Let’s pass it on

Heather Goddard
Posted 6/22/22

I am so grateful to each and everyone of our readers and subscribers.

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Let’s pass it on

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I am so grateful to each and everyone of our readers and subscribers. The fact that you trust the Herald to deliver timely and appropriate news and views to you every week is a duty that we do not take lightly.

So now I am going to ask a favor of you. Will you please pass it on? I fear we are in danger of losing several generations to the digital age and while a digital version of the Herald does exist, it just isn’t the same as holding a print newspaper in your hands. Our print version is what creates an archive that allows people to go back and research what Grandma was doing in 1967 or what happened in June 1922. Printed word is what connects one decade and one century to the next. Print technology is one of the crowning achievements of modern civilization, and one I truly hope never becomes “obsolete”.

I am the first to admit that the convenience of digital media is wonderful, and for those of you who take our digital copy thank you so much. However, there is a reason that I keep returning to the library every week to check out physical books. My children read physical books for both school and pleasure. I subscribe to the Wall Street Journal PRINT edition even though it costs more and I get my news a day or two late to allow for delivery time.

I am proud to say that my girls love to pick up the local papers when we travel and look at the pictures, ask me about current events and do the crossword puzzles and brain teasers. My oldest is starting to become curious about issues she sees in the headlines. I think that access to printed newspapers creates socially conscious and curious thinkers and doers. There is something about holding a newspaper in your hands and having the patience to read through the articles that you just don’t get from the “endless scroll” that allows you to completely flip through and ignore things that “just don’t interest you.” Sometimes slower reading and thinking leads to more thoughtful conclusions.

More and more however, I hear, “Oh I don’t read the paper.” from members of our community. I get it, sometimes the Herald misses the mark. We forget events, screw up people’s names, have a typo or drop a cutline. We are a paper that is written and printed by flawed, sometimes harried humans. I would like to think that this alone is one of the reasons to buy and read the Herald. We don’t exist in a vacuum. This paper isn’t written by an algorithm or author-bot that gleans information from the meta verse and then compiles information into articles (yes there are digital media that do this). We don’t determine what goes in our paper by what is popular or “trending” though we do try to be relevant and keep what might be concerning to readers in mind.

So please, pass this on. If you are done with your copy and aren’t composting or using it for fire starter, maybe drop it off with a friend that doesn’t yet “take” the paper. We have an awesome Kids Scoop section that perhaps a young neighbor, child or grandchild would like to do on one of those hot summer afternoons when mom and dad won’t let them turn on the TV, tablet or smartphone.

I encourage you to write letters to the editor. We print letters as long as they are language appropriate and you sign them with your name and return address. Start a debate, voice your opinion, let me know what I am doing right and wrong. Get others involved, have them write letters to the editor or contact our office to give us feedback. 

Not everything and everyone is on social media. Legal notices and public notices are not obligated to show up on your facebook scroll but they do have to be printed in the local paper. While it may be fun to share information on instagram, there is something deeply satisfying about clipping a picture of your own kiddo, grandkid or neighbor from the paper and sharing it with them.

Help us stay connected as a community and as a world by passing on your Lusk Herald and maybe, someone will decide their household needs a print copy of their own.