Mums the Printed Word

Hey, 

So I guess this is the inception of yet another blog. Welcome to the web, Three Dot One Four in the Key. I hope that this blog goes stronger and longer then most of the blog jawns out there now. 

If not, fuck it. I gave it a shot--like every body else out there. 

Anyway, to compound what was already a testy week (a had a few exams and almost suffered a stroke thinking about my bleak future), more harsh news arrived on my doorstep today: both KING Magazine, a Harris Publication (like my employer SLAM), and Blender Magazine have ceased to exist in the real world (they still exist on the web, a small, albeit bitter, victory). The magazines had lasted a respective six and eight years. There doors' closing for a final time places an exclamation point on the recent shutting of at least a dozen other magazines and/or newspapers (Rocky Mountain News, we miss you).

Maybe it's just me, but the end of print media boggles my mind. I have a few bones with journalism becoming an online endeavor. First off, my eyes hurt me all the time. I am always reading off of an small, dark, scratched up Dell screen. Not to mention my back pains, aggravated from being  stationed in  the same crummy chair and the same position all day. And let's not even mention how hard it is to find anything accessible to read  in the bathroom/on the subway now. These are all trivial--well, to you maybe. But there is just something about having that  half-pound of pulp-shredded, bleached white paper in your hand. There is something cathartic about flipping pages one-by-one, staring at glossy images and smelling  perfume ads. At the end of the day, blogs and bloggers can not replace what I grew up with. Something will be lacking. The reading experience will never be complete again. 

What comes next? Frankly, I am scared to find out. I am scared for myself, fearing the loss of my summer job, facing the possibility of not being able to land a gig next year. I fear for my co-workers who teeter on the brink of unemployment. I mourn for those already waiting on that long line.  

On the other hand, I understand where the shift to online media is coming from. But just because I understand, doesn't mean I sympathize. 

Here's hoping that paper journalism (SLAM Magazine, is first and foremost on my mind right now) gets a second wind. 

If not, I grieve for it. What could have been for me? Who knows. I guess I was born in the wrong era.

Welcome to my three-second-lane,

Pi