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Can't believe how in sync DeLynne and I are regarding newspapers! I've mused about my growing affection for newspapers over the years but had no idea anyone else mused newpapers as well. Do all bookworms ponder such things, I wonder.
As a child, I found the paper as dull as dishwater. Excepting the comics, kids gazette, tv listings and Dear Abby which I read avidly every Sunday morning. While college age to mid 20s, my reading expanded to the travel, living/style and science sections but really I could take it or leave it.
One morning, and I remember this vividly, my ambivalence disappeared. The entire paper (not sports) was fascinating! The op-ed columns, wow! Just like DeLynne said: The columnists include theologians, philosophers, comedians, economists, politicians and ethicists. They stretch my mind and make me feel like an interested, informed person.
Really, it was such a demarcation between ho hum and digging that I wonder if it is a phenomenon that others have experienced. Does it have to do with maturation of the brain? Studies have shown that brains continue to develop with regards to risk-taking on into the twenties. Maybe the brain must mature to fully appreciate and enjoy newspapers too.
Yes, I muse... I mull... I ponder... I puzzle... so please put me out of my misery before I rack my brain too hard!
Do any of our college age readers get a buzz out of the newspaper or is it too dull for words?
Do our older readers pore over the newspaper or do you just scan?
Do you remember a time when you didn't thoroughly read the paper as opposed to just scanning?
Here is how I read the paper:
All of the newspapers I read are broadsheet but I don't delight in the flapping or spread the paper out all over. (hubby does though and, yes, it bugs me) No, I am systematic. I start with the first section and go straight through... laying each completed section flat with crease down in the proper order so that when finished the paper folds up good as new. I skip only the sports, comics and classifieds. I love finishing up with the weekend mags and coupons.
How do you read the paper... a set routine or random or something in-between?
I was surprised one day when I picked up the Toronto Star while I was working at double shift at my second job in the summer, I couldn't believe all that was happening that I was so oblivious to! Newspapers are great!!
ReplyDeleteGreat post! And an irony considering...
ReplyDelete...initially I was like you...comics and I was done.
next thing I knew, the Help AD/Want ADs got my attention.
and then what happens, a few years ago I was packing up to move when I realized the ink from newspapers made me SNEEZE! Ha CHoo! lol
Today I don't go near them.
Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDelete@Sarah-- Cool that you appreciate newspapers-- and you are only 20---guess DeLynne and I are just late-bloomers.
@RYCJ-- That is funny and a shame. Are you sure it isn't dust making you sneeze-- at my house it would definitely be dust. heehee
+JMJ+
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid I'm one of those annoying newspaper flappers. LOL! I didn't use to be, though . . .
When I was a child, I only read the comics page, but I wouldn't go for it directly. What I'd do was lay the paper down flat on a table, and go through it backwards, page by page, until I found the comics. Then, having read what I wanted, I kept going, still backwards, until I reached the headlines. I did that so I could look at the pictures. =P
Today, the first things I read are the op-eds. I haven't become a fan of any columnist yet, but I do like reading others' opinions.
I won't hold it against you (or DeLynne). Ya'll flap to your heart's content. ;)
ReplyDeleteYour comment gave me a childhood flashback!! I remember doing that too! Except I laid mine down on the floor and read it backwards. Papers are just too big and flappy for kids, I guess. Isn't that funny we both read it backwards?! Do all kids do that, I wonder?
I kid you not... (about the sneezing). And the only reason I figured out it was the ink, was because I had this officemate who kept his face plastered in a newspaper. Every day he was reporting to me the top story, weather, sports, and of course all of it was Guess What? Tax Hikes, We lost, and rain! But the thing was, this kid was always sneezing... and then came that day when I was packing, eventually putting two and two together. LOL! It's true! I'm telling you.
ReplyDeleteMy week would be so long without the Weekend Australian! I am sorry about your affliction, RYJC!
ReplyDeleteWe had a teacher in High School that required us to read it daily. I guess it was current events---but I learned so much--it just became habitual. Still love the paper after all these years!
ReplyDelete