Watching the Post die has not been enjoyable for most of us, but I can only imagine how much more difficult it has been for those who had been a part of it, back when it really was that wonderful institution we all wish it could still be today.
Almost exactly five years ago today, I took the garbage out, slipped on black ice and broke my humerus. Six months previously I had wiped out on my bicycle and ended up in the hospital with a concussion and multiple fractures.
So, please, could I go back six years?
Good health and fitness are not to be taken for granted.
Thanks for this, Gene. I was there at The Post that day. I was also behind Mr. Ben Bradlee in the cafeteria when he ordered an egg salad on rye, and I was in the elevator with you once in the new building. Now my job has been eliminated, and I am sad, too. I just need to go back in time one year, to take the first, more generous buyout package.
I have a weird "parasocial relationship" with the Post (for whom I reviewed books for a dozen years or so under two gifted editors) and I am (was) something of a fanboy for the paper. But I am increasingly sad, sad beyond description.
I grew up with the Post, and when I started working in Philly, I'd buy it from the vendor on my way to work. We should all mourn for it. But we shouldn't confuse the tree for the forest. This is just one more result of the transformation of America from a country where most people wanted to be admired for being good people, at home and at work, rather than one where "Greed is good," where executives try to one-up each other by laying off more employees, taking away more benefits from them, and moving the work to lower-wage places domestically and internationally.
The line from Reagan (it's NATIONAL Airport, dammit) to Trump is not obscure. The entertaining president's endless lies would only be pointed out on page 34, because it was bad for circulation to criticize someone so popular. He ended the fairness doctrine, spawning Faux News. And he implemented "Free Trade" (free migration for corporations, not for people.)
If George H.W. Bush had not "sold his manhood" (thanks for the metaphor, Garry) to be Reagan's VP, perhaps we could have climbed out of that ditch. And then we had his idiot child, whose only work experience was in fronting businesses and who relied on Dick Cheney to make his decisions, with assists from Karl Rove, immoral in all but the traditional ways. When Obama won, the bigots started mounting machine guns on the state capitols in the South and Intermountain West. By then, the Post and the Times and the traditional networks were despised in those regions and others by being appeasers of blackness and supporters of those castrating females.
I realize I have gone full Hunter Thompson here, but you will understand my points. In our lifetimes, America has fallen away from human decency, calculating success only in dollars. It was only a small step to calculating it in fraudulent dollars. And here we are.
Mourn the Post. But recognize it's only part of the whole picture.
Even worse case scenario; Bezos is pressured into selling the Post to someone of whom Trump approves/suggests. His old publishing pal and enabler David Pecker, for instance. I know, God forbid but, we're about to go through the looking glass, people.
Best case: Trump's Techbroligarch Politburo turns on him when his antics and demands start to hurt their bottom line enough to distress their shareholders.
Five years wouldn't be nearly long enough ago to have much effect on any of those choices for me. I did choose health in the poll because, well, sure, I coulda hit the gym more.
There are a lot of things I should have done differently at various stages of my life, including five years ago, but I chose health because I now wish I'd taken my osteoporosis more seriously earlier and started treatment for it sooner (I started Prolia last fall). I don't know whether that would have made much difference or not, but perhaps I might not have shrunk and become misshapen quite as much as I have. I've never broken a bone, and I think my diet and exercise are conducive to maintaining my strength, but at 80 you just never know.
Five years is not far enough back to prevent the health problem that plagued me for a decade, nor to competently prevent any of the troubles that shadow my kid, and it is a little ways into the first really happy and satisfying romantic relationship I've had. But it is almost exactly when I chickened out of buying a nice little bungalow in Seattle for $300K, which is less than what a vacant lot goes for in that neighborhood now. If I could rethink that financial decision, I might be able to retire someday!
CDC begins screening passengers for symptoms of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus on direct and connecting flights from Wuhan, China to San Francisco, California, New York City, New York, and Los Angeles, California and plans to expand screenings to other major airports in the U.S.
Five years ago, my father was going to die in 36 days. It was unexpected and fast - ER on Thursday, passed on Saturday. If I go back in time two more years (to 2018), I would have retired at the earliest possible opportunity of qualifying federal service to move closer to my dad. Upon reflection, if that meant I knew he was going to die in Feb 2020, it would have been a very awkward, emotional 2 years, so scratch that. Every year for Christmas 2005-2019, my Dad gave me a check for $75.00 for "baseball beer money" when I went to see the Washington Nationals play. I always called him before the National Anthem to let him know where I was seated and thank him for the beer.
For Christmas 2019, Mr. Devilry bought tickets for Nationals Spring Training Opening Day, which happened to be my birthday. Celebrate the World Series! And spend a week in Florida in early March spending Dad's beer money. Found out that the Nats were playing my Dad's favorite team, the St Louis Cardinals, when Mr Devilry and I would still be there so my Dad & I made a bet (who'd pay for dinner when I came to visit him for Father's Day). Well, we still went to Florida a week after my Dad died because I figured Dad would have wanted it that way and there was nothing I could with his estate until the legal wheels started turning. First game where I couldn't call my Dad. That really sucked. So I decided to retire - still not eligible for Medicare - life is short.
"A life long St. Louis Cardinals fan, he taught both his son and daughter how to play baseball properly. He inspired his daughter's baseball passion, always tolerant of her loyalties to a National League team that was not the Cardinals. That said, the rumor is true that some trash talk may have been exchanged when their teams faced off."
My guess is that the WaPo's days as a broadsheet are numbered, whether it's sold or completely emasculated under present ownership. Its tabloidization has already begun.
Yes to you too. Plus, I remember the days when headlines told the story in brief. Now they are meant NOT to tell the story, but to leave out the most important thing.
Like most others, I thought when Bezos bought the Post that he did so as an act of civic responsibility; and maybe he thought so too, at the time. But now it’s clear — what with his yammering about 200m readers — that he views the WaPo as just “content”, a la AOL buying Time Warner some 20+ years ago. Ultimately, Bezos has a case of crowd envy: like Trump, Musk, and Zuck, Bezos craves millions of “followers.” It’s a far cry from civic responsibility.
Watching the Post die has not been enjoyable for most of us, but I can only imagine how much more difficult it has been for those who had been a part of it, back when it really was that wonderful institution we all wish it could still be today.
Sam nailed it. Well said. And Gene, please hang in there for all of us.
So true, much sympathy to Gene & Pat.
Almost exactly five years ago today, I took the garbage out, slipped on black ice and broke my humerus. Six months previously I had wiped out on my bicycle and ended up in the hospital with a concussion and multiple fractures.
So, please, could I go back six years?
Good health and fitness are not to be taken for granted.
"Good health and fitness are not to be taken for granted."
Indeed.
Five years ago, I wish that my seven-years-younger brother's cancer had been cured and that he'd be alive today.
Thanks for this, Gene. I was there at The Post that day. I was also behind Mr. Ben Bradlee in the cafeteria when he ordered an egg salad on rye, and I was in the elevator with you once in the new building. Now my job has been eliminated, and I am sad, too. I just need to go back in time one year, to take the first, more generous buyout package.
Condolences.💐
I don’t get to use this word very often, but I am distraught. I loved the WaPo and was a subscriber for 30 years.
I have a weird "parasocial relationship" with the Post (for whom I reviewed books for a dozen years or so under two gifted editors) and I am (was) something of a fanboy for the paper. But I am increasingly sad, sad beyond description.
I grew up with the Post, and when I started working in Philly, I'd buy it from the vendor on my way to work. We should all mourn for it. But we shouldn't confuse the tree for the forest. This is just one more result of the transformation of America from a country where most people wanted to be admired for being good people, at home and at work, rather than one where "Greed is good," where executives try to one-up each other by laying off more employees, taking away more benefits from them, and moving the work to lower-wage places domestically and internationally.
The line from Reagan (it's NATIONAL Airport, dammit) to Trump is not obscure. The entertaining president's endless lies would only be pointed out on page 34, because it was bad for circulation to criticize someone so popular. He ended the fairness doctrine, spawning Faux News. And he implemented "Free Trade" (free migration for corporations, not for people.)
If George H.W. Bush had not "sold his manhood" (thanks for the metaphor, Garry) to be Reagan's VP, perhaps we could have climbed out of that ditch. And then we had his idiot child, whose only work experience was in fronting businesses and who relied on Dick Cheney to make his decisions, with assists from Karl Rove, immoral in all but the traditional ways. When Obama won, the bigots started mounting machine guns on the state capitols in the South and Intermountain West. By then, the Post and the Times and the traditional networks were despised in those regions and others by being appeasers of blackness and supporters of those castrating females.
I realize I have gone full Hunter Thompson here, but you will understand my points. In our lifetimes, America has fallen away from human decency, calculating success only in dollars. It was only a small step to calculating it in fraudulent dollars. And here we are.
Mourn the Post. But recognize it's only part of the whole picture.
Yes! National Airport!
Oh and all the other stuff you said.
If the Reagan name stays on the airport, its 3-letter code should be changed to ALZ
I don't think you have enough categories in your "what would you change" poll.
I think you should have some specific choices.
I want to be a pirate should be one category (likely my choice.)
I would stop raping and pillaging should be one (for your MAGAT readers.)
I need to be much better looking would probably win.
But if I could go back 5 years, I'm pretty sure that I would just make all the same mistakes twice.
The Posthumous may be dying and on it's way out, but the NYT's needs a lot of work too.
T
Even worse case scenario; Bezos is pressured into selling the Post to someone of whom Trump approves/suggests. His old publishing pal and enabler David Pecker, for instance. I know, God forbid but, we're about to go through the looking glass, people.
Best case: Trump's Techbroligarch Politburo turns on him when his antics and demands start to hurt their bottom line enough to distress their shareholders.
Five years wouldn't be nearly long enough ago to have much effect on any of those choices for me. I did choose health in the poll because, well, sure, I coulda hit the gym more.
Bingo!
I do believe Trump will betray the tech folks as he has done so many others. And I’m rooting for it.
There are a lot of things I should have done differently at various stages of my life, including five years ago, but I chose health because I now wish I'd taken my osteoporosis more seriously earlier and started treatment for it sooner (I started Prolia last fall). I don't know whether that would have made much difference or not, but perhaps I might not have shrunk and become misshapen quite as much as I have. I've never broken a bone, and I think my diet and exercise are conducive to maintaining my strength, but at 80 you just never know.
Stay well and thx for the warning!
Five years ago? I’d take a pass on going to the Wuhan open market and getting the ingredients for bat soup. I still feel bad about that. ( too soon?)
Never
Five years is not far enough back to prevent the health problem that plagued me for a decade, nor to competently prevent any of the troubles that shadow my kid, and it is a little ways into the first really happy and satisfying romantic relationship I've had. But it is almost exactly when I chickened out of buying a nice little bungalow in Seattle for $300K, which is less than what a vacant lot goes for in that neighborhood now. If I could rethink that financial decision, I might be able to retire someday!
5 years ago today:
January 17, 2020
CDC begins screening passengers for symptoms of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus on direct and connecting flights from Wuhan, China to San Francisco, California, New York City, New York, and Los Angeles, California and plans to expand screenings to other major airports in the U.S.
Yeah, five years ago, I was (unknowingly) weeks from a forced, early retirement.
Five years ago, my father was going to die in 36 days. It was unexpected and fast - ER on Thursday, passed on Saturday. If I go back in time two more years (to 2018), I would have retired at the earliest possible opportunity of qualifying federal service to move closer to my dad. Upon reflection, if that meant I knew he was going to die in Feb 2020, it would have been a very awkward, emotional 2 years, so scratch that. Every year for Christmas 2005-2019, my Dad gave me a check for $75.00 for "baseball beer money" when I went to see the Washington Nationals play. I always called him before the National Anthem to let him know where I was seated and thank him for the beer.
For Christmas 2019, Mr. Devilry bought tickets for Nationals Spring Training Opening Day, which happened to be my birthday. Celebrate the World Series! And spend a week in Florida in early March spending Dad's beer money. Found out that the Nats were playing my Dad's favorite team, the St Louis Cardinals, when Mr Devilry and I would still be there so my Dad & I made a bet (who'd pay for dinner when I came to visit him for Father's Day). Well, we still went to Florida a week after my Dad died because I figured Dad would have wanted it that way and there was nothing I could with his estate until the legal wheels started turning. First game where I couldn't call my Dad. That really sucked. So I decided to retire - still not eligible for Medicare - life is short.
I wrote my Dad's obit. Here is the baseball part:
"A life long St. Louis Cardinals fan, he taught both his son and daughter how to play baseball properly. He inspired his daughter's baseball passion, always tolerant of her loyalties to a National League team that was not the Cardinals. That said, the rumor is true that some trash talk may have been exchanged when their teams faced off."
My guess is that the WaPo's days as a broadsheet are numbered, whether it's sold or completely emasculated under present ownership. Its tabloidization has already begun.
Yeah. But I fear that there isn’t a single paper which hasn’t already gone to clickbait headlines.
Ken
Yep. The days of "paper" papers may well be over.
Yes to you too. Plus, I remember the days when headlines told the story in brief. Now they are meant NOT to tell the story, but to leave out the most important thing.
Five years ago? Retire and hike the world while my knees were still good.
Like most others, I thought when Bezos bought the Post that he did so as an act of civic responsibility; and maybe he thought so too, at the time. But now it’s clear — what with his yammering about 200m readers — that he views the WaPo as just “content”, a la AOL buying Time Warner some 20+ years ago. Ultimately, Bezos has a case of crowd envy: like Trump, Musk, and Zuck, Bezos craves millions of “followers.” It’s a far cry from civic responsibility.