the news

  The local newspaper I grew up with had a section I always read with interest. It was reprinted news articles from that paper written twenty five, fifty and seventy five years ago. I looked to see if I knew the people or places being mentioned. A great deal of the time I did know them, or at least of them. The newest reprints from twenty five years back were, of course, far more likely to be that way. Fifty years was a reach but my grandparents usually remembered that and sometimes they would even tell, the rest of the story. Even then, there was fake news, at least according to my grandparents it was. And finally seventy five years was just amusing as it often involved talking about who was visiting whom and maybe about some livestock. I do have a clipping from that paper that talks about my great grandfather and the loss of his big grey mare. I found that many years after Grampa Floyd was gone and so never asked him about any of that. 

 I was thinking about that this morning, the old news articles that is, not the horse, and thought the turn of the century was twenty five years ago. That's current events to me! While I was in high school I did have an English teacher that insisted we read the local paper to stay current. I had to write an assignment based on that. It's been fifty years since I left that town. I wonder if the paper is now including one hundred years in that section. It's hard to imagine that my birth would be in the news fifty years ago. The truth is, it wasn't reported in that paper although most of my friends were. I guess mom or dad never got around to telling them.

 Twenty five years ago I had already been retired from the Navy for seven years. I had held two jobs and was expecting my first grandchild. Today I'm a great grandfather. Other than watching the grandchildren grow and graduate, doesn't seem like much has happened at all. When we are growing up there are many milestones to pass. We look forward to them all, going to school, learning to drive, getting your first job, your first date and well, your first everything. In a hurry to "grow up" and go into the world on your own terms. I don't know what I was thinking, as I sure would like to do all of that over again. It's a strange thing when you finally realize that getting older means you spend more time looking back than ahead. I don't mean that in a bad way, just as one of those, "HUH" things. The dawn of realization and the acceptance of reality. As the kids say today, it is what it is.

  Fifty years ago I was on my first enlistment in the Navy. That's what I was doing. I was on the high seas sailing off to the Med. It was every bit of the adventure my recruiter told me it would be. It wasn't always a pleasant one however, the recruiter failed to mention that. Later on I would become a recruiter myself but I was a bit too honest, too open and wasn't very successful at that particular job. I'm not a very good salesman. I don't look at that as a shortcoming or a failure, just something I'm not very good at. I am good at talking though, I can talk to anyone all day long, sometimes I even listen to what they are saying. I accepted my discharge after that initial four year enlistment. Two years after that I reenlisted, doing the adult thing, shouldering my responsibilities. I had a family to provide for. That's my story on that, others may tell it a bit differently.

  That local paper, it's the East Hampton Star. It's banner proudly proclaims that it "shines for all." It was first published in 1885 and continues to this day. That's pretty remarkable I'd say. My thinking is it is only because of the rich folks that it has remained in print. East Hampton is a place that has historically relied upon that summer income. In more recent times the "Hamptons" has become the playground for the rich and famous. It's even a prize on the Price is Right. The paper has been mostly digitalized and is available online. I have taken advantage of that to search for my ancestors while working on the family tree. In that process I have discovered all sorts of tidbits. When I graduated from Navy basic training that did make it to the paper and I have that clipping. Well fifty years ago I could have gone to the library and read that paper. It would be mounted on a long stick alongside the others like the New York Times or Washington Post or Newsday. Maybe they still do.