Tuesday, November 20, 2012

A Passion for the Newspaper

Join me on my writing journey each week as I post to the Tuesday Slice of Life sponsored by Stacey and Ruth from Two Writing Teachers

Thank you, Stacey, for encouraging me to use the month of November to see with fresh eyes and write daily about the things for which I'm grateful.  It's a wonderful journey.  
I'm beginning to recognize that I'm joining the ranks of the old folks!  When I mention the PWOW (personal word of the week) assignment and suggest that my students find their word in the newspaper, they immediately comment, "Can we find a word in an article on the internet?  We don't take the newspaper."
It saddens me to see the demise of newspapers and yes, I fear that someday they will be a thing of the past.  But for now, I'll cling to my personal love of the printed paper.  
So here's my Facebook post:  "Today I'm thankful for newspapers.  In this age of instant news on the TV, internet, and Twitter, I still like to hold a newspaper in my hands.  I love the act of picking it up from the front porch, taking it out of the plastic bag, discarding the Sports section (a sacrilege for some of you), and laying aside the rest of it to savor later in the day.  I like to follow favorite columnists and stumble across my own serendipitous finds while browsing the daily paper.  I like the travel sections, the living sections, the art scene, the local events, everything except the real news!  And I love the luxury of reading the Sunday paper.  
So while I can, I'll savor this daily ritual of reading a newspaper and hope to delay its demise by my continued subscription."    

7 comments:

  1. I still read the local paper that grows thinnner and contains less "news" every day - more out of habit than anything else. I don't think my grown-up children have EVERY bought a newspaper and YET they read the NYTIMES online and their local papers ONLINE every day and quote from them to me regularly! It's a change but reading on the Kindle will likely be our newspaper future.

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  2. I was just thinking about how much we use them for art projects. For a possible rustic wrapping paper in a pinch. We got a classroom subscription last year and the kids loved reading them. I think they seemed very old timey and grown-up.

    http://jakartajackie.wordpress.com/2012/11/20/random-new-years-and-other-holidays-but-a-year-without-thanksgiving/

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  3. I grew up reading the newspaper, both morning and evening, but now, sadly, only one am paper, & that is thinner, except for the ads. My children do read one still, but only take the weekend NY Times, and occasionally buy another. It is interesting to ask students about this & you're right-few are reading. Thanks for the thoughts! And Happy Thanksgiving!

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  4. Yes, I still read the newspaper every morning. The day doesn't seem right without that ritual. I am with you on the sections to read. I do have to flip the sports section over as that is where they put TV and movie listings now.

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  5. I don't miss the guilt of running out of time to read my daily paper (canceled after school started), but I have a total indulgent routine as I also savor the Sunday paper! Love the comics, art section and puzzle pages. I hope we don't lose our newspapers.

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  6. I like the newspaper too - but I'll admit that the one I read is the one delivered to the school every day. I don't miss recycling all that newsprint one bit.

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  7. I pick up the Sunday newspaper only for the coupons and comics because I find that the news is often old because I am scanning news on my phone all the time. Plus I am fond of not dumping so much paper into my recycle bin by reading it online. But on a nostalgic level I have fond memories of getting the local newspaper when I was a kid and seeing my parents read the paper.

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