Small Town Newspapers

We took a walk (about a mile) to the gas station here in town to buy the weekly edition of the Riley newspaper. It is published every Thursday and usually takes me no longer than 5-10 minutes to read through. Not that it's not lengthy enough, oh, that's not the problem. The fact is, that it has plenty of pages, so many so, that every week they run a little tidbit that states that they ran out of room, so some items that were submitted will have to wait until the next publishing.

The Riley paper speaks for what the people in this community stand for. When I was in college, I wrote a quite lengthy paper about the differences and importances in small town and large city newspapers. I reflect back on that often, especially now, when it seems to always be true that the newspaper really reflects on what the city stands for.

I know all about small town newspapers too. I grew up 2 miles from a grandmother that submitted a weekly column noting what all was going on with the neighbors, etc. I used to collect the newspapers that had my name in them until the pile became enormous and eventually, I needed my dresser back for clothing. :) They all sound about the same: "Billy visited us Sunday after church. Bob & Ben played a round of cards while their wives worked on the community quilt. Susie was a visitor of Lenny this past Monday. We sure got a lot of rain last evening." On and on they go, listing visitors, events, and "news" that would never be noted in The New York Times.

Writing the goings-on was a way of journaling and archiving what was happening in those times. I would like to think that blogging is replacing that now, or at least it is for me. I read most of my newspapers online and watch CNN while the kids take naps. I enjoy staying up on the news, but I'm not sure how much gossip I can handle. It does make a for a good laugh sometimes. I wonder- Why were Bob & Ben playing that round of cards? Did they have to settle a bet? Were they bored and tired of waiting on their spouses? What was their relationship and why does that even matter? It wraps you up in questions as to what is news and what is "gossip". And I use the word gossip in as neutral of sense as you can- meaning good or bad, truthful or slanderous, gossip is the speaking about other people to others.

So, I scan the Riley paper. It reflects well on the circles we've come to discover in this small town. It offers news on events that are happening in the surrounding communities and anything that has to do with the schools here. It does a wonderful job of relating to it's readers sense of wondering what's going on in their community- but I think it would help if you knew the people involved or knew the situations. Otherwise, it's only important to those that know or care to read it. Just like the blogs I read- if I know the writer and their purpose, I enjoy reading the blog. However, if it's a complete stranger, speaking of something (such as their family) that I have no idea about, than, I don't waste my time.

My friend once told me to look at things as a 'science experiment' from the outside. It was a situation at school that was frustrating me and I was having a difficult time dealing with the people involved. I've come to use that analytical thinking in my daily life, which is what brought about this post. I feel like, even after living here for 3 years, we are still relatively new to this community and still discovering what makes it special to so many people. Some day, we might be the ones trying to preserve the heritage while the darn youngsters moving here and there criticize us about what we have always done. Here's hoping that never happens and I continue to have an open-mind about the things in my life.