A letter from a friend

It's hard to add much to this letter from a reader received recently at the Kansas City Star:

I have little formal education. I began reading the KC Star when I was a teenager. I'm now 50.

[Without] realizing at the time ... my reading of this great
newspaper taught me a communication vocabulary and history education worthy of an expensive university. I studied the writing structure, the formation of thoughts and information transferred into an efficient written communication medium. I saw new words and learned their meaning through the
writings.

When I was 30 my department manager, a college grad, asked me where I went to college. I told him the KC Star.

This newspaper seems an old friend. Not a fly by night so often found these days as revenue goals becomes the character. I've laughed and cried with its contents. Its been a loyal constant, so rare these modern days. This paper is blessed with exceptional talent, new and old and offers something for everyone. CW Gusewelle's ability to paint a gorgeous visual portrait with
his words next to an article about a local boy killed in action in a
terrible place in a terrible war. National and local stories, commentary, and my favorite the opinion section. Sports, entertainment, its all there contained in this almost living thing, the KC Star.

There seems a correct professional morality about this paper, drawn and maintained through the generations. The world is changing, nothing last forever. Some say newspapers are a dying breed.

Yes, I have 300 TV channels, and internet, but for now I think I'll get a cup of coffee and enjoy visiting with an old friend, the KC Star.

Phil Swayne