Fond farewell to ink

There is, I’m afraid, only a slim chance that this letter will see print in time that I can cut it out and mail it to my 93-year-old mother in Nebraska. Almost all the letters I have read regarding this paper’s switch to digital format have been praiseladen. The few exceptions have been humorous plaints: “How will I line my litter box?” and such. There are lots of legitimate uses for newsprint or similar paper around a household, but of course it is not the problem of the Democrat-Gazette if people are forced to look elsewhere for kindling or hamster-nesting or papier-maché.

Of real concern to me is the future of my recipe collection. I have boxes full of Food sections, dating back to the days when they were actually Food sections and Irene Wassell edited them. I have a nearly complete collection of Kelly Brant’s tenure. Or it was, anyway, nearly complete. Now it is henceforth unavailable. Oh, sure, I am given to understand my intelligent tablet will save them in its electronic memory until, I don’t know, the next big solar flare or I accidentally delete them, thinking sincerely I am doing something else altogether.

Anyone who thinks such ethereal storage is in any way preferable to a pile of yellowing newspaper is mistaken, and just doesn’t know. It’s what must be, but that is the nicest thing I can think of to say. All objections and protestations are irrelevant.

Perhaps, freed from the paper chains of real print, the Food section can come back into its own as a real feature, if only virtually. And perhaps the publisher could be convinced to reprint it in the Sunday paper edition, as is done with the obituaries. Surely nourishing the living is as important as remembering the dead?

The sacrifice of all else to survival does not guarantee survival. I would put that in quotation marks, but then I would have to attribute it, and I can’t remember who said it. It’s still true. Love you, Mom.

STANLEY G. JOHNSON Little Rock