I've decided I may not be able to cope with the 21st century. I might argue that I am on some fronts better equipped than some other people my age: I've been totally dependent on various forms of modern technology--the internet, e-mail, cell phones, things like that--longer than many people I know. Some of it irritates me no end, like these phones and things that you can't see unless you are under 40. That said, I would argue that I've been generally more receptive to the technological innovations than many people I know.
HOWEVER, the 21st century has hit me with a number of blows. Some aren't the fault of the modern world, like my father's and my father-in-law's deaths (in November 2004 and July 2005), as both these guys were 91; that doesn't mean I'm any less resentful of them dying. One could argue the same about Julia Child's death: she taught me how to cook properly. I had been interested in cooking for quite awhile (it's not at all clear how this came to be but it doesn't matter a lot), and was fascinated with all things French as long as I have had an inkling what it was (no good reason there, either, BUT...), so her death was a bit of a blow, too, albeit not as personal, and she was 91 or so as well.
My big problem at the moment, though, is that amidst all the noise about the demise of newspapers and books and magazines, they seem to be dropping like flies. The Lexington Herald Leader was, when we moved to Lexington back in the dark ages back in 1976, TWO SEPARATE newspapers, the Lexington Herald and the Lexington Leader, one "Democratic" and the other "Republican", except I can't remember which was which. Now the single newspaper appears to be in imminent danger of disappearing totally. It has shrunk and shrunk, pages as well as font, not to mention content. There appears to be only one restaurant review/month, instead of a restaurant review each week. All the national and international news now comes only from the New York Times, which would be marginally interesting, except that we now get the NY Times daily too, actually a response to the deterioration of the Herald Leader.
Newsweek stinks, Time has for many years. TV news is sad: there is the network news, which is all pretty sad; CNN is soooo irritating, Fox is ghastly, MSNBC has a few merits but is unabashedly biased, too. The only newscast that I find tolerable right now is the Lehrer Report on PBS. It's not exactly comprehensive, though, is it...
The latest and lowest blow, though, is the murder of Gourmet magazine. This was the food magazine that maintained enormous integrity for many, many decades (I say this while admitting I had problems with its direction for awhile after Ruth Reichl took over). Yes, I look online for recipes frequently, as well as looking in cookbooks. But recipes online is no substitute for serious writing about food of the sort that one found in Gourmet.
So there. I'm not sure I can cope with the 21st century.
Lillie
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Yes. Those of us who can only face morning if it includes a newspaper (actual paper you hold in your hand) and coffee (strong) are jolted (no pun intended). Although the coffee is still there, we've had to settle for a newspaper so slim that it's can only be thought of as a fragment of a paper. We continue to subscribe out of loyalty. We each have a laptop and should, with our coffee, read news-on-the-laptop. But...it isn't the same. And that's where aging comes in. We aren't as flexible as we would be if we didn't have decades to establish our hallowed habits. Like the local newspaper and, in your case, Gourmet. We must be strong, discard those decades, and prove that we are, in fact, still young. That's **almost** as great a challenge as aging.
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