One of the things I love to do in the morning is read the news. In the old days we used to splurge for a real newspaper--the kind you can spread out on your countertop and set your coffee on. I loved the smell and feel of newspapers. And after I'd read the front page, I'd do the scramble, and the daily crossword, and the Sudoku. Sometimes the crossword would be out all day while I worked on it off and on.
I've tried a number of times to get back that experience of a real paper newspaper. But I've been forced pretty much to accept that the daily paper is a thing of the past. They still print newspapers. But earlier in the Fall, when I tried subscribing to the New York Times again, I quickly realized that almost all the stories were repeats from the weekend. Sometimes they didn't even change the titles. It was the same news, all over again.
News now is all online, and it's all aggregated. Yes, I prefer the paper format. But I've come to accept the new one more. And you develop new rituals based on the new kind of experience.
Now when I wake up in the morning, I wander into the kitchen and turn on my laptop, which is pretty much always sitting there waiting for me on the kitchen counter. As it boots, I make my morning coffee--two shots of espresso, watered down a little with boiling water from the kettle. When the coffee is ready, I pour it into a small ceramic coffee cup I bought years ago in Yosemite--it has to be this coffee cup, of course, or it's just not right--and I sit down next to my computer to browse the news.
I like to use Google Reader to collect my news stories for me. Google is an aggregate RSS feed that collects headlines from your favorite online sources--newspapers, magazines, anything you like--and posts them all for you in a convenient, clickable list. I collect daily headlines from the New York Times, the LA Times, Boing Boing, and a couple of other blog spots I like. I also love to browse local newspapers--I have (free) online subscriptions to the Seattle Times, the Chronicle of Higher Ed, and of course the San Diego Union Tribune. I also have more specialty subscriptions for things I periodically find myself in the mood for--Sunset Magazine, Baker's Banter from the King Arthur Flour group, Vanity Fair, Time Magazine. You can get the NYT Sunday book review, too.
I'm always going to miss the feel of paper, but I'm slowly coming around to this new reality of ours. And of course being able to know what's going on in the world, instantly, is a strange and marvelous thing.
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