Washington Post

My parents first subscribed to the Washington Post in 1970, when we moved to what is now known colloquially as “the DMV.” As a ten year-old boy growing-up in Rockville, I started out reading the comics, Parade magazine, and, of course, the TV guide. When I was 12, the Post began its investigative reporting into the break-in at DNC headquarters in the Watergate complex. I slowly began reading the national and international news sections, and before long I was hooked. I have been a regular reader for more than 50 years. Thankfully, “the paper” entered the virtual world about the same time my job took me overseas, so I never had to do without the Post’s balanced, comprehensive, and tightly written reporting. As an aside, my first paid job was as a Washington Post delivery boy (sic) in the early 1970s. I have had an aversion to starting work before sunrise ever since. I do not believe that any American can consider himself or herself “well-informed” without reading the Washington Post and/or the New York Times (preferably both) every day. Yes, both outlets are a degree or two left of center when it comes to the news they choose to highlight, but an intelligent reader knows this and can discount it when necessary. None of the center-right outlets, with the intermittent exception of the Wall Street Journal, is on the same journalistic level as the Post or the NYT.

The poem I just read, Good Bones” was quoted in your article. It was exquisitely well-crafted and used to suggest that we can make something beautiful out of a structure, in this case, a social structure and the hollowing out of democracy within it. However, envisioning and creating beauty requires courage. Courage to see reality in all it’s ugliness and envision a better one. It takes commitment and rage and accepting appreciation instead of a salary. In the case of the Washington Post’s editor, I state in prose not poetry, that he failed. He failed to capture reality in the microcosm in which he navigates himself and a multitude of others. He failed to be disgusted and envision a better way. He failed to literally “ stand” up by putting his opinion of who should lead, on the news stands. To take a stand, and choose. Choose unity over polarization rather than cower behind his covers— the inside of the front cover, in this case. I formally rescind my future subscription payment. I, for one, believe one should put their money where their mouth is. And keep that mouth open, as needed.

There are issues. First, it randomly switches, constantly between black pages with white lettering and white pages with black lettering. Why can’t they let me choose instead of trying to guess and constantly distracting me while I am trying to read? Second, it likes to launch me into some kind of built in web browser that claims I am not logged in. I tried getting help, but they told me I had to upgrade my iPad iOS to a version that hadn’t been released for my device yet. Third, it doesn’t let you go back one day even. So let’s say I open the app and initially I see a whole page of juicy article titles! But then I am not allowed to read any of them unless I can quickly memorize their titles. Why? Because it always forces an update as soon as you open it, so you have to wait while it tantalizes you and them changes all the titles. To see yesterday’s stories, you have to go search for them. By title usually. That is SO annoying. Fourth, they have some really amazing but graphically intense articles. But there is no way to turn off the pictures in them. So if you’re in a place with slow internet (2G), you can’t even read the text, just because you can’t download all the graphics. The journalism is good enough that I keep putting up with this app. I still recommend it but I wish they’d hire programmers who understand that their customers are not all reading on brand new devices running on super high speed internet. I often give up and have to go read on a computer or use Safari.