Every Monday, Paula Light, with her The Monday Peeve prompt, gives us an opportunity to vent or rant about something that pisses us off. My peeve today is more of an annoying observation than a peeve.
I’m a newspaper man. No, I was never a reporter or a journalist. In fact, other that having a newspaper delivery route when I was a kid, I’ve never been employed by a newspaper. But I’ve always liked reading the newspaper while I’ve enjoyed my morning coffee.
In fact, everywhere I’ve ever lived, I’ve subscribed to the local newspaper. The Washington Post, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Dallas Morning News, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Chicago Tribune, and the Boston Globe. Yes, we moved around a lot.
A dozen years ago, we moved to San Francisco, and I immediately subscribed to the San Francisco Chronicle. I have to admit that, for a “big city” newspaper, I was underwhelmed. But, when in Rome, as they say.

When we first moved here, the Monday thru Saturday editions had four sections. Section A: national and international news. Section B: local and business news. Section C: sports. Section D: entertainment, comics, and puzzles. And that worked great for me and my wife. I could read the sports and business sections while she had entertainment and puzzles to herself.
But the newspaper business has changed considerably in the last dozen years. Now the Chronicle has only two sections. The front section is national, international, local, and business news, and opinions and editorials. And the second section is sports, entertainment, and puzzles. And that means that I can’t read my sports section at the same time my wife is doing her crossword puzzles.
And that’s my observation (and my minor peeve) for today.
Why can’t you cut the crossword puzzle page out for her?…….
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Hmm. I never thought of that!
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Duh?…….
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We gave up our newspaper here recently, but that’s because it’s Murdoch owned. So it was quiet horrible, lol
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I don’t blame you. Anything Murdock owned is horrible.
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Tear it (vertically) down the middle, shuffle the pages, enjoy the entire paper randomly. Problem solved. You’re welcome.
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I’m glad peeps have come up with solutions for this! I read online because it’s free and also I don’t like inky fingers, so I’d need a butler to iron my newspaper…
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It is amazing there are still printed news; another victim of “shrinkflation”, probably the poor Chronicle is doing its best to stay alive, so it is nice of you to keep supporting them.
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“Shrinkflation.” Good word. Fits perfectly.
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Out of curiosity, have you ever compared the San Jose Mercury?
I read the physical paper, in St. Louis, when I was in high school. As an adult, I had moved away and didn’t subscribe to a local paper again until I was in my thirties. I had been listening to the radio and receiving specialty news… like congressional voting records. When I subscribed [but not in St. Louis and only for the weekends], I found that the paper caused my fingers around the nails to become dry. I indulged, anyway, for a year or two while my kids wondered how I could be not focusing on them for those few hours. This is when I began my coffee habit… although I’d enjoyed my first latte when I was nineteen at a European shop while I lived in Columbia (Missouri) — where I met a journalism student [print and broadcast] best friend but, nevertheless, had not gotten the big-deal newspaper.
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No, I’ve never read the Mercury.
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Paper delivery here is hit and Miss even in my previous apartment, thrown anywhere willynilly and I sometimes couldn’t retrieve it. Now I just use online apps for two local and four national world news
Sent from my iPhone
>
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Our delivery is pretty reliable.
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We take the Chron too. The only other paper I’ve ever subscribed to was the Chicago Tribune which was a fantastic paper.
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We lived in Chicago in the late 80s and the Trib was a great newspaper. I don’t know what it’s like nowadays.
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Our paper has gone to that same format. Must be the in thing.
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Must be, but it’s still disappointing for those, like me, who grew up reading great newspapers.
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We like it also.
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sharing is caring! Lol! 😀
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The “old timey” newspaper seems to be a thing of the past. Another effort to get everyone on line and properly assimilated. We have a local once-weekly publication called The Box Elder Journal. Oddly they still have distinct sections – sports (most about the local high school teams, granted. Society pages -full of marriages, engagements and stuff like new baby announcements, opinion pages with editorials by the editor, usually slanted toward some political kerfuffle, I have had one or two letters to the editor published. Headlines are usually “hometown” news, but bigger stories, like biggish earthquake a few years back, do appear. Online versions cost the same price as a subscription though. It is rather comforting overall to know some of the backwater places in America have not joined the collective.
I’m not “entirely back yet, but thought a comment or two was amiss! Good reading !! 😁
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Hi Melanie. Good to hear from you. Di has been keeping us informed. I’m glad you’re on the mend.
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I have turned toward the online subscription. There are things I miss still with the physical paper but it seemed such a waste as we don’t have recycling programs here and to save up enough to take to the shelter to line cages would take up a lot of space. Most days it is just bad, or sad news anyway.
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