RubberBuzz || Akron Unleashed: Losing Touch

6.26.2005

Losing Touch

I usually get a giggle out of reading the letters to The BJ. But this week I got pissed off. A letter from Wendy Schweiger seems a smidge on the crazy side.

The front page is the newspaper's ``calling card'' and should reflect the serious problems facing the world. That's valuable real estate, wrote Akron reader Wendy Schweiger, and shouldn't be wasted on soft features of minor consequence.

It was Tuesday's front page that prompted her e-mail, a front page that devoted about half of the news space to an article about selling ice cream to kids from roving trucks.

``We're living in a world with huge problems that people should be more, not less, aware of so that they might actually consider prying themselves out of their Barcaloungers and doing something to make a difference -- whether that be voting or volunteering or writing to their elected officials or... or... or....

I don't know when people think the news has to be doom and gloom everyday and I don't know when human interest became taboo. But somewhere at some time our beliefs got twisted into some f'ed up version of reality where we forget to have fun. Yes, the paper should keep us informed and ruffle our feathers, but every now and then it should make us smile.

I loved the ice cream story; it brought back tons of memories for me. But I was also sick of hearing about the same doomy stories that have been hounded by the press so much for the past few weeks. I liked hearing a good summer story that relates directly to where I live and not to some crisis in another state. If I only wanted that info, I'd subscribe to USA Today or tune into CNN. So I'm standing by The BJ this time (I promise I won't make a habit of this).

The BJ :: Sugarcoated front page frosts reader

(joe :: Losing Touch)

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