This morning when I woke up I was jolted as I started my daily routine. The Rocky Mountain News, my favorite newspaper (the first I ever read), will cease publication after today's edition. I knew the end would probably happen soon, but that doesn't lesson the shock at the death of this great institution. Newspapers all over the country are living on the edge because they just can't seem to figure out how to compete and thrive in the age of the Internet. I'm afraid many papers like the Rocky will die in the coming years. I almost feel responsible because I didn't click on any of their advertisements.
The Rocky and I have been close friends for a long time. I remember as a young child getting up in the morning and seeing my father sitting at the kitchen table, eating breakfast and reading the paper. I would then try to copy him by doing the same thing...thumbing through the paper, but really not having a clue what I was looking at - until I got to the comics of course. Eventually I actually started to read the articles and was even mentioned in the sports section a couple of times during the fall of 1974 when I played high school football in Denver.
As I went to college and beyond I still couldn't start my day without the good old Rocky Mountain News. When I joined the Army in 1984 and began my first assignment in Germany, I couldn't live without it and I asked my brother to get a subscription mailed to me. The papers came about 5 or 6 days late...and usually about 5 or 6 at a time...but I just loved having it with me to read. I've lived away from Colorado for 25 years now, and I still always start my day by reading the Rocky on the Internet. Tomorrow will be a tough day with no Rocky Mountain News. I'll probably read the Denver Post...the last paper standing in the city. I like it well enough, but we never developed the same kind of relationship.
Rest in peace, my friend.
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