CrossWORDS

The main crossword puzzle is always on the first comics page in the upper left corner. The secondary or “commuter” puzzle is usually on a classified ad page, so it moves around to different sections of the paper. Finding the commuter puzzle on Saturdays is always frustrating because it floated around in either the Homes section or the multi-quartered Auto section. But that’s a moot point now; the presidential election changed everything. 

I won’t be getting my two daily local newspaper crossword puzzles anymore because, after nearly 20 years of continuous service, I cancelled my subscription to the Florida Times-Union.

I first heard about the paper’s plans to endorse the Republican candidate on the Friday before the election. The next day I called their customer service line. The woman handling my call asked for the reason for cancellation and, when I told her it was because of the paper’s endorsement for president, she mentioned she had been hearing that all day.

I am going to miss the crossword puzzles. Doing crosswords is not only one of my favorite thinking hobbies, it’s also an extremely effective brain exercise. I wouldn’t do the puzzles at home but would take them to work to do during downtime to keep my mind awake and alert. After stretches of heavy business, I’d end up with a tall stack of puzzles.

Now I’ll have to come up with something else to do. It’s my fault, but I just couldn’t justify supporting a paper that would back a creature as vile as they did. It’s not a matter of political differences, but even the hardcore right will admit that this election cycle was not politics as usual. The Republican nominee was more than a candidate, he was an ideology, one based on the vilest hatred and fears of a scared little man. I in no way supported Republican candidates in past elections, but the thought of cancelling my subscription when the T-U endorsed Romney four years ago, or McCain in 2008, or Dubya before him in 2004 and 2000, never crossed my mind.

Without the daily paper coming, it’s going to take so much longer to fill my recycling bin. 

As much as I do follow politics, I am aware of the extent to which politics doesn’t necessarily follow me. I mean this in the sense that whoever is in the White House normally has very little direct effect on my life. Sure, as part of the American collective I am resultant of the workings of the American government, but most of the stuff that goes on in Washington doesn’t really trickle down to my level. Even on my level, I am quite the Joe Ordinary, even more so now because, as a straight white middle-class male, I am “safe” from most of the unhinged social projects proposed by the president-elect. But just like every other aspect of this election, this time around is different. This time around, the election has had a direct effect not only on my day-to-day life, but on my whole history, because for the very first time in my life I am living in a household that doesn’t get a daily local newspaper.

I was born into a Chicago Sun-Times house. There were three choices back then. My grandma’s house got the Chicago Tribune. Uncle Jack and Auntie Bunny had the Chicago Daily News delivered. As an adult, I switched to the Tribune. With that newspaper I discovered the joy of having a fresh crossword puzzle delivered right to the front door. One of the first things I did after moving to Jacksonville was to set up my T-U subscription.

This affinity for print news undoubtedly spurred my desire to be a writer and journalist. I began fledgling work in college, followed by an internship at NewCity News in Chicago, which opened the doors to a career that has seen my byline in scores of papers and periodicals, including the Florida Times-Union.

But the T-U won’t see any work from me anymore. Why would I want my name to be seen in a newspaper that I wouldn’t want to be seen buying? That’s not to say I won’t miss having my work there, just as there are other things in the paper that I’ll miss. I liked the daily sports TV listings and the Monday Morning Quarterback the day after a Jags loss. The Op-Ed pages are always an adventure, whether enraging or elative. There’s the practicality of the arts and entertainment listings, and of course the comic strips I follow. But in lieu of all that, the thing I will miss the most isn’t something inside the daily paper but rather the routine I’ve built around it, a routine that’s lasted a half-century.

In its latest manifestation, that routine includes the half-asleep walk to the end of the driveway no matter how hot or cold or rainy the morning. There’s the retiring to the “Throne Room” in stereotypic man-fashion for a leisurely read, the extraction and folding of my puzzles, the tearing out of the occasional coupon or event notice, the setting aside some story or report that I wanted to look into.

My crossword puzzle routine at work consists of kicking back at my desk and working through my puzzle stack in order. As I finish each one, I tear the newspaper leaf in half four times, leaving me with a little stack of 1 1/2 x 3 inch pieces that were ceremoniously tossed into the trashcan. As I worked through them, I‘d watch my puzzle stack get shorter and shorter, knowing that with each day’s delivery, the puzzle stack would get replenished. But not anymore. I’ve still got about five days’ worth. Since I cancelled the subscription, I’ve been finding other ways to pass the downtime. I wouldn’t doubt that this is some unconscious effort to prolong at least the at-work part of my decades-old routine for as long as possible.

Of course ceasing my newspaper routine pales in comparison to those people facing possible deportation or financial ruin or the horrid resurgence of racism and misogyny. In the context of my life, though, it’s a routine that has remained steadfast for almost my entire life. For my breaking of that routine, I am sad and I am resentful. I’ll do the writer thing and channel that resentment into my craft, into an editorial like this, maybe write something about it for the next issue of my zine, hoping my opinions might strike a chord with some people who might be stirred into action.

I do see cancelling the paper as my minute contribution to a growing progressive movement that will carry us to the next election. That and a good reason to shake up my morning reading habits. Maybe I’ll renew a couple of magazine subscriptions that I let lapse. Or maybe I’ll start attacking “that stack” of books that all bibliophiles have sitting in the corner of the room. I do know that on the day I finish the last puzzle in my stack, I’ll have to make a stop at the newsstand for a good crossword book; I’m not letting the entire routine go without a fight.
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Masiulewicz is a writer and salesman in Jacksonville.