As the saying goes, can we talk about the elephant in the room? Or in this case the paper on the table? Actually, the newspaper on the table, and to be painfully precise, the Red Deer Advocate that isn’t on the table.
Oh, you’re possibly still reading this on a real newspaper made out of real paper, and you may be at your kitchen table or reasonable facsimile and you say, I have the Advocate in my hand so and I’m reading rants and ramblings that you have written, so what are you complaining about? And I say, well, I’m not complaining really, I’m just kind of, well… sad.
When the venerable, elderly Advocate announced a week or two ago that it would only be publishing and delivering a newspaper made of real paper twice a week, Wednesdays and Saturdays, my first thought, unexpectedly, was of my Dad. He used to read the Advocate religiously even though he wasn’t particularly religious. I can see him now in the summers, out in the backyard behind our house in Parkvale in his old wooden Adirondack chair under the shady mountain ash with his newspaper and a coffee, pausing every so often to turn a page and give our beagle mutt Bim a piece of his chocolate chip cookie.
And in the winters, almost every day at the house we moved to when I was 15, up in Mountview, Dad was sitting on the floor, the Advocate spread out on the carpet in front of him. It was his quiet time, and in those days, to paraphrase popular American Will Rogers, my Dad, like many people figured all he needed to know was in the newspaper.
And now Dad’s long gone and our newspaper isn’t exactly long gone, but the paper version certainly seems to be heading over that last hill.
But let me be quick to point out there is not an audible death rattle for the Aggravate which has been around since 1901. The local news, sports, and social stuff will still be expertly presented in cyberspace, of course. Online is where we get just about everything these days and newspapers are now no exception. Yes, I agree, there’s a big difference sitting with your paper and instead of licking your thumb and, well, thumbing through noose, spurts, and lather on paper printed with ink, you’ll be holding a 3x5 inch (25.9x 127mm) piece of voodoo plastic and poking and swiping to get the latest skinny online from your magic screen.
And that means there’s still a bunch of hardworking people behind the Advocate, still bringing the day’s events to all of us. But there’s not as many as there used to be, and that’s sad, too. I can remember the swirling mists of ancient times when the Advocate used to have full-time staff photographers. I used to go out on shoots with Jeff and Jerry and Randy and even the legendary Calvin Caldwell, who was also our rock band’s official photographer.
Jack Wilson – a great guy and a great reporter; ditto Greg Meachem, to name just a couple of Advocate friends. And Penny Caster, who covered the entertainment beat, and Lana Michelin (who will be sorely missed from the ‘new’ Advocate). Between the two of them, gave yours truly and many, many others in the arts world their due and then some.
It’s only been a few days without the daily Advocate, and around here, I’ve already off-handedly asked the Better Half, “Did the paper come today?” only to be told, “Doofus, it’s not Wednesday OR Saturday!”
Ok, she didn’t say “Doofus”, but I’m sure she was thinking it. But – hey – she misses the paper paper as much as I do.
Harley Hay is a Red Deer author and filmmaker. Reach out to Harley with any thoughts or ideas at harleyhay99@gmail.com.
