I read two papers every day: Wall Street Journal and Elyria Chronicle-Telegram.
I cancel the C-T a couple times every year when I get pissed off at them for their slavish devotion to higher taxes, Democrats and unions. Then I waver and start getting it again so I have some small idea of what's going on in the county. And I miss the comics.
Not sure what I'll do when the Journal subscription expires. It's an expensive paper, but I sure do love it's op-ed pages. It's also the best place to go if you care about business and the economy. I'll probably re-up, although I may just cancel all my newspapers.
But I was thinking last night about what life would be like without a daily newspaper. I've read one for maybe 35 years. What would I do on the crapper in the morning? Do my thing and get on with it? That ain't the guy way. Women spend as little time on the throne as they can, but guys know you have to have something to read and books just don't get it. Has to be a paper or a mag.
And don't even think about surfing the web on your iPhone. That's okay when you're out of the house, but on the crapper? No way.
So those of us who grew up with newspapers pretty much need to stick with them, even if we get most of our info from the 'Net these days. Just not the same experience. There's something about the feel of a newspaper, about the smell of the ink, the combination of comics and crosswords. Those of us of a certain age and inclination are just wedded to this ancient technology. First thing we do when we get off the plane somewhere is buy the local rag. Much of the news makes no sense to us, but that doesn't matter. When you go somewhere new you buy a paper.
Most newspapers are teetering on the edge of bankruptcy for any number of reasons, but if you learned the newspaper habit at an early age it's not something you want to give up no matter how tech-savvy you are. They may be the buggy whip makers of the 21st century, but they still serve a useful purpose. Plus, you can't wrap fish in a computer.
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