A small tribute to my dying friend...

I remember reading the newspaper with Pop, my great grandfather. I sat under him while he sat in his old recliner. He read the paper from cover to cover and though I didn't know all the words and sometimes didn't fuly understand what I was reading at age 6, I looked forward to the time we spent together.

He read slowly. It took him nearly an afternoon to finish. But the news always kept my attention. By the time we were finished our fingertips were black; the edges of the paper would have our fingerprints all over. Our hands even smelled like paper and ink after an evening of reading.

I loved it.

But we can't do that anymore. And it's not just because Pop is gone. We can't do that because newspapers are no longer set up that way.

Today's newspaper strives to give readers lots of information in as little text as possible. More news is given in the form of briefs and short stories in exchange for long stories about Lillie May's 105 birthday party or some school board meeting.

People no longer have time to devote three or four hours to the paper anymore. They want their news fast. And we give it to them.

Some of that is good. But my old friend that taught me to read and be curious is dying slowly. It is stepping aside for blogs like this one and news that can be sent via text messages through cell phones.

I no longer work for a newspaper...not really. At least I don't work for the kind Pop was used to.

And although I like that newspapers are always changing and can deliver news as it happens, a part of me misses the way it used to be.