Selective Newsing

I think, when I return to California, I'm going to have to get a newspaper subscription. At least a weekend one. As the newspapers are so fond of telling me, fewer people are subscribing these days, everything is available free online, and print editions are a dying breed, causing those freedom of speech vanguards to continue shrinking their newsrooms and foreign offices. These valid reasons and my belief in newspapers as a necessity to a successful democracy, are not, however, the primary motivation in going old school, forgetting the trees, and subscribing. Rather, I have become a selective article reader, that is without the print edition in front on me- I find myself skimming, reading an article here, another there, checking certain sections more often than others and falling prey to catchy headlines. Those little news blurbs forgotten but important? Easily bypassed. Dear Abby? I haven't read her in years. Local letters to the editor? No more. My dependence on the NYTimes homepage (partly due to its status as defacto newspaper of record and maybe more to the well designed website), appealing Chronicle articles (with regular searches for Your Black Muslim Bakery updates), various German publications (those websites could learn a thing or two from the NYTimes) and Slate (oh, Slate! I love you.) is keeping me from reading the entirety of news. I'm going to have to change that.