How many of you still subscribe to a local or national newspaper? Sadly, I no longer get a newspaper delivered to my door. I miss the whole experience of seeing it there on the porch every morning, I miss the feel and aroma of the newsprint. I especially miss the moment I open the first page with my cup of coffee by my side. Wait, no! that was never me. I think I would like to savor an experience like that, but even though one of my past favorite Professors told me many times, if you read anything throughout your life please read the New York Times or Wall Street Journal daily!
Well, I’d buy a NY Times once a week or so and when I got organized, I subscribed off and on. But now, it is so easy to catch up on the news via social media that I fear the deadly decline of this print phenomenon called the local newspaper is on its way. This Summer, I had an eye opening experience. Unfortunately, my Father passed away. He was the “Big guy” in our family. He was everyone’s rock. A few of us took some time to write a few things about my dad for the local newspaper. What surprised me, was how expensive it is to place an obituary in the local newspaper. We were happy with what we wrote and we slimmed it down as much as we thought appropriate.
While the submission process was really easy and fret free, the cost was a huge shocker. Our slimmed down version came to over 1K. Thankfully, the family said it was a go so we sent it in. My fear here, is that this age old tradition of memorializing a loved one in the form of a newspaper obituary is slowly dying, or at least becoming unaffordable. Let’s hope that with all the new ways of doing things in this communication driven era, we will find a way for this age old tradition to live on. In memory of my Dad, Phil “The Greek” I love you!
Kathy
