Winning Words 6/4/13
“Extra! Extra! Read all about it!”  (Newt Wallace)  I read recently that the oldest newspaper boy who still delivers a route is 93 years old.  Warren Buffett, Tom Brokaw, John Wayne and me…We all delivered newspapers.  I was one who stood on a street corner during WW 2 and yelled, “Extra, Extra!”  You can now get most newspapers online.  How do you get your news?  Paper?  Radio?  TV?  Online?  Other?    ;-)  Jack

 FROM TRIHARDER:  I delivered papers -- house-to-house.  But, when I was really young, I went to the newspaper box, bought some papers from a box for $0.10 each, stand on a corner on Puritan (in Detroit) and wave them at passers-by and sell them for a nickel profit. I'd make $0.25 pretty quick.====JACK:  I did something similar.  I bought copies of the Chicago Tribune for 3 cents and sold them on the corner for a nickle.  A lady reported me to the paper, because it said on the masthead...3 CENTS.  PAY NO MORE.

 FROM HY YO SILVER:  I get my news when I wake up and read your Winning Words!====JACK:  That's called, "Lite reading."  You probably drink de-caf coffee, too.

FROM PL IN MICHIGAN:  Do you remember a Paper called "The Shopping News"? I couldn't have a full paper route at that age so I did that one....I learned how to fold papers really fast!  LOL====JACK:  When I was in 1st or 2nd grade I went door to door selling subscriptions to The Saturday Evening Post.  When I came to West Bloomfield to start a new church I went door to door also...2000 doors in the first year.

 FROM WALMART REV:  I study a read a lot trying to grasp the Good News and Google nowadays for the world-about-us news. "Extra! Extra! on a street corner...I always wondered were you got your calling for ministry, Jack!====JACK:  Surprisingly, I got my calling by way of a telephone call.  "Have you ever thought about becoming a pastor?"  There's a hymn:  "God calling, yet, shall I not hear."

 FROM FACEBOOK LIZ:  i check the drudge report on my smartphone several times a day. it links to important news stories & to every major news service in the world... news when i want it, where i want it. & drudge gives me immediate access to all the stuff the main stream media tries to keep under wraps. i once read xinhau news service's (china) report about obama's visit to afghanistan as white house & us press denied it... it was later confirmed.====JACK:  Before I read the newspaper(s), I read a synopsis of the day's news online, using the NY Times.  Today I was intrigued by an op-ed piece..."The Way to Produce a Person."

 FROM LISA IN ARIZONA:  Wow, that is so awesome that you were one of the boys with the war news! I too used to deliver newspapers as a kid. We still get the actual paper delivered on the weekends but will probably eventually just read it online. I still enjoy the coupons you get in the paper!====JACK:  You can get coupons online, too.  Today I read that you don't even have to print the coupon out.  Log in your phone number, and then, at the store, your discount will be applied when you give your phone number.

FROM MV IN MICHIGAN:  I was a paper boy when I was 12. I delivered them in our neighborhood. ====JACK:  How can the neighbors say "No" to a little boy?  A little neighbor boy came to our door one day and said that he wanted to earn some money.  "Can I clean your house?"

 FROM WATERFORD JAN:  All of the above.  I always read the local newspaper, even when vacationing in Florida.  I listen to an all-news radio station when I'm running short errand trips.  I usually watch the 6:00 TV news, especially if I've seen a teaser new bit online when I'm checking my email.  Then there's the weekly news magazine.  You'd think I'd be really well informed, but most of it I don't remember! ====JACK:  Just now I turned off the 5 pm news...too much sensationalism!  Sometimes it's good to have some peace and quiet.

FROM CHUCK IN WOLVERINE LAKE:  I don't read the News, I make it....Cheers and Good Morning. ====JACK:  "I'll see you in the funny papers," is an old saying.

 FROM BLAZING OAKS:  MY NEWSPAPER "BOY" IS IN HIS FIFTIES, AND DELIVERS FROM HIS TRUCK!  I LOVE HAVING THE  NEWSPAPER FIRST THING IN THE MORNING, NOT ONLINE, THE REAL DEAL!  HOPEFULLY THEY WILL CONTINUE TO DELIVER A FULL COVERAGE NEWSPAPER AS LONG AS I LIVE!!  I ALSO LOVE "THE WEEK" NEWS MAGAZINE, WHERE ;YOU GET VERY INTERESTING U.S. AND INTERNATIONAL NEWS NOT ORDINARILY SEEN IN OTHER PUBLICATIONS.  KEEPS ME  ABREAST OF THE WORLD! ====JACK:  Do you ever do the crossword puzzles?

 FROM INDY GENIE:  Brother Joe was a paperboy.. Sometimes I helped him with his route. I would "go collecting" with him....a good memory :)====JACK:  The think I liked about collecting was that I'd get an occasional nickle tip.  The bill was 20 cents.  They'd give me a quarter and say, "Keep the change."

 FROM NANCI THE MUSICIAN:   I still deliver newspapers.  Lol.  There have been lots of changes (for the worse for the carriers) that had to be made so the Macomb Daily could stay afloat, but I’m still making a decent profit (just working harder and longer, driving further, etc).  I still have about 400 customers on Sundays and about 300 on the weekdays.====JACK:  That's a BIG route.  I'll bet you see some interesting stuff in the pre-dawn hours.

FROM PH IN MINNESOTA:    What exactly was the EXTRA?  Was it extra news or an extra edition of the paper or what?====JACK:  You're right in surmising that an EXTRA was an additional edition of the paper when special news broke.  No TV in those days.

 FROM GUSTIE MARLYS:  Since I grew up in a Newspaper Man's family--I still prefer the paper and ink way to read the news.  I feel cheated when I go on line to find the news.====JACK:  Perhaps you know what a line-o-type is.====MARLYS:  I stood watching my uncle and the other fellow set type by the hour.  I thought it was magical.  I also know what "type lice" is.  Clem learned too.  I also sat on the step in front of the line-o-type to put on my ice skates when the warming house was closed as the ice rink was right behind the "Sheaf Office".

 FROM PLAIN FOLKS CHESTER:  My daughter highlights the Drudge Report for me every day. Haven't bought a newspaper. But I do miss Prince Valiant.====JACK:  In your honor, I read Prince Valiant last Sunday for the first time in a long time.  You're not missing anything, because the story line hasn't changed.

 FROM TAMPA SHIRL:  All of the above.  I remember that Les used to tell the story about driving from Rockford to East Moline on December 7, 1941, and the newboys were out on the street in Dixon with the headlines about Pearl Harbor.  I didn't deliver, I wrote for them.  In fact, I was always planning to be a journalist until I went to Marycrest and was very much into social justice and changing the world.. ====JACK:  ....and you did change the world, by the people you met (and taught) and influence of your life.

 FROM MOLINER JT:  Good news from you. Other TV and Paper.====JACK:  The Moline Dispatch?