[FROM THE DRAFTS FOLDER: The unpublished blogs of long ago. Originally written: March 4, 2009]

I had a conversation with someone sometime ago. This person swears that there are no such things as online newspapers. And I’m talking about a person who reads news mostly from online versions of printed dailies. That’s actually where this person copy-pastes some of his/her writings into his/her blog — sometimes part of it, sometimes all. And again, let me reiterate that this person swears that there is no such thing as an online newspaper. Now, ain’t that somethin’, huh?

This person also thinks the whole idea of a purely online newspaper (that is, without a printed counterpart) is stupid, rubbish and crazy. Okay, I added the last two adjectives to stress a point. In Hollywood, they have cinematography. In the mainstream media, they have sensationalism. Here in my blog, there’s perceived unbridled freedom to exaggerate things just to prove a point.

Although most times I am argumentative to the point of being borderline illogical, especially when I allow my passionate self get the better of me, I find it odd that some people just don’t get it. When did being Mister or Miss Literal become so charming or smart? When did being so narrow-minded or being close-minded at that ever meant being intelligent? Doesn’t it even strike you for a second that you are sorely wrong? I can have more intelligible conversations with my four year old son and he’s young brain would digest such information in an instant!

So, I won’t waste any more time trying to explain something that’s supposed to be categorized under “common sense” — which, incidentally, is not so common anymore, so the jokes say. There is indeed truth in jest.

So I’m not writing this post to glorify myself or feed your maniacal need for ego stroking. This post isn’t for you.

This is for the entire printed newspaper industry which has been, for the most part, hit right smack in the middle by this so-called global financial crisis. More and more established and century old newspapers are closing-up shop and moving to online news publishing — and this time, not for the sole reason of keeping-up with technology but retaining and rebuilding whatever is left of their business and “calling”. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer (P-I) decided to publish its final print edition Tuesday and would go online only, leaving another major US metropolis with just one daily newspaper. They are shutting down the print operation of the P-I after a nearly 150-year-run and it would become the largest daily newspaper in the United States to “shift to an entirely digital news product.”

I am saddened by such news. And to think I’ve never read that paper before, even online. What more of those who have been actually following that paper everyday of their lives?

While I am a fan of free news feeds, I don’t think I can ever feel any good about printed dailies being a thing of the the 19th century or the 20th century even. Sure, free news is well and good. But the moment I started subscribing to news feeds instead of actually holding an actual newspaper while having coffee, I must tell you — breakfast has never been the same again. Call me old-fashioned. Call me sentimental. But nothing feels better than waking up to coffee and paper. There’s just something more romantic to coffee-drenched newspaper than an iPhone’s feed reader screen.

Yes, I live in the social-media-web2.0 kind of era. And yes, you do, too. It’s real-time. It’s chic. It’s portable. It’s interactive.

But hell, I still want my newspaper on the porch. I still want that paper scent. I still want to use my ballpoint pen doodling on that crossword puzzle page. And I still want to fill that treasure trove box at home of interesting newspaper clippings and discount coupons.

Some people just don’t get it, do they?