Even though I started out as a newspaper major in college, I never really had a fondness for them the way I did with magazines. Newspapers were always so big and clumsy. I couldn’t snuggle in bed with the Metro section. It just didn’t work. Plus, all the text and the lightweight paper annoyed me. With magazines, there was at least some heft. Some notion that, “Hey, you might want to keep this around for a while.”
I get all my news online. All of it. I alerted my boss to an article I thought she’d enjoy in the Wall Street Journal. Her reply/question? What page did it appear on? I had no idea and when I went to go get a copy to tell her, I realized the newspaper felt weird in my hands. I hadn’t touched one in so long that it was like touching a strange fruit or a long-lost stuffed animal. Really strange.
But then I remembered election night and the days that followed. When they announced the results, I went berserk. I took a picture of the TV. I took a picture of my kids. I took a picture of the MSN.com homepage. Hmmm…That last one didn’t quite work. Websites have their place – and that place is primarily breaking news, need-to-know-now. When I wanted something to show my kids, pulling out a picture of a website isn’t going to cut.
What did I do next? I simply devoured every printed material I could get my hands on. I bought copies upon copies of every newspaper in a 35-mile radius. I wiped out the racks at Borders and Target.
I’m still collecting magazines as we speak. There’s something about the permanence of it that won’t let printed material die. Trust me on that.
