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Friday, September 14, 2012

A Different Weekly Reader


When I was in grade school, there was a weekly newspaper that brought the world of current events just to us. It was written for age and grade appropriate receivers. On the back page was a test to measure your comprehension and retention of what you had read.
My Weekly Reader, sometimes known as Weekly Reader, was first published in 1902 as Current Events. The change in name occurred in 1928 when a subscription cost two cents a week. By the time I was in grade school, I think the subscription was a nickle, maybe a dime. Regardless, I didn't get to have my own Weekly Reader copy very often. With two or three of us in school at the same time, the money spent on something extra soon added up. But I did have a subscription some of those years and I looked forward every week to receiving my very own newspaper.
I think my children had their own Weekly Readers when they were in elementary school. In July of this year, it was announced that Weekly Reader would cease publication after more than 100 years. It was merged with its new owner, Scholastic News. 


My new weekly reader is something called Sunday Secrets. Every Sunday morning I check in on the Post Secret website to read that week's new secrets.
Post Secret was started by Frank Warren in 2004 as a community art project. He asked people to hand make a post card revealing a secret of theirs which they had never told anyone and mail it to him anonymously. The following year Frank published his first book (there are now five books) of post cards he had received.
In 2007, postcards moved from Frank's blogspot to the Postsecret Community website which is probably when I became a faithful Sunday reader. At that time there were around one million readers. There are now about 560 million. I have not sent Frank a secret of my own and doubt I ever will, but I do occasionally read  post card secrets that could have come from me.


For instance, this one published last Sunday. But while the sender and I are about the same age, I do not have any regrets as opposed to her (I imagine it being a her) many regrets. True, there may be some things I  might have done differently, but everything I've experienced in my life has gone into making me who I am. I am content with the way my life has unfolded.


This is another postcard from last Sunday. I love the picture. I can see it possibly being sent in by some of my Oregon peeps.

I'm addicted to reading Post Secrets each week. It is definitely different, but it is my new Weekly Reader.






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