Day: March 1, 2009

Why you should stop what you are doing and subscribe to your local paper.

I mean it. Right now. You can even do it while sitting in front of your computer. I can wait.

You want reasons? Okay here are a few.

  • Newspapers are having trouble making the digital transition. For the most part, reading things on the internet is free, but the ad revenue generated from internet ad sales does not begin to meet traditional sources of ad revenue. While most newspapers are available in online form they aren’t the presence they have traditionally been in their paper form.
  • The ad revenue in print sources pays for the reporters who have the time to do the investigations about issues that are important to your life. Issues that you didn’t know you cared about until they are reported on. Coming this Sunday, the Oregonian will publish a report about placing foster children with relatives in other countries. The reporters’ work led directly to a moratorium placed on this practice.
  • Newspapers are an essential part of creating community. Do you want to know what is going on in your town, city or state in the government, entertainment or sports? The newspaper has the answer.
  • Reading newspapers makes you sound smart. Can I talk intelligently about the proposal to bring Major League Soccer to Portland? Yes. Why is that? Because I’ve read every article about the issue that was published in the Oregonian, Willamette Week and Portland Mercury.
  • Reading the newspaper introduces you to so many cool things. I can’t tell you how often someone has said to me, “How did you even hear about that?” and the answer is always that it was something I read in the newspaper.

Excuses I don’t want to hear:

  • I don’t agree with the political opinions of my newspaper. Okay stop. I grew up wildly liberal and reading the Idaho Statesman, which does not fit anywhere close to the definition of liberal print media. I disagreed with most of the editorials, their coverage of education and half to three-quarters of the letters to the editor. I still found out incredible amounts about what was going on in my community, as well as following the lives of the Patterson Family in For Better or for Worse.
  • I don’t have time to read my newspaper. I didn’t say you have to read the newspaper, just subscribe to it. You know those micro-loans that are so successful in third world countries? Think of your subscription as that. Ad revenue is based on the number of subscribers, not on the number of subscribers who read the paper. And really, you don’t have time to read even one section? Even the fluffy section? Please.
  • Newspapers waste too many resources. All that paper is expensive and needs to be recycled and I don’t want to do it. This is true. It may waste much fewer resources to read things online. But, quite frankly, online newspapers aren’t very good. Oregonlive.com, the Oregonian’s website recently had an upgrade. It is now simply bad instead of maddeningly frustrating. Like I said above, newspapers are having a tough time making the digital transition. Once they have and are okay, you can discontinue your paper subscription and cease the odious task recycling mounds of paper. Until then, buck up and buy some carbon offsets or something. Also, if you are that person above who doesn’t read the paper, recycling becomes much easier.
  • I can’t afford it. Yes, yes, times are tough. But as a former colleague once remarked, “I can’t believe you can get all that stuff in one paper and it only costs fifty cents.” It is a marvel. My monthly subscription is $13.95, which is about the same price as a movie and popcorn. For that I get untold hours of reading enjoyment and grumbling, not to mention the side bonus of being well-informed.
  • I don’t really care. You should. For all the reasons pointed out above and in the This Modern World Cartoon from 03/03/09. Remember that trained journalist make a difference.

So don’t delay. Subscribe today. Now. I’m not kidding. Do it.

Countdown.

I’m at that point where I am just waiting for three events to be over. Not that I am sitting passively by, all of them require much work on my part, alas. But I am looking forward to these things being done so I can catch up with my “normal life”.

The first will be done by 3:00 pm today, that is the Youth Service. It doesn’t require a lot of work, but the mental energy commitment is a bit large and every year when it is over, portions of my brain that have been thinking about it, are free to go back to their idle musings.

On March 14, I take the Praxis Middle School Math test. The test itself is 2 hours of my life, but I have spend 43 hours studying in regular half hour chunks since early September. I took a practice test last night and now can complete the problems in the time allotted with the bonus that now I understand how to tackle 95% of them, a fact that was not true when I began this process. So all my studying has benefited me, I just don’t know if I will have enough right answers to pass. Time will tell, but I’m most excited that it takes 4 weeks to get your results. So I will have four weeks of not studying.

Following soon on the test’s heels is my final paper and project for my math class. This is a tough one, because it requires me to have an actual product–the other ones will happen whether I’m prepared or not, but this requires me to not only produce a paper of some length, but also have a presentation. I can’t really fake my way through either of those. So the other back of my mind is working on that problem and I have to carve more time out of my schedule to actually put pen to paper, or rather letters on screen.

While I work on those things, so many other things are dropping by the wayside. Less vegetables are being consumed. My desk has geologic layers on it, marking the passage of time. Someone’s birthday present is underneath everything, and I hope I can mail it today. Laundry isn’t folded, blog posts aren’t finished, bank balances haven’t been updated. Goals aren’t being made.

I don’t mind rising to the occasion and “doing” all of these things, but I really hate the aftermath: I’m tired and then have to catch up all the things that have fallen by the wayside. Mostly I don’t mind making the amount of money I make (though I’m always open to more, of course) but it’s during these times that I recognize the power of money for easing your life. “It would be nice if I could hire someone to cook and clean up for me.” I think to myself. But alas, I can’t, so I hobble on. Thank god spring break is coming up. I can’t imagine trying to do the catch up without it.