Hopefully things will be better in time, but for now this is our world. For many of us our days, from morning to night, have changed in ways we would never have imagined pre-coronavirus.
Ah yes……from morning to night……. With your permission I would like to turn your attention to the “morning” part of your day, especially the “early morning”……..as in “Breakfast.”
Have you ever paused to consider the psychological, even cultural importance of your morning breakfast? For many of us those minutes, early in our day, are something of a ritual. Odds are that over the years your menu and routine have become “the right way for you to start your day.” And at least some of us find changes in that familiar ritual to be particularly off-putting.
Personally, I like my coffee black. Same for my toast. I once read that charcoal is healthy. And what Roma calls my “burnt toast” is always topped with the berry jam she canned last summer.
Then comes the instant oatmeal, liberally sprinkled with coconut flakes. With that, after gulping down the handful of meds and vitamins Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy has set out for me, I am ready for a leisurely breakfast. (I was an Uncle Wiggly kid, at least until I grew into Freddy the Pig.)
Finally, with that tempting meal spread before me, I am ready to for the next step in my very personal “breakfast dance”……the morning newspaper.
I suppose I inherited my morning-paper fixation from my dad. I can’t remember when it was not a part of my breakfast, though I do recall missing it during boot camp in the Army. To this day if the morning paper is late I am apt to study every line of print on a cereal box. Why would a grown man carry on like that?
Yet, in spite of my undying allegiance to that morning news sheet I am here today to register my personal complaint. Truth is, all is not well in the newspaper world. In fact, in my corner of the universe we are experiencing something of a daily unnatural disaster.
Most mornings I can scan the few pages of our local paper’s national and local news in a matter of minutes. And thank God the comics page remains intact. Yet beyond that there is grave discontent in Breakfastville.
You see, for as long as I can remember my morning newspaper has included three primary elements………news, comics, and the SPORTS SECTION. That’s right, I seriously believe that a newspaper without a sports page is a weak and feeble imitation, scarcely worthy of its name.
Sadly, for the last week or so it has felt as though my morning ritual has been emasculated……except for a token and all-too-bland weekend sports section there has not been a single mention of “sport” or a sport related story. During the week, no matter how hard I look I can find no sports stories, and no listing of televised sports programming or calendar of local athletic events.
Before you get the wrong idea, thinking that I am laying blame on poor little Gannett Corp and its dozens of local newspapers, I do realize they are working under something of a handicap. I understand that in the wake of a coronavirus tidal wave virtually every newsworthy event that might be labeled “sports” has been postponed, disbanded, or canceled.
Of course creating a sports page from almost zero sports news would be hard. But don’t we breakfast-table sports-page junkies deserve something more creative than nothing, nil, zilch? Please humor us, Mr. Editor. During the week why not give us at least a tiny morsel to help satisfy our sporting appetite. After all, man cannot live by dark and dreary news alone.......especially in the form of daily 'press briefings.'
Gil, I share your enthusiasm for the morning newspaper. I, too, inherited my enthusiasm from my father. But, like my father, I could not care less about the sports section. For me, the heart of the paper is the editorial page where I am given fodder to feed my enthusiasms and my anger.
ReplyDeleteIn a similar vein, have you noticed how cereal boxes no longer offer any material of literary value. When I was a kid, there was some good literature on those boxes.
Gil, I'm with you. I have always taken the newspaper, but now that's another concern. That virus is transferred from hand to hand. I thought about that this morning as I sat on the sofa with my cup of coffee. It may have been transferred already this last week. I take off the plastic sleeve and carry it to the trash, wash my hands and then, come in and read the paper. What about the person who packs it into the sleeve. Anything that comes into my home now is in question
ReplyDeleteMy God bless us all. Thanks for keeping us connected, my fried.
Thanks for keeping us connected, my friend!
ReplyDelete