The ephemeral newspaper: giving thanks

fog 10
Steven Hight

In the growling gray light (San Francisco still has foghorns), I collect the San Francisco Chronicle from the wet steps. I am so lonely I must subscribe to three papers - the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle. I remark their thinness as I climb the stairs. The three together equal what I remember.

The November Harper's has a meandering, tragic paean to the lost city newspaper by Richard Rodriguez (quoted above). Unfortunately the full article is subscriber-only, but Marcus Banks links to two articles on the possible future of the newspaper by Michael Massing ("the reengagement of America's young offers a rare ray of hope") and Paul Starr ("Instead of being limited to a local paper, readers already enjoy access to a broader range of publications and discussions than ever before") which make for sobering but perhaps cautiously optimistic reading.

I'll be giving thanks this week for the Internet and good old-fashioned paper. Lucky me, that my life falls in the interregnum between one or the other having utter dominance.