Early Christmas. . .What Happened?
I’m a news junky. I have been for years. I was the only kid I knew who read the Wall Street Journal in high school. I left at 19 years old to serve a two year mission in Chicago.
Six days each week we were focused on service, spreading the Gospel, and teaching. But, on Mondays we had time to ourselves. Well, in pairs, we were still Mormon missionaries, of course. Chicago has great pizza, two baseball teams and two newspapers.
I would get a copy of both the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun Times each Monday and read them cover to cover: Metro, politics, religion, sports, and especially the comics.
When I returned home, I read our local paper, The Daily Olympian. High school sports, business, politics and of course, the comics. I attended college at BYU. I enjoyed the university paper, The Daily Universe. I fell in love with political cartoons. The letters to the editors were always entertaining.
Eventually, I quit taking the local paper. The internet came along and with it, dozens of news sites. Politics is a passion for me. But, so are technology sites. And, of course, there are the comics. The only one I follow on a regular basis is Schlock Mercenary. It’s written by my friend Howard Tayler. He’s updated it every day since June 12, 2000.
For Christmas my lovely wife gave me a very thoughful gift. She got me a subscription to the local paper, the Daily Herald. It’s the real dead-tree edition. Local high school sports, politics, and of course, comics.
It’s odd, reading the paper in print edition. There are no hyper links, obviously. I regularly read the website for our local paper. So, many of the stories that appear in the morning edition I’ve already read the day before.
But, the comics. The comics are new each day.
The paper delivery started on Monday. The editions are thinner than the last time I took the paper. A few stories and a lot of ads. It was comforting to hold newsprint in my hands. The paper was delivered in a red plastic bag to keep it dry.
Sunday’s edition was larger, of course. The first Sunday I was so excited. There were going to be ads and more articles, but I was looking forward to the comics.
My kids also like the paper. One son enjoys the sports. Another likes the gossip pages. My daughter likes the ads.
So, when the Sunday comics came up missing, I assumed the worst. I had to wait an entire week for the next edition. And that’s when I realized that the newspapers had changed. The stories are still there. The ads are there. And on every day except Sunday, the comics are too.
Things change.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
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