A plea for the Pennysaver

Dear Editor: I first want to congratulate and thank Wendy Post for all her years with the Pennysaver. She was a real gem, a community-minded individual whose writing and editorial skills made the Pennysaver something to enjoy each time it was delivered.

There has been quite a transformation in the way we communicate and store information as we enter the second quarter of the 21st century. As a librarian I have been in the thick of it, enduring plenty of bumps in the road, nail biting episodes, and more than one spell of computer rage. In talking about this phenomenon I mention to people that the library I left in Newark Valley in 1965 wasn’t much different than the one I was hired to manage in 1985. By 2010 when I retired, that was no longer the case.

Although I now spend hours sorting through emails and various websites, my entire educational experience was all done through print medium with some audio-visual content. Printed material is like a magnet to me, but for most people (I’m saying under the age of 30), searching a computer screen or phone has become the default. It always hurts when I see so many people walking down a tree-lined street with their eyes glued to a screen or the phone next to their ear, instead of taking in the endorphins from Mother Nature. The Japanese have a word for this: “Forest Bathing.”

Print medium has been taking a hit, not just in this country, but around the world. When was the last time you read anything about Tioga County in the Press and Sun-Bulletin or the Ithaca Journal? Maybe they could be doing better, but the resources for what had been done in the past just aren’t there.

The Pennysaver is experiencing these same problems as well. As the new management has taken over, there have been solicitations for voluntary contributions to maintain the quality of what is delivered to us every week. Speaking on behalf of the Newark Valley Historical Society, we have benefited immensely from the kind of coverage that the Pennysaver has provided for our events and activities, both in the promotion of these events and reporting on these events after the fact. I have had numerous articles printed relating to my own historical research, many of which were quite lengthy. It is likely that these would not have gotten into print any other way.

There are dozens of groups, institutions, and individuals that have benefited in a similar way. So the Pennysaver has asked the question: “Is it worth 50 cents a week? Is it worth $1 a week?” I’m certainly willing to spend $1 a week to have this publication delivered to me at my home, and I would encourage others to help out to the best of their ability. The Board of the Newark Valley Historical Society has recently voted to provide a $100 contribution. I would encourage all other public institutions such as ours to do the same.

I would be remiss if I didn’t give a shout-out to the Tioga County Courier. Their staff also does an exemplary job of informing the county and keeping the print medium available to the general public. When I was writing my section for the county’s bicentennial in 1991, I drew the bulk of my information on ethnic, immigrant and minority groups from the files of the Owego Gazette. I sometimes wonder how the historians of the 22nd century will assess and study what was taking place in our era. Will they need to sort through billions of emails and thousands of websites?

Tioga County has had a rich legacy of print.  I assume that most other counties in our country have a similar track record. These papers, now gone, once provided local news in our region:  

Tioga County Record, Owego Times, Owego Gazette, Owego Blade, Tioga County Herald, Candor Courier, Spencer Needle, and Waverly Advocate. We should do what we can to keep the Owego Pennysaver from being added to this list.

Edward Nizalowski

Newark Valley, N.Y.