Newspapers and Grandad

History class.

Boys and girls listen up. This is called a newspaper. They still print a few copies for the drugstore.

Grandfather will not send us to the store today, to get Sunday newspapers. He’s not here. He died before digital newspapers. He had Alzheimer’s.

We have fond memories of him, including hiding food from us, his grandchildren and forgetting he put it in dining room drawers. He would also chase us away. Go back to your own homes. Grandma (Khulu) will look at him for a second, then quietly tell him to leave her grand children alone.

I associate my grandfather (Mkhulu) with the written word. He always had a newspaper under his arm and on his bed, compared to Khulu whose main source of recreation was the bible. He could be generous and give us the comic section to read. His son, my mother’s eldest brother grew up on the written word. That’s probably why he became an editor of the national Zulu newspaper: iLanga lase Natal.

Are digital newspapers the written word? Before we answer that question, let’s clear the air. Newspapers are still around, although on a small scale. They are at the entrance of some drugstores, neatly stacked in their tall wire holders. They are just not as obese as grandfather’s newspapers because all the sections have been trimmed down: sports, business and lifestyle. Travel section and the colour magazine, gone.

Now back to your question. Digital newspapers are the written word because they are not written in emoji’s. They are in Greek, German, Arabic, Yoruba, Xhosa, Hindi, Dutch, French, Italian, Spanish etc. They are just not important anymore, because we share, tweet and re-tweet faceless experts.

Nonqaba waka Msimang

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