Skip to main content

NEWSPAPERS AND SHELVA

I remember the first newspaper I ever read. I was in the first grade and just learning to read and I picked up a newspaper somewhere in our home to try to learn to read better. The article contained the word "can't" and I was totally stumped. I hadn't seen that one in the Dick & Jane book at school. I took it to my grandmother who told me what it meant and that it was a contraction as she used my question as a teachable moment. From that moment on, I was hooked on newspapers and newspaper clippings and it is an addiction which continues to this day. If you don't believe me, just come visit me sometime. There are newspapers in every room, on every table, under the bed and you would probably have to move one or several to find a chair to sit in. I got to the point where I let them stack up, threw a tablecloth over them and used them as a lamp table. I can't bear to throw them away until I have read them and obviously I will never get that done. I have stacks and stacks of Lebanon and Springfield papers which contain my column and I can't bear to part with them. There is a funny family story in all this which my brother-in-law (Shelva) has never let me live down. When we moved to Washington St from Viewland, we had a large chest freezer out on the back porch and it was very heavy. We had family members helping us move and there was no way I could supervise it all. At the end of the day Shelvie, as we call him, as complaining to me about having to move that heavy freezer and wanted to know what we had in it. Newspapers, I told him. I thought he would kill me right then and there. I tried to explain to him that I read once that if you don't keep your freezers full, they won't stay cold very well. And since I had all these newspapers saved and no where to put them, I decided to kill two birds with one stone and I had stashed all the newspapers in the freezer to keep it running well! This is not where we came up with the phrase "news too hot to print". The possible complete demise of the daily/weekly newspaper makes me very sad. We have already lost so many of them.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Mary Did You Know" by Mark Lowry

1 comment
Read more

COMMUNION ON THE MOON

Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. (Melody Beattie) Americans need a day dedicated to gratitude. I have noticed that in the lineup of most of our holidays that Thanksgiving is perhaps the one least given over to secularism - the one we still observe in a traditional fashion. We need it to keep our focus clear and to teach our children what it means to be thankful for family, friendship and faith. We need a time to gather around the table with extended family and enjoy turkey and dressing and gravy, two kinds of potatoes, cranberries, hot rolls, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie and whipped cream. We need it, not for the calories, but to create an awareness that there are those who don’t have those blessings, because in the hectic pace of our everyday lives we tend to forget those in need. Family and food are important, but above all else, Americans need a rededication to our faith. Faith brought the pilgrims to the ne...
Post a Comment
Read more

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS OF AUTUMN

  SIGHTS AND SOUNDS OF AUTUMN By Joan Rowden Hart, Oct. 17, 2016 The hickory tree stands tall in the yard A harbinger of the season to come Dispensing nuts as the wind picks up A change in the weather so abrupt These are the sights and sounds of autumn The first tryma just rolled down the length of the roof But they’ve been littering the roads for days They crack under the wheels Causing car brakes to squeal The sights and the sounds of autumn. A chill in the breeze says it won’t be long now Old winter will be here too soon But there are still pleasant days For the sun’s warming rays And the sights and the sounds of autumn Leaves drifting on the wings of the wind as they play A kaleidoscope of nature’s own making Rusty mauve, glittery gold Red and orange bright and bold These are the sights and sounds of autumn. Smoke rising in the air from bonfires here and there Hotdogs impaled on sticks, embers glowing Crisp and crunch as you bite In the evenings waning light More sights and sou...
Post a Comment
Read more