Sunday, November 14, 2010

Extra!, Extra!, Read All About IT !

Laredo Times! dos dolares !

I think it was about a year ago, maybe two, that I first started noticing people, mostly kids, standing at some of the busiest intersections in town. No, they were not there to ask for handouts. These people I'm referring to are somewhat of a throwback in a way. They're the ones we see on Sundays, selling the Laredo Morning Times. They remind me of the newspaper hawkers who always came out in those black-and-white movies, urging passersby to "read all about it". The vendors are out early every Sunday morning and dutifully sell as many newspapers as they can until the early afternoon hours.

From the beginning, I found it interesting but I just thought that they were ambitious entrepreneurs not afraid of some honest hard work, especially in the Laredo summer heat. After a while, I reflected on it a bit more and couldn't help but think that it's actually more than that. It might just well be one of the last hurrahs for newspapers in print. I would love to be wrong about this. Laredo cannot stand to loose any more jobs and there's really nothing quite like a printed newspaper-no matter how useful the internet is. Who knows, maybe these people will drive a resurgence in sales so that the printed newspaper stays around a little while longer.

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