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Nothing Surpasses The Paper Paper

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 20, 2008

A friend stopped me on the sidewalk the other day with exciting news. "I'm reading The Tampa Tribune again," he said. "I thought you'd like to know."

"Great," I replied, waiting for him to tell me he just couldn't get by without my column. His answer, however, had more to do with cost and convenience. He sounded like a commercial.

"I signed up for the new electronic edition," he said happily. "And it's only $33.63 for the whole year. It's easy to use, and it's all right there."

Part of me understood where he was coming from; the other part of me recoiled in horror.

I do probably 80 percent of my research online and my broadband connection is as critical as my keyboard. For someone firmly rooted in middle age, I'm fairly adept when it comes to technology.

I not only own a cell phone, I actually use it. I text (slowly), I can send pictures, and I even know how to access my messages. I have an iPod. I finally figured out how to record television shows on TiVo. I pay almost all my bills online.

But reading for pleasure is an experience that simply can't be replicated on-screen. No amount of techno-wizardry has succeeded in luring me away from a good book, a great magazine or - specially - a freshly delivered morning newspaper.

We have this ritual in my house: I get up early, walk the dog two or three miles, attend to my morning devotions, make a pot of coffee and then carry two steaming mugs of java back to the bedroom with the paper tucked under my arm. Rebekah and I read the comics together, then catch up on the news. We sip coffee, share stories and pass sections back and forth until we're done.

There's no way such a morning routine could work with a laptop. Imagine a 75-pound Labradoodle trying to sleep on the Metro section or comic strips waiting to be clipped and passed around.

I'm glad my friend has managed to reconnect with a great news source, and I'm 100 percent behind newspapers doing all they can to meet the communication needs of this new millennium. But, hands off my morning paper: You can't beat a couple of pounds of fresh newsprint to start off the day.

If you are reading this online, e-mail me; I'd love to know.

Columnist Derek Maul can be reached at derek maul@gmail.com.

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