Off to a good start

We like to keep up with the local Downey news at our house. All of us!

What's your newspaper style?

You know all those quizzes that pop up on Facebook or in magazines? They ask you about your style in some facet of your behavior, and then tell you what this means about your personality. Well, I think there should be a quiz to tell you what your newspaper reading style says about you.

In just a few minutes of people-watching at the Embassy Suites Hotel on Sunday morning, I observed two very different newspaper styles. The first one, above, is relaxed. There's no rush here. The completed (or unwanted) sections of the paper get tossed aside.

At the other end of the spectrum, there are those who read on the go. Life's short, there are a million things to get done, there's not a moment to waste. If you can multi-task while reading the paper, so much the better.

What's your newspaper style?

Poetry really does matter

This is Frank Kearns. Frank is a transplanted New Englander who calls himself SoCalYankee. He and his wife are actively involved in the arts here in Downey. This picture was taken recently at the Stay Gallery where Frank was reciting some of his poems. You can see more of his bio here. Frank is a regular contributor to the Poetry Matters column in the Downey Patriot.

“Poetry is emotion put into measure. The emotion must come by nature, but the measure can be acquired by art.”
~ Thomas Hardy, as quoted in The Later Years of Thomas Hardy by Florence Hardy

Get your paper here

I read recently that a local restaurant had requested that the Downey Patriot (our weekly and free local newspaper) no longer be distributed in their restaurant, so the newspaper rack was removed.

And then I read today that the Downey Patriot is now available outside of the Stay Gallery in downtown Downey. It kind of adds to the small-town ambiance that is starting to develop in this area.

And on a totally off-subject note, let me just say how much I love the extra hour of daylight at the end of my work day!

Journalism

It was while making newspaper deliveries, trying to miss the bushes and hit the porch, that I first learned the importance of accuracy in journalism.
~Charles Osgood

I was never much of a newspaper reader. But ever since we started Downey Daily Photos, I've become an avid Downey Patriot reader. The ideas for a lot of our posts originate from the Downey Patriot (and from the online newspaper Downey Beat). I look forward every Friday to seeing what's coming up next in Downey.

The Patriot is distributed for free to 25,000 single family homes and throughout the business district.

The Patriot on vacation

One of the fun things about living in a relatively small town is that it's possible to get your picture into the local paper without doing or being anything out of the ordinary. To this end, we carried around a copy of the Downey Patriot with us on our summer vacation.

Downey on Facebook

I've recently become addicted to following the Downey news through a couple of Facebook pages. It's a great way to keep up with local community events (that is, more stuff to take pictures of for Downey Daily!).

The Downey Beat, founded by Ben Baeder, is a new site that provides "deep, constant news coverage of Downey and its surrounding communities."

The Downey Patriot newspaper has been around for years, but I only recently discovered its Facebook page. I have to confess, I've never been fond of the newspaper format, so I really only started reading the Patriot regularly after they ran a story on Downey Daily. So I'm really enjoying getting their daily updates on Facebook.

Duh!

I work as an editor in my day job, so I enjoy seeing the occasional typos and unclear statements in the newspapers. In fact, I check Criggo.com for a little bit of daily fun. But I don't generally get to see these things in my local paper—except for this week, when I spotted this headline in our Downey Patriot.

Of course, the Patriot can say that they're just reporting the news. It's the CDC who is spending our tax money to tell us the obvious.

A break in the rain

We're into our second full day of nearly non-stop rain. Not that it never rains here in southern California — it just doesn't usually rain so continuously for so long. So when it stopped raining this afternoon for a short time, I grabbed the leash and the dog and went for a walk. I was struck by the fall leaves — still colorful, but now a bit soggy.

We didn't go too far though. The streets were so filled with water, we were stuck on our own block.

Morning break

Early last Friday morning, Joan, Allison, and I spent about two hours walking a half-mile stretch of the train tracks between Dolan and Paramount, an industrial area in a mostly residential city. It's amazing what you can see when you wander instead of drive through an area. This picture of a man taking a morning break, was my favorite.

You can see more of my photos from that morning at Along the train tracks.