Back in December, I picked up the newspaper on the way in to work. I usually pick it up on my way home, but I needed to stop at the store in the morning, and I knew that it would save me from stopping on the way home.
The newspaper lay on the front lab table as I taught first period science. When the class period was over and the students were filing out, a student said to me, “Hey Mr. Starowicz, you do know about Syracuse.com. Right?” He was looking at my newspaper when he asked. What was he trying to say to me? Oh, I know what he was trying to say. He was trying to say that print newspapers are old school, and I took his inference as also trying to say that I’m old, which I am.
Due to the fact that we live in a small city, the print newspaper can be purchased (or delivered) just a few days a week. Syracuse.com, the newspaper website, is what most people read, but I am not satisfied with only a digital copy of news. I want a print copy that I can open in front of me on a table. I want a print copy that I can fold in half. I want a print copy that I can cut an article out of and post in my classroom (this morning’s article was the front of the sports page – Syracuse Orange’s big win over the Tarheels). I want a print copy that I can fold up and carry under my arm. And I want a print copy that when I am done reading it there is a faint black ink mark on my fingertips. You can’t do anything like this with a digital copy.
So, today, as my newspaper (I had to stop this morning to get a student prize for a science contest) clipping hung on the frame of the doorway leading into my classroom, a student entered during second period (he was on his way to the library for study hall) and asked if he could borrow the sports section to read. He didn’t care that there was a big rectangle missing out of the front page. He wanted to read about the chaplain that is currently working with the Syracuse University basketball team. Of course, I handed him over my copy and told him to pass it along to any other friends that would like to read it. *I’ll keep pushing print until the digital age takes over for good.
Just curious: Do you read the print version of the newspaper? What do you prefer – digital or print?
Fueled by Inspiration and Ideas 
When I was in 5th grade, I was sitting at the kitchen table finishing my homework as my father slapped a newspaper down next to me. He’s a man that spent his entire life working in a factory that beat him into an oily mess each day. “Read something in here. And we’ll talk about it.” That was it. I had to pick an article, read it, and talk to him about it. I chose sports for the first month or so, since that’s what I loved. But eventually I branched out into front page stuff, politics and business. By high school, I was reading the whole thing. And we were still talking about it. Every single day. Give me a print newspaper any day. I still get the Chicago Trib four days a week, and nothing beats a Sunday morning when I have time to read the whole thing. I’ve garnered chuckles at work for reading the paper, but until they close them down entirely, I’ll take my inky fingers. Thanks for the post. This was a gem.
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I prefer print for everything. Newspapers, magazines, and books. I like physically holding what I’m reading. I can’t explain it and I don’t care if it makes me “old school”. It makes me happy.
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I love the print newspaper. We gave up our daily home deliver, but I still enjoy the Sunday edition. 📰
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I actually miss reading the newspaper, but we don’t subscribe. My parents rarely bought books, but we always had the daily paper. That is all I ever read growing up! (and a few random magazine subscriptions my by used to get.) But I don’t feel like I have time to sit with the paper now.
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Oh, I miss the newspaper! I not only read the daily paper most of my life, but I relished the Sunday bundle of joy…especially in the years I spent in NYC. I would often challenge myself to read the entire Sunday Times page by page! What a luxury of time I once had!!
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