The new era
Last week's election has certainly caused a reset around here. A bunch of topics that I have on the legal pad for blogging pale in comparison to the disasters encountered at both the national and local levels. Most of those blog post ideas will likely die on the to-do list. As someone once said, they stack up like dirty cups and spoons.
But on another front, a first week without the steady mindscrew of the New York Times has been a positive experience. I've been using what used to be my Times time to catch up on a backlog of New Yorker magazines, some of which have been sitting around my office for six years. I've long had this notion that I would at least leaf through all of them before recycling them. Without the daily hurdle of the Times, it might be do-able within a few months.
Yesterday I had in hand, among others, the October 28 New Yorker, which included a piece on Orange Caligula's campaign fundraising techniques. Now, I'm determined to read as little as possible about the mango dictator's shenanigans gong forward, and so this was one of those kinds of articles that I'm going to scan quickly. But as I was doing so, I caught a familiar name out of the corner off my eye.
I started my New Yorker subscription back up, along with the hard-copy daily Times, when the first national nightmare began in 2017. Remember the pussy hat marches? Good times. I'd say about half of what I find between the New Yorker's covers is pretty interesting, although I've deliberately skipped all the fiction for lack of time. I've learned a lot, and discovered a fair amount of new music. And I don't find myself screaming in anger and frustration at the slant.
Of all the articles in the Times, the only ones I know I'll miss are the obituaries. They're uniformly well-written, probably because a lot of them were penned years ahead of time, when the paper was better run, and not as prone to manipulation by the outfit's current editors. Oh, well. I miss a lot of things on this planet. Getting that rag out of my house is a relief.
Jack, If I recall correctly, didn't Sulzberger work/train(?) at the Oregonian back in the 1980's. ?
ReplyDeleteThat sounds vaguely familiar, but I honestly don't remember what the deal was.
DeleteHe did, indeed, although it was just after the turn of the century. People were already looking for an exit, but the wheels hadn’t fallen off completely.
DeleteAs Cyndi Lauper sang, "Money changes everything". Look at the dough spent on the Oregon House 3rd district race where the Dims have a huge majority in the district.
ReplyDeleteMy grandmother once said”Some people never learn”
ReplyDeleteSpeaking as a reluctant NYT subscriber myself, have you subscribed to another daily? All the big ones around the country have their problems and, IMO, the NYT is the best of the worst.
ReplyDeleteNo, I'm not currently paying for any news except what I get from Apple through a subscription that's mostly about music streaming. The AP has an app, and you can see the NYT headlines for free. I trust that the folks on X, Threads and Bluesky will all let me know if something big happens. I don't watch cable except for sports.
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