letters to the editor

I sent in a letter to the editor yesterday that I thought I'd republish here where I can rant without the 150 word limit imposed by the newspaper. I started a deeper dive expounding on it this morning then felt like I was muddling my own point so I stepped away from the keyboard to walk and clean. Then I started to worry that if I didn't write anything more the moment would pass. But the writing was already done and the letter already sent so there didn't seem to be much point in pontificating further beyond an anxious defensiveness to explain what I sent:

This paper published "Future of TV news might be free streaming" on Nov 13, 2022 and is now turning its back while kingdoms shift boundaries offering only a one sentence explanation attributing the sudden absence of the TV guide to a minor layout change a week after its departure. This is a disservice to those of us without the bandwidth to stream or check listings online and an abdication of the journal's scientific responsibility to provide an historical record of the changing broadcast lineup. Despite the earlier article's age-focused rationalizations, I'm in my 30s and technologically literate. I'm not "leaving this mortal coil", I'm being abandoned. A course correction to the direction of public service would entail not only a return of the guide but a report on which major newspapers still print it and their plans to continue to do so or not.

Tangentially, as part of my government service I signed a social media policy agreeing to an explicit notice that the ideas presented here are mine. If I could get somebody to sponsor me and my opinions that'd be ideal, but we're just not there yet. Until then and so long as I'll be volunteering around town I've added a disclaimer to the footer, and this disclaimer disclaimer is part of its audit trail.

Apart from shouting into the void and wondering what's on TV I went to a friend's for dinner on Friday. I haven't seen her or her partner since the Before Times. We spent most of the evening catching up except for the time I spent fawning over her dogs, one of which is new to the house and spent most of his time staring at us from the couch and one of which I met long ago and sat like people staring at us from the floor. They made wild rice and stir fried tofu with veggies and mushrooms, and I ate two platefuls.

I went out with a small group of friends Saturday night to attend a local brewery's fourth anniversary party. I rode my bike over and had two rounds while a band setup and played, long enough to hear the first set and head out when they stopped for a break. I made it to church yesterday morning where the theme was "wintering", taking deliberate time to exist in a liminal space and resist the framing of that passivity as a lack of willpower. The reverend is leaving for sabbatical soon and reflected on that as a form of wintering, which made me think about my time off in a similar way. I stopped at the bakery for salt rolls on my way home then curled up with the dogs on the couch where we spent the rainy day.