It's the time of year my dearest likes to go rummaging in the basement. Basement? What's that?
Indeed, many houses in the U.S. don't have such a thing. That's in part because the water table is so close to the surface in some areas and in another part because it would actually require some excavation beyond superficially scraping the surface to build a new abode, adding untold costs to the structure.
Basements
Basements are a great invention. You can store and hide all kinds of things like, for example, artificial Christmas trees and other rarely used (or forgotten) items. In short, basements are most useful depositories! That's also why it's fun to go rummaging there.
Apart from the furnace and laundry area, our basement has various shelves with Canadian winter and summer or tropical clime outdoor gear, tools, old file folders and, not to forget, my dearest's quilting projects as well as a handsome accumulation of our favored bottles with red liquid.
Frankly, I couldn't live without a basement, I think. Where would I keep all the half-empty paint cans and brushes (mostly dried up by now), the plant corms and canna lilies bulbs to be planted next spring, the books you ought to have read a long time ago, the birdseed to be used to fill the feeder all winter, pieces of two-by-fours that could become handy for some project, and so on?
When you're stuck indoors for a while because it's too something out there, a basement is most opportune and the things you may rediscover are astounding. They can be like personal time capsules. So, let me come back to the latest find upon rummaging there: an actual newspaper (remember those?) from 25 years ago. It had been used to line a box of something and was re-discovered only now.
Newspapers
The first thing that struck me seeing that old paper was its format, i.e. much larger (13.5 x 24.5 in.) in the old issue than the new measure of 11 x 21 in. Then there is no color, just black and mostly script on the now yellowing white paper. There are a few photographs and advertisements, but no ads for smart phones and the like. By all accounts, it would appear that the newspapers of that era actually were publishing some real news with a high level of reporting and commentaries based on facts. How times have changed!
To begin with, these days, quite often it's unclear as to what it is that you read. Is it an actual report of facts, a political spin and "explanation," or an "infomercial" by one group or another trying to garner your sympathies (and possibly having paid the newspaper for the space)? It can be a challenge to find out. At least the photographs shown then were factual..
Photographs
Now, even page-size photographs can be mysterious. It rarely says what is being reproduced, where they were taken and when. Have any been "photo-shopped" to present something that did not exist in reality or have parts been removed? It is impossible to know without having access to the original.
A friend of mine is a recognized and accredited judge for hobby photography competitions. He recently told me that now the judges require original files if taken with electronic cameras or original film-based negatives just to allow the pictures to be included in a competition. Even then, so I understand, there are people trying to tamper with their products to make them appear better than they really are.
Of course, the same holds true for scanned documents and similar electronic file-based evidence. This is not only the case for single-shot pictures but for videos as well. Even a common household computer allows you to manipulate the sequences, appearances of characters and so forth, provided you have the right software. In short, the likelihood of a "photograph" having been electronically altered has been steadily increasing to a point where it is difficult if not impossible to discern what is factual or not. At least in that respect, we seem to be back in the "Wild West." But let me come back to the yellowing scriptures; there are more surprises, like the page with cartoons.
Cartoons
Cartoons have always fascinated me. Not only does it require a special skill to actually draw them but even more so as the cartoonists need to come up with a new idea day after day. Looking at the cartoons of that May 1991 newspaper, I am even more amazed as to how timeless their messages can be. For example, the Wizard of Id cartoon with the wizard's visitor asking "what do you have to make my spouse disappear?" and being handed three new credit cards. That still rings true today as people's desires are still the same.
That's also why many cartoons are timeless even if some small details have changed. Today the Wizard may dispense debit cards or smart phones instead but the message is still the same. That's especially true if the cartoons cover issues transcending boundaries of some sort. The recent events in France certainly drive home the point. It appears that even being a cartoonist is no longer without risk.
For society the question now becomes whether it is better to keep peace at any price and kowtow to religious fanaticism or to stand with Charlie--day after day.
