And on Sundays.
I tend to get to airports, and most everywhere else, pretty early. And during the wait, for me there is nothing like leafing through the paper, people watching in between articles.
Once getting through security, my ritual begins. I grab a coffee and head straight to the newsstand. I inspect the glossy magazines, as if they are objects in a museum. Sometimes I even pick them up, admiring the ones with the quality, heavy paper. Real Simple has the best paper. I want to buy them all, but I can’t decide, so I always resort to my practicality. I pass the candy and the soda and the gum and I move onto the newspapers. I debate between getting the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, because I already get the Boston Globe on Sundays and I feel like I need to be exotic- I am in an airport after all.
In transit, the newspaper is one of my most valued items of travel gear, despite how utterly inconvenient it is to bring onto a plane with a carry on and a cup of coffee in tow. No matter how big a purse I carry, a newspaper will never fit in neatly. But, I still love it.
There was a great article in the Boston Globe Magazine this Sunday, which I read with my bare hands, by Beth Teitell entitled Save the Presses! In her story she listed 11 hilarious reasons why newspapers cannot be replaced by the Internet and fancy PDAs. If anybody has had a close, fearful eye on the fate of the printed newspaper it is a PR professional like myself. And by the same token, it is a PR professional like myself that has been poised in the starting block, waiting for the gun, preparing for my part of the social media race that will continue to proceed at an even faster pace, after the death of print.
I can’t help but hope that things will slow down, that the newsstands will continue to stand, and in the airport, that I can continue to discreetly hide my people watching head behind a large newspaper, instead of a tiny PDA.
Your ritual is like mine in the airport! I love airports! My husband is trying to convince me to get a Kindle, but I don’t want to read books on a small screen, I want to read books. Yes, I know that packing 4 books in my suitcase plus the 1 or 2 on carry on, are heavy but I like real books, real magazine, real newspapers. It seems odd coming from a blogger, but there is just something about holding a book in your hand!
Andis last blog post..ROI of Relationships
The death of print scares me. There’s something really comforting about holding the paper and leafing through its pages. I don’t think a PDA can replace that.
Lindsays last blog post..Monday Obsessions: Thai Elvis
As a person who works in newspapers, it’s scary for me to think of the day when newspapers close their presses and go strictly online. While I will still have a job (let’s be honest: the most viewed things on our Web site are the photo galleries and obits), it’s not the same. The feel of newsprint in your hands… I love it.
Thanks for sharing that article! It makes me so happy that you have to have a newspaper with you when travel via airplane.
I go the same way in the airport, only with magazines. Lots and lots of them, if I dont bring any of my own books
andharis last blog post..Absolutely Lousy
I like the idea of newspapers but they’re too large and unwieldy! And I really hate the jump!
*jumps
Me too! But (unfortunately) subtract the newspaper and add the US Weekly (read directly at the news stand). And I think the rags are here to stay… at least for now…