new look and feel.

Newspapers do not hold the eminent news position they once held, but because I have always read them, I remain loyal. Mind you, I also get my news from web based news platforms as well as social media formats such as Twitter and Facebook. I also receive news feeds on my phone, so I pretty much have a news feed through -out the day covered.


I am grateful to newspapers though, because they have played a significant part in my becoming a reader. As a child, I scoured the newspaper each day for sporting results and articles. In those far off days, I would begin reading from the back of the newspaper because that is where you found all the sports related information. Sport was my passion. These days, I begin at the front and gradually work my way to the sporting section. My need for a sporting fix has lessened. My needs and interests as a reader have broadened considerably. However, newspapers remain part of my morning routine and wandering around in the newsprint remains an enduring pleasure.

Comments

  1. Loved reading this post and the newspaper routines that you have. Something about a cup of coffee and sharing a paper will always be a treasured ritual for me on a Sunday morning. We are living in a USAToday at best mentality and culture and I do hope that there are some papers that will stay true to their tabloid configuration and strong, provocative writing.

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  2. You've got me trying to think how I began reading newspapers because like you, they've been a part of my life for forever. It must have been Ann Landers or Erma Bombeck that got me started. Beautiful writing...I giggled reading the bit about getting them out of the plastic wrapper.

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  3. I loved your description of removing the newspaper from it's plastic wrapping. My favorite line is "Once the paper is freed from its cling wrap cocoon..."

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  4. Will the paper disappear? I hope not. There is something about having that paper in the morning to skim through, even though I don't do a thorough job of reading it. It is the motion that starts my day and I miss it when I don't have it.

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  5. I love your post and the snapshot of your morning. I confess, I used to love reading the paper but in the past few years have moved more and more to online news. I'm glad you still have this ritual.

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  6. I still take the newspaper & read the front page articles and the funnies, an editorial or two each day, then move to the internet, although this March challenge has taken time away. I borrow the NY Times from my daughter when I can. I probably should just go out and buy the Sunday times. I don't see the paper being thrown to anyone else on my new street-feel like a renegade!

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