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Did you get a chance to read this recent editorial by Kathleen Parker?
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What do you think? How do you keep abreast of current events in the world? Do you subscribe to a newspaper, or a news magazine? Do you watch TV news?
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With the internet and its opportunities such as blogging, are we each becoming our own news service? Is this a good or bad development? How might it affect society? Do we bloggers even care?
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Do you think that its an inevitable result of literacy---and lots of reading materials available, and the availability of writing opportunities---that people will want to be writers as much as readers? What do you think?
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What do you enjoy more.......reading or writing? I would not be considered a very well-read person, and do not have a college degree, but have been a constant reader since learning to read(even cereal boxes, toothpaste tubes, shampoo labels.....you name it). As I sat and listened to my first grade teacher, Miss Maurer, read Little House on the Prairie to our class, I became absolutely enthralled with the thought of reading.......I couldn't wait to be able to do it myself. At my current stage of life, after 40-some years of reading, I find that writing on a blog is enjoyable and satisfying at a very basic level.
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Why bother thinking about it, probably. Just blog on!
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9 comments:
I get my news when I feel like watching TV on the local channel KCRG in Cedars Rapid. I have news headlines on my homepage, so if something catches my eye, I read it. We get the local town paper each week which takes about 5 minutes to read. And if it is something I want to learn more about I go to CNN or HNN.
As far as being a writer, I have never been a writer nor do I have any urges in that direction.
I love to read, but, mostly fluffy things, nothing to deep. If you have ever visited "My Reading Corner" blog, you will see that I read for entertainment and not intellectual knowledge.
And Blogging is for my own entertainment. But, I do find myself saying in Australia it is close 90 to 100 degrees today. I read Merle's blog and she lives in Australia and keeps us informed as to the fun things she is doing this summer over there.
I was with Kathleen Parker until she said daily newspapers had "a more than 100% household penetration in 1950." Isn't that a statistical impossibility?
I get my daily news from TV at noon, six, and eleven, as well as from Matt Drudge and his ilk on my computer. The only newspaper I buy regularly is the Sunday edition so that I can kick back and read a little more in depth. I also (horrors) watch Fox News at times, although I don't like the high-decibel level of its/their broadcasts.
Glad you made it over to Billy Ray Barnwell's thingy. I worked on it for about two years, all told, then printed down three copies and gave one to each of my children at Christmas in 2007. I have added a little here and there since and thought it was time to take it online.
To answer your question, I love to read and I love to write. But I don't do either on command very well. I was a technical writer for several years at IBM and AT&T and Lucent Technologies and I don't consider that as "writing" at all. Although I suppose it was, after a fashion.
I will stop before this comment becomes too long.
both fill a place that is super inportant in my life... the places are somewhat different yet wonderfully taken care of by blogging and books :D did that help :)
I think reading is wonderful. I love newspapers, books, cereal boxes..
I did love the comment, When the world comes uplugged, someone still has to put oil in the lamps.
It is sad that newspapers are folding(no pun intended) and it may be a thing past, sooner than we think.
There is something about the smell and the feel of new print, that builds anticipation in me. I have always been a respector of others' words.
In our world of instant gratification, books may be a thing of the past.
I love to write and hope my words mean something. It would also be nice to know, maybe, if they were on a page, someone years from now could hold it and read it.
I heard someone say newspapers would be gone by 2015. I think that is unrealistic. In the editorial you linked to, Kathleen Parker says papers will be gone by 2040.
For my part, I love newspapers. I buy a New York Times whenever I can get to one - they always seem to be sold out at the gas station that carries them in Ankeny (why don't they get more?!). Whenever I go to a town, I always, always buy a copy of the local paper.
I really enjoy newspapers. I have never been one to read the news on the computer screen - though I like to read blogs to some extent. Give me a newspaper or a real book!
Take care.
I'm mostly a reader. Definitely, not a good writer. I get my news from all kinds of sources, news sites, TV, blogs. Not from the newspaper, though. Our paper only comes out once a week, so unless I want local new, I wouldn't get any that way.
Hey, everyone.....thanks for your great comments here!
Some of you claim to not be writers, as you write.....
Reading and blogging is for entertainment, we say.....but it informs us simultaneously, too. You know reading does that for people, even if they're reading "fluff".
At my house, we subscribe to the daily paper from Waterloo. The first page I turn to each day is the obits. Sigh. Then the Nation & World headlines, then the Opinion page. Sadly, the newspaper recently closed down its fascinating presses in downtown Waterloo....you used to be able to see them running through the big windows. Now the paper gets printed at a printing business in Cedar Rapids. Its cheaper, evidently. The people that ran the presses in Waterloo lost their jobs, of course, which is sad.
I rarely watch TV news....there's never time to.
I enjoy holding an actual book in my hand for reading. My bookreading has fallen off some since I started blogging, though, and that's probably not good. I plan to read rhymeswithplague's new blog, which is a book that he has written; each blogpost contains one chapter of the book.
The internet with its mass of information and at users' fingertips and the means to connect with many other people may change the world, hopefully in a positive way. I really see these new connections being formed over the internet as comparative to new nerve pathways being formed in a human brain. New and deeper thought patterns are then possible.
Thanks again, everyone, for reading, pondering, and commenting.
I would love to be able to write "well". I write on my blog as the mood strikes me but for my own record. I like to look back and see what I was thinking. Have a few followers.
Reading, with a capitol "R", is my drug of choice. I have my next selection chosen even before I finish what I am reading "now". I didn't like to read in school - hated it, in fact.
You really have a way with words - I enjoy yours.
~Mad(elyn) in Alabama
Hi, ~Mad,
That's encouraging to know......that you enjoy reading now even though you did not when you were young. I get stuck in thinking that people stay the same. And, blogging as a way to record thoughts for future perusal is a good idea. Thanks for stopping by!
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