Thursday, June 04, 2009

If This Is It

The cat has taken to sleeping in the newspaper recycling basket. I don't mind except that now I have to carefully place the daily papers in it and I used to derive a certain amount of satisfaction from pitching them in the basket with force - take that, you house-clutter you!
It's much less satisfying to gingerly arrange them around the cat.
I've been feeling like a Judas but lately I can't help wondering how much longer I can justify a subscription to the Boston Globe. The price of the paper is up to $1.50 a day. I don't even know what the Sunday paper is costing me. That's $1.50 a day and no redelivery in my area for missed papers. In the past few years they've cut most of what I liked about the paper including my favorite section (Home) and my favorite columnist (Barbara Meltz), and turned what used to be fleshed-out stories in the Globe Magazine into sound bites. Is it worth $1.50 per day to read Dilbert, the editorials, and the occasional art review by Sebastian Smee? Does the entire future of the newspaper industry hinge on my continued subscription? Is it treason for someone who works for a newspaper to bail out on another paper that's in dire straits even though, when analyzed, my relationship with the Globe (like my relationship with spring) seems to be unhealthy (monetarily at least) and one-sided.
On the other hand if I cancel I might have to invest in a proper bed for the cat.

song: If This Is It • artist: Huey Lewis and The News

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