Andy Ostmeyer: Evolution, revolution and history coming full circle – Joplin Globe

I became a newspaper reader as a child on Sunday mornings.

Before Mass, The Topeka Capital-Journal was divvied up among the family, and we would fight over who got what. Dad always got the news, of course, but the rest of us argued and negotiated over the comics, Parade magazine, and the sports section. I was partial to a section called Midway, a full-page feature about the people, places and stories that helped me discover Kansas as an amazing and cool place. Wed swap sections, then pile into car for church, sometimes dragging our part of the paper with us. Occasionally, sections of the paper disappeared before they got passed around. Somebody left it in their room, or left it in the car.

Looking back, though, I realize Sunday was the only day we did that. Dad managed grain elevators around Kansas, and was usually out of the house early, often before anyone else was awake. He didnt have time to read the paper in the morning on most days, and certainly not during harvest. That came in the evening, after supper. Chores were divvied up among the kids, who always argued and negotiated over that, too whether someone was getting away with less, and who slipped away before all the work was done, and why certain siblings always had to use the bathroom when it was time for chores.

Dad ignored it; he was reading the paper.

The only interruption I remember came during Lent, when wed recite the rosary after dinner, taking turns as kids speed-praying through it when it was our turn to lead, before shifting into that routine of paper and chores.

Ive been thinking about that a lot lately, about routine.

Like Dad, I rise early and am often out of the house before anyone else is awake. I have the good fortune of getting to read a lot of the paper the night before, of course, but not always, and not all of it. I think Ill catch up first thing in the morning, but its often night before I get a chance to finish reading it. I sometimes set the weekend paper aside, because I still like a Sunday morning read, taking it out on the deck when the weather cooperates.

Our readers have been emailing and calling since we announced a change in the way we will deliver papers, a change that begins Tuesday. Thats when the print edition of the Globe will be delivered to subscribers by the U.S. Postal Service no more contracted carriers.

For some of you, that will mean getting your paper later that morning, for others it will be the afternoon. For many, it will mean reading the paper in the evening, after work, but it will still be same-day delivery. Some readers have canceled, but when I get a chance to talk to them, I encourage everyone to stay with it, to give it a try. Routines change, but they just become new routines.

As I think back on it, I realize that was one Kansas familys routine decades ago; it also is the norm for many families today, given that 27% of our readers already get their paper in the mail. And, because we are having a hard time finding and keeping carriers in this job environment, that number is bound to keep growing.

Well get the papers to the post office early in the morning, youll get yours in your mailbox that same day.

Most of our readers have told me they understand the industry dynamics today, that newspapers are evolving. For me, the most appealing development has been the switch to digital. It means I can still read my paper first thing in the morning at joplinglobe.com, and it also allows me to read The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and some of the regional papers of which I rotate subscriptions, including Springfield, Kansas City and Northwest Arkansas.

I have always been a newspaper reader, but because of digital I am more of a newspaper reader today than I have ever been. Thats not so much an evolution, as a revolution, working in our favor. I also encourage readers to give us the try online if they havent already. A lot of readers tell us they like it once they get started. You could, frankly, spend all morning on our website, given that it has much more news and other features than we can put in the paper. But, of course, there are chores to do.

Because of this, you can take every newspaper you want with you wherever you go, just like we did when we were children, except now it is on our phones, available via apps, which means you dont have to fight each other for a favorite section. Sometimes, when Beth is singing at Mass, we go early so she can warm up, and I stay out in the truck and read the papers until its time to go in, speed-praying because I lingered too long over some article or column that I was reading on a newspaper app, not paying enough attention to the time.

Funny how evolution and revolution swing back around, history repeating itself.

However you read the paper, the Globes commitment is unchanged: To keep you informed. About news. About sports. And to continue telling you about the people, places and stories that make Joplin and the Four-State Area such an amazing and cool place too.

Stick with us. Were not going away, just making some changes. And if you would like help setting up your digital access, call us at 417-782-2626.

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Andy Ostmeyer: Evolution, revolution and history coming full circle - Joplin Globe