Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

As some Sticks readers may know, I was one of the first volunteer Community Columnists for the Tampa Tribune (2005-2006), writing opinion editorials for a year, and in December 2007, I wrote another op-ed which was so kindly accepted.

My experience with the Editorial Staff, and responses received from readers, was nothing less than an extreme pleasure.

So, although I was not a paid employee, I am sorry to see the Tribune layoffs happen. First and foremost, sorry for the Tribune employees’ sake; but also for the fact that having the experience of touching fingers to paper, be it in newspapers, magazines or books, I fear will soon be a long-lost sensory delight and loss of choice.

When I first came to Tampa over 20 years ago, things were still as they were when I was a little girl. I went to the Tampa Public Library to search for something on paper cards in tall card files. I loved going through the cards, making the discovery of what I searched for and then being able to find the books on the aisles.

Now, we sit down at a computer, that can have all sorts of uninvited stuff on it, and we stare at a screen to find what we want. Is it my imagination that the smell of the library is even different?

As people read more and more online, instead of spending the very small price for a newspaper, we see that jobs will be cut. Eventually, will all newspaper publications close down?

With the advent of e-books and “e-zines”, what about printed books, magazines, bookstores and libraries? Will children soon not even know what they were? The feel of the pages, the smell of the print, the satisfaction of turning the last page – will it all soon be gone? Will it be replaced by even more tired, bleary eyes from endless hours staring at a screen?

I know we all got used to 8-tracks, videos, cassettes, and then CD’s instead of records, and then DVD’s, and now i-Pods and MP-3’s. And it’s great that you can listen to a whole book in your car. But I don’t want to think about the day when all printed material will be a thing of the past.

Plus, what about older people who just don’t want to buy a computer at their age? My mom and mother-in-law don’t want to start that now, at 76 and 80!

I think we are coming to depend on computers way too much, and I also think that the powers-that-be know that. I keep thinking of George Orwell’s book “1984″ and then the movie. The less we have in our hands or at least in our possession, the less we have access to without assistance from some huge monopolizing organization, the more controllable we are.

The main character in 1984, Winston Smith, had to retain a lot of information in his head. Stuff he wanted to know that was ripped from his grip. The possibility of the Tampa Tribune one day only being online, where we don’t have the choice of buying the newspaper on the street, reminds me of all the times people have tried to burn books, especially the Bible. There may come a time when this verse needs to be very true for those of us who believe:

“Your word have I hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11, NKJV).

We’d better start memorizing what we want to remember of books, because eventually, our search on the computer might be limited by the economy too, especially if we ever start being charged for the Internet by the click, as has nearly come to pass several times.