Newspapers

When I was a kid in New Brunswick, our daily newspapers were The Moncton Times and The Saint John Telegraph-Journal.  They were both owned by the K.C. Irving empire, which owns half of New Brunswick. (The McCains own the other half.) And they weren't very good:  they tended to have the same syndicated material.

When I was twelve, we moved to Mississauga for a year.  During that time, we subscribed to The Toronto Star.  My favorite Star columnist was Gary Lautens, who wrote things like "There's only one reason why a man builds a swimming pool in his back yard.  That's so he can beg his wife to go skinny dipping with him late at night." He also made a list of fun things for kids to do during the summer vacation, like "Bounce a ball against the side of the house" and "Shampoo the family cat" and "Fill up the bathtub and see if your shoes will float" and "Shave the family St. Bernard" and "Wash, wax and polish half the family car."

My family has subscribed to The Globe and Mail since it went nationwide in 1984.  When I read it in the morning the first thing I look at is the comic strip Dilbert in the business section. (I used to read their other comics, but lost interest after they dropped Drabble and Pearls Before Swine and moved the remaining strips to the sports section.) These days we subscribe to the Star too, and the first think I read there is the Jumble Puzzle.  It was tough when I was young, but now I'm better at anagrams.

Every Friday I read Rick Salutin's column in the Star.  I still can't imagine why The Globe and Mail dropped Salutin and increased Margaret Wente, whom I never read, from one to two columns a week.