Both Sides of the Fence

A Tosa resident since 1991, Christine walks the dog, cooks but avoids housework, writes and reads, and enjoys the company of friends and strangers. Her job takes her around the state, learning about people's health. A Quaker (no, they don't wear blue hats or sell oatmeal or motor oil), she has been known to stand on both sides of the political and philosophic fence at the same time, which is very uncomfortable when you think about it. She writes about pretty much whatever stops in to visit her busy mind at the moment. One reader described her as "incredibly opinionated but not judgmental." That sounds like a good thing to strive for!

How to go out of business

If you don't read paper anymore, in book or periodical form, read no further.

But if you're one of us who still likes the feel and pliability of paper, who can remember a time when all the families in the neighborhood got not just one of Milwaukee's newspapers but the Sentinel in the morning and the Journal in the evening, come sit here on the complaint couch right next to me.

I'm no marketing expert but I'm pretty sure that making your product harder to find, raising the price, and making it less appealing probably is not the best way to build a customer base.

I now get only the Sunday paper because I'm on the road a lot and didn't want daily papers piling up at the door. But recently I've been home more, and the hankering for a newspaper to go with my coffee set me out in search of one.

First I hit Cranky Al's, which also happens to have some kinda sinful cinnamon rolls. But they'd stopped dispensing papers for awhile. "Too many billing headaches we couldn't get straightened out," Al said. Been there, done that: I understood. (Apparently they've taken care of things and you can now get your Journal Sentinel along with your morning donut there.)

I finally  found a newspaper dispensing box outside Bruegger's Bagels and Stone Creek Coffee. When did the price go up to $1.50? And who carries that many quarters? Not me. I gave up.

This morning I sat down to enjoy what was left of the paper after I'd sorted out the advertising circulars. Front page, Crossroads, then Entree to enjoy the recipes. But what's this? No color on the cooking pages? Easy chicken tenders, orzo with peas and parmesan, light salad, zucchini and tomato Casserole, and Sandy D'Amato's pan-fried squid with tabbouleh are indistinguishable blobs in shades of gray.

Of course, if you allow yourself to be driven online (which I suppose is the intention), you get this. Squid lover or not, at least it catches the eye. Parsley'll do that.

I suppose it's been this way for awhile and I just haven't noticed. But it's a bad bean counter idea, driven by someone who doesn't know beans about  the food pages, which are are about fantasy--and eye-feasting.

Do it this way, you might as well not bother.

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