It has been one month since I made my first post to this website. Thank you for visiting. It is my goal to build a news website for our broader community… from the ground up. Las Cruces Digest is intended to provide something to our broader community that, in my opinion, is sorely needed–a source of information worth actively seeking out, and in a format that involves more mental effort than thoughtlessly thumbing the scrolls.
The Morning Paper
I grew up during paper’s last hoorah. In the seventies, computers were new. There was no internet, and I remember my father waking up each morning to a cup of coffee and the morning newspaper. I would wait for him to finish the Sports section, and I would swipe it to read the daily funnies. Now, I wish we lived in a world where I could take the mantle of my father and share the morning paper routine with my children. For better and worse, the world has changed, and establishing even a similar routine is a bridge too far. Las Cruces Digest is my attempt to salvage what I can of the experience of news in my youth.
One month into this project, I have encountered obstacles and rabbit holes with unending darkness as I chased the lost experience of sipping coffee and reading a newspaper. It is a romantic notion, I admit–one that does not fit into the chaos of everyday life in this 21st Century. In his press conference following the murder of Officer Jonah Hernandez, Las Cruces Police Chief Story called this world “evil”. I am not willing to accept that premise; however, I am at a turning point, and I have to accept the shortcomings and embrace the technology.
From the Ground Up
If there was no concept of ‘news’, what would I build in the current environment to satisfy the need for information? There is no shortage of information. In each of our hands is a tool that will incessantly refresh the bottom of the screen with new, keenly tailored content. We scroll for every bit of information we get, and our hunger for more seems insatiable. So, Las Cruces Digest is intended to meet a need for the right kind of information, and in the right format.
Secondly, there is nothing novel in curating information in a scrollable form. Our broader community doesn’t need another thumbable stream of information, regardless of how well it is curated and presented. Las Cruces Digest will not abandon the original longing that sparked this project in the first place. So… what was that longing? An experience with reading. Active reading.
Active Reading
Making an effort to pour a cup of coffee. Making an effort to retrieve the newspaper from the front driveway. Making an effort to sit down and wrestle with the oversized sheets of paper. Actively moving my hands and eyes over the paper to find the string of words I wished to engage, and then having all of those mechanical processes fall away as my mind became immersed in the content I was reading. Reading a newspaper was an effort, and well worth it. Over the past month, I have discovered few modern technologies that emulate this experience. This prerequisite of making an effort to achieve effortlessness. Our phones have taken all the work out of accessing information.
This begs the question: “What are the things for which we are willing to make an actual effort, anymore?” And, “How does information fit into this new paradigm?”
What next?
I am working toward the answer, and will be revealing it over the next month. Las Cruces Digest is intended to provide something to our broader community that, in my opinion, is sorely needed–a source of information worth actively seeking out, and in a format that involves more mental effort than thoughtlessly thumbing the scrolls.
Stay tuned… and thank you for visiting.
