An Ode to the ODE

In talking about the Oregon Daily Emerald strike, I was reminded of the poem "First they came…", by Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) about political apathy. While I originally raised the poem in a purely sardonic manner, the more I read it the more I feel its author would feel comfortable that I cite it in relation to our small contest. Unionists, schools and the press are often included in the list, and ultimately the point of the poem is that no fight is too small to be fought - we are all part of the larger community.

Original (1976):

Als die Nazis die Kommunisten holten,
habe ich geschwiegen;
ich war ja kein Kommunist.

Als sie die Sozialdemokraten einsperrten,
habe ich geschwiegen;
ich war ja kein Sozialdemokrat.

Als sie die Gewerkschafter holten,
habe ich nicht protestiert;
ich war ja kein Gewerkschafter.

Als sie die Juden holten,
habe ich geschwiegen;
ich war ja kein Jude.

Als sie mich holten,
gab es keinen mehr, der protestieren konnte.


Translation:

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I was not a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

The Oregonian Triages Eugene Area

Looks like the mainstay Oregon newspaper, The Oregonian, is pulling up its roots in Eugene and Springfield, and is to stop delivering dailies in order to save money on printing costs. I first heard about this from Newspaper Deathwatch, the reaper-like website that has been watching the fall of the industry of 'black, white and read all over'. As a journalism-major this is all a little less than reassuring.

The news came from my mother in a phone call.

Had I seen The Oregonian's letter announcing the end of daily delivery? Seems rising newsprint and distribution costs make it too expensive for The Oregonian to bring its papers to home or retail outlets in Eugene-Springfield on a daily basis, apart from Sunday.

My own letter from The Oregonian's circulation director lay in the unopened mail pile. Another busy day of leaving early and getting home late. I'd managed to start off right by reading the Register-Guard and Oregonian before leaving my house at 6:00 a.m., but hadn't opened the mail after rushing home that night.

The letter was kind. A model of strength-based reassurance. The Oregonian knows its decision to stop visiting my house every morning is a loss, for me and for each and every one of the readers. While the newspaper won't be found in retail outlets in Oregon's second largest metropolitan area, it will arrive on Sunday and web content is available 24/7.

Now all I want for Christmas is for The Oregonian to keep landing somewhere in my yard by 6:00 a.m.

http://blog.oregonlive.com/myoregon/2008/12/waking_up_to_a_morning_without.html

Newspaper Industry Hit Hard in 3rd Quarter

Hey all, thought you might be interested in this, Happy Thanksgiving:

Newspaper sales fall 21% in historic rout
Newspaper advertising sales dived by a record 21.1% in the third quarter in a historic, across-the-board rout paced by a nearly 31% plunge in classified revenues.

Barely eking out $9 billion in print sales in the three months ended in September, the industry shed more than $1 billion in revenues from the same period in the prior year, according to statistics published quietly on the afternoon before Thanksgiving by the Newspaper Association of America (continued).

http://newsosaur.blogspot.com/2008/11/newspaper-sales-fall-21-in-historic.html
http://www.naa.org/TrendsandNumbers/Advertising-Expenditures.aspx
http://www.slideshare.net/hblodget/mary-meeker-web-20-presentation-presentation

Creswell Chronicle Portfolio

I'm starting to put some of this term's photos online. Here's a short portfolio of clips that were published in the Creswell Chronicle weekly newspaper.