Well, it's official. My beloved newspaper is closing and being revamped from a daily to a twice-a-week come July and will be focusing on more of a web presence. I hate this change of events. I don't read things online. I mostly skim but at night, with the paper in my hands, I'm more likely to read someone's editorial or letter to the editor or even a new local business that is showcased in the Business section.
Canada Guy #1 is a newspaper editor so I've had a chat with him recently about this turn of events and he said that for me and my brothers to enjoy a hard copy paper is rather unique as that most people who do are 45 or older. I completely blame my parents for that. They have always had a daily subscription to both the local one (which vanished a decade ago and which is now coming back as a weekly, I think) and the daily Ann Arbor News (but never the Detroit ones which didn't really have the news for our area since we aren't a suburb). I remember the Lawn Nazi yelling at the newspaper boy for riding his bike over his grass. I remember my dad yelling at a newspaper boy because he somehow managed to rocket it through the front picture window and break it and continued to ride his bike away as my dad was yelling at him only to learn afterward that the boy didn't stop not because he was a jerk but because he was deaf. Heck, I remember when the newspaper was delivered by a boy on a bike instead of a woman my own age driving a minivan like now. Reading newspapers is as ingrained in myself and my brothers as making sure to vote is. Neither one was taught to us via lectures but purely from watching them. One of my favorite memories I have is of my dad coming home from work, sitting in his Archie Bunker-like chair after he changes his clothes, getting a cold bottle of Diet Pepsi and settling in to read the newspaper. Or on weekends, hearing him get up, walk down the uncarpeted hallway, open the screen door and step out onto the porch to get the newspaper while in his robe. My newspaper subscription is actually still in his name.
I just received my renewal form. Unlike a lot of readers who have expressed their unhappiness with how small the paper has gotten so far and have threatened cancellation (and I had noticed too and was wondering if it was worth it to continue subscribing), I guess I will renew for 3 months and then just get it twice-a-week. Not doing so just doesn't feel right.
12 comments:
You still talk to Canada Guy #1? I really think we need a post on the Canada guys. It would hopefully serve as a map for us newbies.
TC, you need to create a timeline & a map for Murf and her various guys!
Murf, I heard that on the news tonight. The GR paper has really shrunk and have stopped covering event down here--and most of their articles I've already read online, so I opted not to re-up and hope the 2x weekly paper will give me enough firestarter materials.
TC - Yes. We make better friends although I have to admit...I'm in love with his wife. How he snagged her is beyond me but he better hold on to her. We even double dated about 1.5 years ago when they were in Ontario visiting his family. Sage and Ed found that odd and felt for poor Big A for having to go. :-)
Sage - I had thought of making a timeline while making the one for Sage but between 1989 and 1991, there's a lot of "overlapping" shall we say and I don't remember all the names. :-) I think the same company that owns this newspaper also owns one in Jackson and I think Grand Rapids too. If so, it doesn't bode well for them. I have a 'wait and see' attitude about the new thing that is coming out in July. I'm not committing to a subscription until I see it.
I'm down to just the town paper which doesn't carry anything in the way of news. It sucks but I just got tired of battling with the ever changing group of newspaper delivery people in their crappy unmuffled cars setting up my own personal newspaper hunt every morning. There is only so much I can take.
Lots of overlapping huh. Perhaps you really should do a timeline.
Ed - In the comments for the online story, a few people did mention the issues they had with getting their paper be it wet or in their flowers, etc. I can't say I've ever had that problem.
I'll do a timeline when you do a timeline. :-)
Please do a timeline. You can just send it to me. My email is on my profile :)
My guess is Big A was just as curious about #1 and everything as you were to see how things had changed :)
It's the overlapping that makes the timelines interesting! But still, I think TC should compile it, like you did for me.
I always feel like a 4th wheel here :)
Our local paper is crappy, so I stopped subscribing years ago. But I do still like to get my Sporting News in the mail. Sure you can find just about anything online, but it's easier to quickly browse through the hard copy.
Also, it's nice to get something in the mail besides bills and offers from the Scooter Store.
Maybe I should do like Kramer and stop my mail. "I just want out!"
Oh, forgot this.
"Do you have any conceivable reason for even getting up in the morning?"
"I like to get the Daily News."
Bone: Most cars require four wheels to drive...
O:)
Sage: Why don't YOU compile it? You've been around for all of 'em :)
Murf - My timeline is really short so don't blink. There was A in 1991 but that only lasted a month. In 1997 or 08, there was C which lasted only about three months. And then in 2000, there was the future Mrs. Abbey and that one continues.
I think the reason Mrs. Abbey bit and nobody else did was I took a que from George Constanza and realized that had I done everything exactly opposite of my initial urges things might go better. "My name is George, I'm unemployeed and I live with my parents."
Do not feel sad for our local paper, it was inaccurate most of the time. It had a terrible sports page,most of the cartoons stunk,it had bad grammar(yes, coming from me that is truly saying something!), and it kept shoving U of M down your throat! Other than that I guess it was ok.
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