Nothing beat sitting on Mrs. Brown's story-time carpet in second grade after an exhausting recess of being chased by boys around the playground. I loved listening to Mrs. Brown detail Ramona Quimby's adventures.
Now as a sophisticated 21-year-old, I get my fill of story telling by opening the newspaper, plopping down on my futon (of course, in a very lady-like fashion, mom) and reading the opinion pages of various newspapers.
Ever since fifth grade, I've been practicing to be an 80-year-old white newspaper man stuck in my journalistic ways. Seriously though, new media can be beneficial when used appropriately.
Photo: Grandma Schroeder
Call me old fashioned, but I like the simplicity of reading these writers' tales on plain black and white newsprint. The absence of flashy videos forces me to focus on their points and not on the cute boy in the background.
One of my favorite columnists, Garrison Keillor hardly has a Web page. He has a biography page and a page with a plain text version of his column that has notes to the editor before the text. This isn't what I mean.
A little more realistic, and another of my favorites, is Leonard Pitts. His pieces are all easy to get to on the Internet, but have no bells and whistles. He leaves videos and images for the young whippersnappers.
Keillor and Pitts' styles of writing don't lend themselves to ninjas reciting their works. At the same time, an impossible to find page catered to the media is a bit extreme. Including podcasts of the columns and throwing in a couple political cartoons that coincide with the point would be a happy medium.
Don't get me wrong; I'm not an 80-year-old white newspaperman trapped in a young girl's body. I like the idea of expanding on columns- when it is appropriate.
I enjoy Relevant magazine's Web site, which has some web exclusive opinion writers whose works lend themselves to extra goodies. Considering that 20-somethings are the target audience for this publication, the incorporation of the new media works extremely well.
Love the picture. Hope grandma can use a computer to see it.
What I would say the absence of the bells and whistles of video does is require a stronger op-ed Think of Frank Rich or Tom Friedman - they paint strong pictures with words. I am with you on this one, Jyl.