Teachin' old dogs new tricks

I guess you’d call me “old school.” I’m still one of those people who would rather hold a newspaper in my hand. I love the smell of the ink, the texture of the newsprint — even the way some of the ink still rubs off on my hand in spite of being in the soy-ink age. I still use a CD player and wouldn’t know how to operate an iPod or MP3 player, although I can do the basics of running a DVD player to watch my favorite entertainment, mostly old TV series. I can’t imagine reading a complete book on a Kindle reader as opposed to a hardcover or paperback book with a spine on it. But I know that time is coming. I can see the writing on the wall. That’s one thing about being in the news business, in any form: you can’t help but be exposed to trends, even if you aren’t ready to join in. One of the advantages of having a couple younger coworkers on staff here at the Tecumseh Herald is that they can help an “old school” foot-dragger like me get with the program. I’ve written columns for a couple of decades now, so it’s not the writing that is so hard for me. It’s trying to figure out how blogging is different – especially “beat-blogging,” which reporters are learning to do so they can remain competitive in the industry and bring readers along with them by commenting on the things readers care about and allow them to weigh in on them. When I think of how I learned to type on a standard NON-ELECTRIC typewriter, and how far we’ve come with computers, I guess I know that you CAN teach an old dog new tricks – if the dog will cooperate! So be patient with me as I try to follow the lead of those who actually might know what they are doing in this new arena and blog about things going on in my beat coverage areas, which can be Tecumseh City government, Tecumseh Public Schools, Raisin or Tecumseh Township, or more generally the areas of Agriculture, Faith, and Education since I provide content for those pages in the Herald. Feel free to provide your own comments, but remember, old dogs (or maybe just more “mature” ones) need a little extra TLC!