Saturday, December 4, 2010

The Separation is Working .. The Divorce Will Soon be Final

It is never easy to end a relationship.  To end one that has lasted for 36 years takes a lot of pondering and flip-flopping.  In this case it is a one-sided relationship, so all the flip-flopping and pondering have been mine.

It started with an early warning, a "dear Sam" letter, if you will -  I wrote an open letter to Sam Zell mourning the demise of the Chicago Tribune after its makeover over a year ago.  Although the paper has printed several of my letters to the editor in the past, they failed to print that one.

I followed up with an open lament on this blog just this past October.

http://lynncrawfordsays.blogspot.com/2010/10/chicago-tribune-youve-broken-my-heart.html

We suspended our subscription to the Tribune and the New York Times for our trip to Tucson ,which was to have started  on November 17th. We didn't leave Chicago until the 25th so it left us paper-less for 8 days.   I started looking at the Trib on line - obituaries, top headlines and an occasional glance at the editorial pages. Between that and Yahoo news for Chicago, I didn't feel like I was missing much. 

We did get our fix of real newsprint by buying the New York Times every day.  Besides missing the feel of the paper, we also can't live without the crossword puzzle.

We've been in Tucson for over a week now and we're still getting the Times and reading the Tucson paper and the Tribune on line.  It is starting to feel natural to not have to  dread facing John Kass. I miss Eric Zorn.  I will ask for visitation rights to his columns on line in the divorce settlement.

I suspect that I'll have to pay alimony in the form of the prepaid portion of my subscription.  We will not be resuming home delivery of the paper for the first time in over 3 decades.   The separation is looking good - we'll see if it still does when we get back to Chicago.  If not, I'll sneak down to the recycling  bin on Monday morning and grab a few sections.

These last few rocky years have not been pleasant.  It is time to dissolve this abusive relationship.  Adios, Tribune.

1 comment:

  1. We reduced our subscription to Sundays only about a year ago. I missed the crossword puzzle the most. We get a local paper (Northwest Herald) and do the rest on line. I agree with you totally!!
    Janie Wood

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