It's Christmas day, so we'll be taking the rest of the day off. But for those readers in need of a venue to spout off on this Christmas holiday, we're setting up this space as an open topic thread.
Before we open it up for comments, however, we want to briefly spotlight this morning's Standard-Examiner editorial, which republishes one of the most truly classic Christmas Day newspaper pieces ever written. Written by newspaperman Francis Pharcellus Church, and first published in the New York Sun in 1897, it's a thumbnail masterpiece of the philosophy of the common man, cleverly interlaced with numerous exoteric and esoteric themes:
• Yes, VirginiaIf the piece has more than a slight ring of familiarity to it for regular Std-Ex readers, by the way, it's apparently becoming a Standard-Examiner Christmas-time tradition, in which connection we link the previous two years' Std-Ex editorials below:
• 2007 Std-Ex Christmas EditorialLet's just say the Std-Ex editorial board really likes this piece. And why not, we ask? Not only does it deal with the grand concept of mankind's place in the universe, it also emphasises the power of a newspaper as the voice of authority and reason. It's both mysticism and newspaper marketing, travelling in happy conjunction.
• 2006 Std-Ex Christmas Editorial
The floor is open. Perhaps a few of you will be able check us out on your new laptops or mobile devices, discovered this morning under the tree.
Have at it; and a Happy Holiday to all.
5 comments:
Newspapers all around the country run "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" every year now, some on Christmas eve [SL Trib e.g., though it headed it with a wry observation about what kind of business editorial writers are in when the most famous one written turns out to be a testament to a fictional character.]
Glad the SE is making it a Christmas tradition, and without snarky elaboration. I look forward to it in my SE on Christmas morning and read it again every year while the rest of the house is still sleeping. It's especially good reading just after dawn on snowy Christmas mornings like this one. Good writing is not so thick upon the ground in these parlous times that we can't enjoy re-reading each Christmas a fine example of it.
LOL, Curm. I guess I should have said it's a new tradition for the Standard-Examiner
(oh that's right; I already did.)
I wonder what THE SKI IS BEAUTIFUL BLUE gave all his gravy-training offspring? Wanna bet onions were involved? I'm giving odds! And can you just imagine the high-adventure gift exchange between Short-deck and Lying Little Matty Gondola Godfrey? What to provide a fellow sufferer of short-man's disease who loves, loves, loves proposed THE GONDOLA? I know: bullet-proof glass to shield family members from the ordnance dropped by proposed THE GONDOLA haters!
THE SKI IS BEAUTIFUL BLUE
comment promoted to top shelf
Santa is evel, because he says "Happy Hilidays"
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