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An Unfilled Quest for 'The Gray Lady'
November 07, 2008 9:58 PM
ABC News On Campus reporter Dominick Tao blogs:
The morning after the election, after brushing my teeth and making some tea, my first priority was to grab a copy of The New York Times. I figured a copy of printed history would look great framed on my wall, and perhaps on the wall of one of my grandkids years from now.
The first place I went to acquire a copy was one of the many free newspaper bins on campus. The path of least resistance -- and least amount of money. The University of Florida's student government pays for a few thousand copies of the Times, as well as USA Today, for students daily. Problem is, the student ID-activated bins around campus are first-come, first-served. Since I'd been up until the wee hours of the morning reporting, I didn't rise until 10 a.m.
Click here to view Tao's search for a historical edition.
By the time I rode my bike the half-mile to campus, every bin had been completely depleted. Guess I'd be forking over $1.25 at a supermarket.
Wrong.
After class, I continued my search by traveling to two Publix Supermarkets, the main grocery chain in Florida. Both were completely sold out of every newspaper -- even the student newspaper, which is free. The racks were bare.
Where else could I get an NYT? "Aha!" I thought. What better place than the Gray Lady's bosom buddy of liberal stereotypes: Starbucks Coffee. I traveled to two of them. The racks next to the registers in both locations were empty.
After the second Starbucks, I climbed back into my SUV and begrudgingly fired up its gas-guzzling engine. This quest was beginning to get out of hand. It was becoming more of a sick mission to prove to myself that I could find a copy rather than actually getting a copy.
I visited a Target. Nope. A Barnes and Noble. Sold out. Three gas stations. No, nada, nuh-uh.
By this time, darkness was beginning to fall over the city, and with each passing minute, I could feel my chances of getting an Obama victory copy of America's newspaper of record slipping away.
So I called my mom. She lives in Lakeland, Fla. The Lakeland Ledger, a New York Times Co. paper, prints copies of the NYT for the entire region. Could they have extra copies? She called them up, but it was too late. There were no more for the general public at the regular price.
Yes, we had entered gouging territory. Newspapers across the country were upping the price for reprints. And whoever said Barack Obama was bad for the free market should really check out eBay. On the evening of Nov. 5, copies of the New York Times were on sale for more than $200 each. And people were actually buying!
The next day, I knew my chances had all but slipped away. But I still had one more idea. Since I am a poor student and couldn't afford online auction prices, I decided to turn slightly to the dark side; I went into one of UF's libraries with the intention of snatching a copy from the periodicals section.
I failed at that too. Someone had already beaten me to it.
Maybe someday, when I have grandkids, I'll just tell them a good story. Who needs a framed newspaper anyway?
Dejected, I updated my Facebook status: "Copies of the New York Times are completely sold out in Gainesville..."
One of the responses reminded me, though, that my Nov.5 NYT tragedy was just one of many.
My friend Liz posted to my profile: "Ditto here...P***ed me off too. Besides the cover story, every Wednesday is the special Food and Wine section!"
November 7, 2008 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (3)
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I got mine.
: )
Posted by: Ed from MA | Nov 7, 2008 11:06:18 PM
I had two.
I curmpled both up and started fires with them.
Heating season you know...
As far as having something to remember a "historic" election by. I don't need anything. Nothing "hystoric" about this election. You see, I don't think blacks have been repressed for many many years, Oprah, Dr. Condi Rice, Gen. Colin Powell and the hundreds of athelites that have made millions would agree with me. They have the same abilities as anyone else. Actually more due to hiring quotas and affirmative action. Reverse racism? Maybe something we can put to bed now.
Seems that the ones making this a bigger issue than it is are the truely racist people. Days of fawning over a victory is very telling that you saw a "black" man when the rest of us saw a man.
On the subject of racism, exit polling showed something rather interesting that will get zero news coverage. Race was not an issue with whites that voted against Obama. Race was an issue with blacks that voted for Obama. Think about that outside your partisan box if you can.
Has this country gone too far? Is it politically correct to allow blacks to be racist, for fear of backlash if they are called on it?
Racism (white toward black) has been dead for a very long time. It is time that you quit bringing race up and making the issue about race. Unless you want to discuss the racism that blacks have towards whites. Something which I doubt will not happen.
Posted by: Megan | Nov 8, 2008 11:16:47 AM
On the Onion website today they are advertising that you can get a copy of their paper commemorating the election. However, the headline isn't quite as celebratory as the NYT.
Posted by: Reader | Nov 13, 2008 2:46:02 PM
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