Say It Ain't So, NY Times

I grew up in a house with a Dad who revered the NY Times. To him, it was truly the paper of daily record. We were daily Newsday subscribers, as were most Long Islanders, but got the Times each Sunday courtesy of Big Jimmy.

Big Jimmy was our neighbor across the street. His first born was...wait for it...Little Jimmy. Much to macho Dad's horror, Little Jimmy came out as gay after high school. But that's another story.

Big Jimmy was the head shipping clerk for the Times. He'd work each Saturday night, ensuring that the Sunday paper was sent on its way. Around 530 am, he'd return home, and drop off copies to his 4 surrounding neighbors. If I was up early, or hadn't gone to sleep at all Saturday night, I'd hear the loud plop of the massive paper hitting our front porch.

The neighbors would all thank Jimmy by bringing him fresh bagels and lox later on Sunday morning, or sometimes the great crumb cake from the Levittown Bakery. Ah, Long Island in the 60s and 70s.

Big Jimmy couldn't stand the Times content. He was very blue collar -- Archie Bunker -like, even. He read the Daily News.

When my Dad would commute to the City on the LIRR, he'd always buy the Times. He taught me that educated people read it, while blue collar, uneducated types read the Daily News. Gossip lovers read the Post -- my Mom actually liked the Post -- sometimes my Dad would buy her a copy at the Penn Station news stand on his way home at night.

Well -- today online, I read an op ed by Michael Goodwyn, a columnist for the Post. I check out the Post because there's no pay wall, and I like to keep up on local buzz in the City. Goodwyn used to write for the Times, and is now at the much more conservative Post.

Today he called out the Times for hypocrisy -- claiming the once true "Paper of Record" now has an ultra liberal bent. And, they don't self criticize. Turns out the Times's founders were Southern Jews, the mother of whom actually despised blacks, and loved slavery. She was buried in a coffin draped by a Confederate flag!

Ha. Confederate Jews. Who knew?  According to Goodwyn, the Times now advocates for removing Confederate monuments, while the Ochs and Sulzberger families actually paid to help construct some of them. How about that?

It just proves that, as we age and learn more, those things we were sure of (the Times is THE paper) may not be true. At least anymore.

And aging I am. If the Big Man agrees, I turn 59 in 6 days.  Denis Leary once said that there comes a time in a man's life when he ought to realize his birthday is no big deal to anyone except himself and maybe his wife. That time is about 9 years old.

The macho part of me believes that, but I still like to make it a time of reflection -- where have I been, and just where the hell do I think I'm going?

I have plenty of time to do that these days.  And now I will continue to read my once beloved Times with more of a jaundiced eye...