Ahead of Time (Magazine)

I must say I'm thrilled to have been in the know about blogs before Time Magazine, thanks to the online course I took with Steven Cohen.

It's a good article, and I like the concept of so many people writing. And also:

"What makes blogs so effective? They're free. They catch people at work, at their desks, when they're alert and thinking and making decisions. Blogs are fresh and often seem to be miles ahead of the mainstream news. Bloggers put up new stuff every day, all day, and there are thousands of them. How are you going to keep anything secret from a thousand Russ Kicks? Blogs have voice and personality. They're human. They come to us not from some mediagenic anchorbot on an air-conditioned sound stage, but from an individual. They represent — no, they are — the voice of the little guy."

This reminded me of the newspapers in Kansas in the early part of the civil war until about the 1930's. Every town had two or ten locally published papers, and they were often vitrolic or outrageous, concerned with the national news and the neighbors.

Here's a sample from El Dorado, Kansas 1903:
"Sidney W. Clark 10 years ago was a country lad and school teacher near Potwin. His hand and will wer all his capital. Now he is vice-president of the First National Bank of Raton, New Mexico, and dwells on Easy Street."

Ok, well, not very controversial... but not the kind of thing you see in print every day. The column for 1888 that I had in mind -- well, they have yet to deliver that paper here, although I got it Saturday at home just fine. So this will be a two-part post. Too bad the Times doesn't put their "Remember When" column on their website.

Later.


Ok, here's the stuff from 1881 (I didn't quite remember that date)...

Mrs. Chas. Selig seems to take the cake on flower gardening.

S.M. Spencer, formerly of Plum Grove, now of Wicked newton, called and gave us more than $2 worth of "sass" and once cent on subscription. Fine man. Come sass us again.

Fran Gord started for his home at Paul;s Valley, Indian Nation, but the threatened outbreak of the Indians detained him. He met his family on their way to Butler Coundy and returned with them.

And so on. Except for the quaintness, it really reminds me of what I want to see in weblogs: interesing, lively events.

By the way, I should mention here that the library has over a dozen newspapers for your use... from "U.S.A. Today" to the "Andover Courier-Journal." Our newest is to the "Kansas Traveler," another home-grown effort which reports on local travel spots. Hmmm. Quaint again. Gotta love that about Kansas.