Speaking of the physical object, the book or, in this case, the newspaper — I’m never far removed from strolling down memory lane. It wasn’t so long ago that I was editor of Greening Frogtown, a tabloid delivered door-to-door in St. Paul’s Frogtown neighborhood. Glamorous! An excellent opportunity to sell ads, take pictures, interview neighbors, take pictures, write stories, lay out pages, negotiate with printers, pick up papers and stuff them into my station wagon, tnen deliver papers to 15,000 people in 5,000 households.
Many the lovely moment, slogging through the snow-blanketed streets, sliding this way and that on the unshoveled walks. As luck would have it, I hit a reasonable age for retirement just before COVID hit. I had already decided to pack it in when the pandemic made the notion of interviewing neighbors, selling ads and distributing the thing seem, oh, slightly absurd.
Doubtless I’ll have more to say about this in the weeks ahead.