I could very well be years behind the ball on this one. Nonetheless it's got me excited. Recently it came to my attention that the Economist has digitized all of their archives. For every college paper typed out on my computer there was at least one search (in vain) for an article from the Economist prior to 1998 (the year their standard digital archives go back to). Though FSU's databases contained a wealth of information from prominent journals, newspapers of record and nearly every Florida newspaper... no Economist. Yet oddly enough, while it would have saved me a great deal of time citing authors had it come online a couple of years ago access to this wealth of information might be more welcome now than then.
The past week or so homesickness has been nagging at me. While this may sound ever so slightly crazy, the Economist has over the years become more than just a magazine (or newspaper) to me. It has a lot to do with the lack of a byline. The magazine/newspaper/let's just call it a newsmag, is well known for not citing it's authors. As a result the tone seems to blend and it kind of speaks with one voice. When they pick sides in their opinion pieces it's always stated clearly as “this newspaper...”. Moreover, as I've been a subscriber for a good five years now my worldview has kind of grown up around it.
My first strong memories of the political realm were during the 2000 election recount, walking in a huge cluster of protesters. The epicenter of it all was about a mile from my house. Not too long after that terrorists ran planes into the Twin Towers. My high school years culminated with the run up to and invasion of Iraq. As a liberal, clearly my thought process was prone to high pitched rhetoric at this time. The years in which my age group came of age politically was tumultuous, divisive,confounding... essentially not a great time to come to opinions about the general state of politics and the world. When American politics started to calm down a bit coincided with the time when I first became an avid reader of the publication. So when I took stock of the scene the Economist was there to whisper in my ear.
Google Archives is intensely cool. The background on my desktop at the moment is actually a Google Archives screenshot. However, this isn't just looking back and reading firsthand what people were seeing as historical events unfolded. Now I get to hear what my 168 year old friend had to say as the south seceded from the Union, as the world stood still during the Cuban missile crisis or at the conclusion of the war to end all wars. Just a stab in the dark, but I'm going to assume they were skeptical of the League.
The past week or so homesickness has been nagging at me. While this may sound ever so slightly crazy, the Economist has over the years become more than just a magazine (or newspaper) to me. It has a lot to do with the lack of a byline. The magazine/newspaper/let's just call it a newsmag, is well known for not citing it's authors. As a result the tone seems to blend and it kind of speaks with one voice. When they pick sides in their opinion pieces it's always stated clearly as “this newspaper...”. Moreover, as I've been a subscriber for a good five years now my worldview has kind of grown up around it.
My first strong memories of the political realm were during the 2000 election recount, walking in a huge cluster of protesters. The epicenter of it all was about a mile from my house. Not too long after that terrorists ran planes into the Twin Towers. My high school years culminated with the run up to and invasion of Iraq. As a liberal, clearly my thought process was prone to high pitched rhetoric at this time. The years in which my age group came of age politically was tumultuous, divisive,confounding... essentially not a great time to come to opinions about the general state of politics and the world. When American politics started to calm down a bit coincided with the time when I first became an avid reader of the publication. So when I took stock of the scene the Economist was there to whisper in my ear.
Google Archives is intensely cool. The background on my desktop at the moment is actually a Google Archives screenshot. However, this isn't just looking back and reading firsthand what people were seeing as historical events unfolded. Now I get to hear what my 168 year old friend had to say as the south seceded from the Union, as the world stood still during the Cuban missile crisis or at the conclusion of the war to end all wars. Just a stab in the dark, but I'm going to assume they were skeptical of the League.
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