Dreary Sunday in the QC. Cool. Rainy. Indoor sports for sure.
The primary reason that I am here today is that Powerball failed me again.
I rarely read The New York Times. And if it can be said grammatically, rarelier on Sundays. But with the prospect of an inside day, and no immediate big plans, I elected to buy today's edition of the NYT at SB this AM. One of my non-political biases against the NYT is that is generally so intensely thorough that it's hard to read without a strong, pre-reading mental preparedness. I prefer my news to be delivered with a little less commitment.
Every media outlet is searching for a readership. Consistent with many aspects of our culture today, most delivery systems concentrate on the headlines. Short and sweet. See USA Today, the McPaper of the 21st Century (so far). The local papers that I read follow a similar abbreviated orientation. Most Internet news pages tend to be even more high spots-oriented.
I know little about the economics of journalism, but I suspect that for the various papers owed by our local publisher, Lee Enterprises, including news in the daily paper is merely filler material between the many pages devoted to advertising. If they can locate a "Man Bites Dog" story or find some dirt on a public official, their front-page story is set.
But I digress. Back to the NYT. Today's edition was filled with detailed analysis in stories about Iraq, sub-prime credit problems, the theater, sports and a host of other topics. I think I received value for my $5 investment. I don't necessarily feel more educated. I read a lot during the week, and much of today's reading was review. Can I take a quiz and get a discount next week? At $5, I am reminded of the anecdote about the beer guzzler who, in a period of stock market decline, was actually better off drinking the brew and returning the cans for refund than he would have been if he had invested in Anheuser Busch stock.
How about this question: Is the NYT relevant to that large part of America that doesn't call New York home? I want to say that it is, but it's debatable. Is it important that we have structures in our world that are cultural-related as opposed to economic-driven? I'm pretty sure that the answer to that question is, "yes", but how do you reconcile the needs to support the liberal arts with an increasingly "stuff" driven society?
This is an interesting area of thought. Economics always count. The arts need good administrators who audited a few B-School classes on their way to the gallery/theater. The NYT simply puts the term "liberal" a little high on their adjective list for me.
Have a great day.
Be careful out there.
Philosophy, History and Commentary from Lt. PC
2 comments:
Martha:
The NYTimes is my Sunday splurge. While I enjoy their political columns (Frank Rich is worth the price of the whole paper), I love their Book section and the Education section that is published 4 times a year is excellent.
The SB help usually knows the price, but I enjoy picking it up at a grocery store and watching the carryout boy’s mouth drop when they see someone paying $5 for a newspaper.
Today’s articles on Irish immigration, organic foods, baseball umpiring were good. A bonus in the magazine section were the pictures of the cathedrals in Italy that I saw last year.
Thought of Kristen when I read the lost luggage article in the Travel section
Haven’t read the special Sports magazine yet but noticed there was an article about Landis
And you got the crossword
I’ve started picking up the Tuesday paper because of the Science section on that day.
You’ve lived in the Midwest too long….they do cover NASCAR now, but I can’t understand why it is in the Sports instead of the Arts/Leisure section.
the countdown to 'back to school' is officially on. i have a meeting with the english department on thurs. and then we go back for teacher meetings and to get our classrooms ready next week. i'm pretty much ready to start working again. i'm sure in the middle of feb. i'll feel different. the wedding made the early part of the summer busy, but since we've been back from the honeymoon there hasn't been much to do. 1.1 is really busy at work and now football is starting so there are meetings and scrimmages, so he's not home all the time in the evenings. mostly i'm just bored. the hardest thing is going to be getting up earlier. i've been sleeping till 7:30 or so, and for school i need to get up two hours earlier. it's okay, i like being up early, but i know i'll be tired for a few days.
we've had the worst weather this week. tons of rain since saturday. lots of places are flooded and have been declared disaster zones. we're not that bad, but it just rains off and on all day. taking the dog out is annoying. it also puts a crimp in my running. who wants to run in the rain?
1.1 bought me a suite shirt off of ebay. kg got traded to the celtics, and someone somewhere is making some bucks off of these cool t-shirts. they are green with the celtics clover on the front. they say 'big ticket' on the front and then on the back have his number (5) and garnett. 1.1 wore his to the mall the other day and people were just staring at him! we think it was because of the shirt....
well, mike vick pled guilty. i hope that the league suspends him so the falcons can go after his $22 mil. signing bonus. espn played back some sound bites from various interviews over vick's career, and hearing them in this light was not flattering. i'd say the guy has ruined his life. agree?
martha mentioned the article on baseball umpiring in the nytimes. i didn't read it, but it made me think of a guy in one of 1.1's associations who made a bad call in a big game a few weeks ago. it was a men's league semi-final playoff game, and these guys take it pretty seriously. the ump called a balk on the pitcher and walked in the winning run. apparently it was a close call that was hotly contested. he stuck by his call and the losing team was livid. they complained, and the ump is now dealing with the association, which is not necessarily happy with the issue. the whole event makes you shake your head. of course this all happens as 1.1 prepares to make his college football refing debut. of course now he worries about refing a high school game on friday and then a college on saturday and keeping the rules for each straight in his head. there are something like 170 different rules for college. i'm sure it will be nerve-wracking to start, but he'll catch on easliy and quickly. he has a crew leader that will see to it! can we say 'old school'?
i've rambled long enough. i'm off to get some school supplies. there is a place teachers can go where companies donate classroom supplies. teachers can get a certain number of items for free each time they go, so i'm going to go see what they've got.
love!
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