Monday, 01 December 2008
No Newspaper?!?
By Susan Gulliford of Hillsborough NJ Journal
The general consensus in the business world is that paper newspapers are going the way of the dodo bird; that they no longer have a place in the modern world.
And I find that sad.
I don’t remember a time that there weren’t newspapers in my life, even before I could read. Mysteriously, each day, the newspaper would arrive at our house. The adults would all peruse the headlines then divvy up the sections - dad the sports, grandma the obits, mom the ladies section, the older kids the comics.
Then began the tsk-tsking over the day’s events – the local, the state, the national, and the world. Soon they would be exchanging bits and pieces of stories and then the sections would begin to rotate around, person-to-person, as each family member finished their first choice.
My father always got first crack at the crossword and soon we would look over the television offerings on channels 2 through 13 for that night. Monday through Saturday the kids could take out their crayons, using the daily comics as coloring books.
On Sunday, except for a quick glance at the headlines, the paper had to wait until after church. While my mother and grandmother finished fixing Sunday dinner, the paper kept us busy. After lunch, my father would stretch out on the couch, begin reading the paper and fall asleep with it resting on his chest.
Within a day or so of its arrival, the paper would be cut apart: the Wednesday paper always had food coupons and good recipes, an idea from the sewing column would be set aside, an obituary or wedding or birth announcement would be tucked into the Bible, an article saved to mail out to a distant relative or a college student.
Sometimes there would be news so earthshaking – the starting and ending of wars, the deaths of presidents, local disasters - that whole newspapers would be put aside in a safe place for future generations to read and understand what had happened in the context of our daily lives.
And this wasn’t the end of the paper. It lined the bottom of the parakeet’s cage, insulated casseroles en route to church suppers and protected the kitchen table from seasonal projects such as pumpkin carving, Easter egg dying and fish-cleaning. Our dogs were paper-trained. Newspapers and cardboard boxes were the two things one saved when a move was in the offing.
We spread newspapers on the floor while we emptied the vacuum cleaner’s cloth bag and we crumpled a few in the fireplace under the wood to start the fire going. Ladies could copy or share patterns using newspapers and quilters sometimes used them for paper piecing.
Every gardener knew old newspapers could be used as mulch or as a tent over tender plants in case of frost. They could be used to clean windows.
Commuters use them as umbrellas during sudden rainstorms.
Now that I’m semi-retired, I finally have time to peruse the paper from front-to-back over breakfast then start the crossword. This is the way that I pictured retirement and I don’t want to give it up.
Suddenly I want to go find my crayons, the big 64-color box.
[EDITORIAL NOTE: All elders, 50 and older, are welcome to submit stories for this blog. Instructions are here.]
Posted by Ronni Bennett at 05:30 AM | Permalink | Email this post
Comments
I believe every newspaper in the world would publish this essay. I have missed getting a daily paper and believe your post today has pushed me over the edge to sign up again.
Posted by: Granny Annie on Dec 1, 2008 6:39:42 AM
Your experience reflects very much my own while growing up. My uncle was a journalist and got postings all over the world. Stories about the news industry and discussion about the news were intigral parts of our childhood. Having said this, I now read nearly all my news online. NYT, BBC, The Gaurdian, and other online news programs offer me such a wonderful mix of news that I've never been able to enjoy before.
Posted by: lilalia on Dec 1, 2008 7:05:24 AM
Same for me too, until a month ago. We decided to stop our daily subscription and we now get only the Sunday papers. Our local was going downhill fast - with more and more ads and fewer items of interest or importance. I hate to see it fade into non-existence.
Posted by: kenju on Dec 1, 2008 8:16:59 AM
Susan - The "general consensus in the business world" is wrong!
They are ignoring demographics. I am a bit older than the 'baby boom' mob. So I know where they're heading - into the land of stronger and stronger bifocals, cataracts, and a myriad of age-related eye deterioration. As I watch my grandchildren and their friends text-messaging and watching movies on screens only slightly larger than postage stamps, while blowing out their ear drums with Ipods, I say to myself, just wait!
(In fact, when I finish posting this, I am going to call my stock broker and have him find me a couple of eye health and hearing aid investments!)
Your wonderfully written piece brings back many memories. Equally importantly, it explains clearly why printed newspapers always have been, and always will be indispensable!
Sandy
Posted by: Sandy on Dec 1, 2008 12:13:15 PM
It was so comforting to read your post today. We subscribe daily to the local paper. My husband buys two other papers daily. One is a paper from Northern New Jersey where he was born and raised and the other from Central New Jersey where I grew up. Every so often (just yesterday as a matter of fact) I treat myself to the Sunday New York Times. It usually takes me a full week to get though that paper and well worth the time.
Posted by: Claire Jean on Dec 1, 2008 3:43:35 PM
I feel sad too!
Even though my paper isn't what it used to be I still enjoy reading it first thing in the morning.
I like holding the paper in my hands and reading it in a comfortable chair. It's much more relaxing than if I were sitting in a chair at the computer.
The newspaper holds many memories for me. For example, I remember when Franklin D Roosevelt died, the newspaper boy was out on the street crying, "Extra, Extra - the president is dead."
I always read the funnies and still read them to this day!
Times change, what are we going to do, just roll with the punches.
Posted by: millie garfield on Dec 1, 2008 8:27:49 PM
