National Buy A Newspaper Day

Monday, February 2, 2009 has been declared National Buy a Newspaper Day!

The first of my writing that was published was an article on shopping and playing in the town where I was living. Especially, I recall talking about not going elsewhere to shop and using the huge city park which I had found empty. The editor liked it so much, she put it on the top third of the editorial page. I have always believed in patronizing facilities and shopping where you live. It absolutely makes economical sense! We need to support where we live and work! (Have I said that enough different ways?)

My old friend, Frank Hilliard who now does the blog Mesopotamia West (with lots sterner articles than I do), started his career as a reporter for the Kelowna Courier in British Columbia.

As I have said before, I simply cannot understand people not wanting to read their local paper every day. How is it possible to truly keep up with local events without it?

Most newspapers today have magazines inserted once a week, once a month or quarterly, featuring national and local people, issues and ideas. Most of these are not online.

From a practical standpoint, it definitely is more difficult to drink your morning coffee while looking at the paper online! Online you cannot see all those ads that give you coupons for special buys at various stores. On Sundays, you have all those beautiful inserts to help you find where the bargains are this week! (I hate to pay full price for anything!)

Just by turning the pages, you can see all the little things that are happening in your own hometown. It's true you can see most of the newspaper online, but do you really want to spending the rest of your life continuously at the computer keyboard? You could be in your recliner, feet up, with coffee or juice by your side!

The idea of no longer having a real newspaper every day parallels not sitting down to a family dinner. It is just one more thing taken away from our lifestyle that has kept us in touch over the years.

Do remember to buy a newspaper on Monday, February 2nd and even better, subscribe to your local paper for home delivery today.

Newspapers reflect how our hometown economy is doing. Keep it strong! You can read more and join this effort at

http://www.buyanewspaperday.com