I was thinking today that I haven't read a newspaper in a long time. Most of the time I get the news by clicking on an icon on my IPhone or IPad. I honestly can't remember the last time that I held an actual newspaper in my hand and read the news. But that's not the way it was when I was growing up.
We had the newspaper delivered to 25 Mullin Street every day. My dad would sit and read the newspaper every night after we finished eating dinner. It was kind of an unspoken rule that nobody else could read the paper until dad was finished reading it. When it was my turn, I liked to read the Sports section. I often laughed at my grandparents because they always seemed to read the Obituary's first. I guess that way they could keep up on who they had out lived or something. I was always amazed at how the people always died in alphabetical order.
And then there was the Sunday paper. I especially liked the Sunday paper because it had a lot of extra stuff in it like a full comic strip section. I read most them but I always hated the Prince Valiant comic. Maybe it was because it wasn't funny. I thought comics were supposed to be funny and that strip wasn't. There were a lot of funny comics in the Sunday paper but one of my favorites was Snuffy Smith. A true hillbilly, Snuffy lived in the Appalachian Mountains in a little town called, Hootin' Holler. He loved his moonshine and he hated the "revenooers." He was ornery, lived in a shack, mangled the English language and loved to cheat at Checkers. He was my kind of guy and I couldn't wait to find out what kind of mischief he was going to get into.
Sure, I could go buy a newspaper now but most everything I would find inside, I can find on-line now. As I was writing this blog post, I went in search of the Snuffy Smith comic strip on-line. I found it in a couple places on some archive sites but it wasn't the same. Growing up, there was just something about the texture of the newspaper as I held it and the smell of ink coming off of the newspaper and onto my hands that just enhanced the Sunday comic strip experience.
Maybe this weekend, I'll stop by the store and pick up a Sunday paper. Just for "old times sake" I'll go right for the comic's and see if I can find old Snuffy Smith. I'll breathe in the carcinogenic fragrance of the ink filled paper while the ink residue turns my hands a charcoal color. Ah...it will be just like old times. I'll close my eyes and pretend that I'm back at 25 Mullin in a simpler place at a simpler time. I'll imagine my dad is in the chair next to me and mom is in the kitchen fixing Sunday dinner. Great memories...thanks to Snuffy Smith.
Be Well.
Bill
