Goodbye Old Friend

Tomorrow will be the last publication of the venerable Seattle Post Intelligencer. The morning ritual of reading the paper with breakfast will never be the same. Why didn't the paper ask their readership if they would fork over another few bucks a month to keep the paper printing? Perhaps that wouldn't have been enough to save it. A newspaper is something so elemental to one's life that you take it for granted that it will keep cranking out day after day, year after year. What happens to society when newspapers disappear? Where will the oversight come from of political corruption, business and fashion trends, medical breakthroughs along with cooking recipes and gardening advice. Will Betty the Blogger become the only, unreliable, source of social information? The importance of newspapers is even written into the Constitution. I'm just so upset that newspapers are folding across the country. I've heard that the San Francisco Chronicle is also on the chopping block. These papers are such an integral part of place making. They speak of the issues that define a place. In the constant spiral of bad news the loss of newspapers has to be the greatest threat to the integrity of our country. Where's the bailout of the newspaper industry? I would be far happier to have taxpayer dollars going there than to pad AIG's executives' bonuses! What a world turned upside down! Reward the idiots that create massive debt and ignore the valid needs of the nation. Have you seen the 1976 film "Network" lately? Watch it. It is very relevant and timely. Pete Finch's character Howard Beale is one of the most memorable in all of film.

When the world is so oppressively convoluted I retreat to my little sanctuary and sew. Pictured above is a corner of that world.