Even though it has dwindled down to nearly nothing over the past four or five years. Even though the quality of the writing has suffered and the editorial choices gotten worse. The dying of print has saddened and irritated me, and yet in my codependent way I have continued reading it because I could not pull myself away. The occasional tasty crumb was better than doing without.
I have read the newspaper daily, or on as many days as it has been delivered, for the better part of four decades. I love the exposure to a wider world and the stimulation of being informed about current events - both locally and in the greater community. I love the simple ritual of sitting in my soft sofa nest, feet up on the leather ottoman, coffee cup at my side, settling in for a good read.
The landscape is familiar. The Internet is a vast, roiling, living tessellation of knowledge, splitting like cancer cells faster than we can know. It has captivated society's open-mouthed stare. Why sit and read a stodgy old newsprint when you can google what you need to know? There are limitless websites catering to every taste and concern. You can read until your eyes shutter. Or better yet, listen to podcasts, watch YouTube. What could print media offer that would begin to compare?
The old fashioned print newspaper, delivered right to a person's front door, has served as a concierge. A boutique service, local and unique as the DNA of a region's soil. It has been a curated blend of writing that is refreshed daily, spilling out a new combination of news, opinion, analysis, entertainment and learning day after day after day.
I remember when the Los Angeles Times was a journalistic feast. Every. Single. Day. I remember when The Oregonian had actual meat and muscle on its bones.
Nevermind, there's a good film showing tonight where they hang everybody who can read or write. Oh that could never happen here! But then again it might...
Yesterday I heard a woman call in to a radio talk show. She said, "And I turned on the news to see if we're still alive..." I like it. Well, the TV news might tell you if you're still alive. But the daily newspaper reassures you that you still have a brain. And a working one at that. I will miss that regular check-in.
It's the college costs of course. Canceling the $48 we pay every eight weeks for The Oregonian delivery is just another nickel in the stack meant to add up so we can send that fat check to Pacific Lutheran University several times a year. It is a painful little sacrifice. A symbol of our resolve. And the pathway has been well paved by The Oregon Media Group. It has weaned us well.
Disappearing news. Almost no commentary. Features AWOL. In depth stories? *crickets* The physical publication is a shadow of its former health and heft. The 2013 formatting change is awkward, rendering the publication difficult to read. Both the size and the bizarro nesting of sections make for constant distraction. Did I mention that now the paper is only delivered four of seven days? While the delivery price has increased? They could not have shown me the door any more expertly, now could they have?
So I bid adieu to the front page assault on public schools. To head-scratching decisions to hide a fascinating crime story on the innermost page and reduce its human interest and pathos to one or two tell-nothing paragraphs. Goodbye to endless drama about marijuana's legalization and the sweep of gay marriage across the country and world. To a school shooting here and a beheading there. Adios to the tattling on political wrangling and chicanery, tawdry wickedness in high places. To the stories about the police, who it appears can do nothing right. And the coverage of movies and television fare that has never made sense to me. (Reading the news to find out what I am choosing not to watch on TV?)
But that's just the bitterness talking. I will dearly miss Joseph Rose, Carolyn Hax, the Beaverton Leader. The poor, now emaciated Home and Garden Section, the Food Day recipes that still shine despite their rare appearance. I grieve the loss of the People's Pharmacy and Ask Amy's wisdom. My beloved Comics page. I long ago cried my tears over the layoffs and goodbyes to Margie Boule, Dylan Rivera, Chelsea Cain, Dulcy Maher, David Biespiel and other fine writers.
The Oregonian's Travel features have propelled me to visit Crater Lake, the Wallowas, Oahu and the Oregon Coast. How many restaurants did we come to love after reading about them first in A&E? How will I know know when Death Cab for Cutie is in town? Or which Oregon Symphony concert is a must-attend? Which of the best-sellers is the one to read next? I will not be the same for missing out on local news. I love the political commentary spanning the length of the spectrum, and always read most or all of the letters to the editor. A pulse upon the world. One I don't want to do away with.
So boo hoo!
When the most thorough news is produced by the Daily Mail UK, the degeneration is clear. The quotidian standard of literacy has diminished in an alarming slide. The societal attention span shrunk to the length and content of a TV soundbite or a Twitter dispatch. Even since turning our collective back on paper, the erosion of verbiage continues online. We are abandoning online articles, blogs and email for Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest and Twitter. Words? Not necessary!
The literary air is getting thin and I just threw away my busted oxygen tank. Evolution is moving too fast for me.
First to fall over when the atmosphere is less than perfect. Your sensibilities are shaken by the slightest defect. You live your life like a canary in a coal mine. You get so dizzy even walking in a straight line.
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