There was a time when I balanced my checkbook, when I demanded paper statements, when I held 3 or 4 magazine subscriptions.
I love the feel of paper and the idea of paper. I love handwriting and stationary and print. I love reading a newspaper and getting ink on my hands.
But I think I’m over it.
I’m tiring of the stacks of mail and unread magazines on the dining room table. I’m seeking a less complicated space and a simple home that is free of the mess that paper compels me to make. About a year ago I went paperless on almost all of my bills, and many of them are enrolled in automatic deductions (something I vowed I would never do). Then, tonight, I thought I’d try and sort through the stack of magazines.
It’s not so bad – I mean it’s only about a year’s worth. Every once in awhile I go through a purging. Carefully sifting through Food & Wine, I rip out pages of recipes I’d like to try, and they go into a slightly smaller pile tucked between cookbooks I seldom use. I put up a good front of domesticity and culinary prowess, but I’m also a workaholic who admittedly fed herself a dinner of Ritz crackers with peanut butter and beer tonight.
How’s that for full disclosure?
p.s. Want the old copies of Food & Wine? First in Chicago to say “dibs” wins.
Lauren Warnecke 
My father was an offset pressman. I remember I went to his job ‘National Printing’ Which was located at 1655 W. Cortland in Chicago (what is now Jane’s) about 24 years ago. Seeing commercial printing as a kid and all the printing presses there was and still is very cool to me. Back then, offset printing was paramount for businesses, especially small businesses (All digital now). When the company moved to a bigger location, I remember they brought in a gigantic four color press that made thousands of giant pieces of blank paper into commercial works of art by the hour. The place was huge, and the noise from all the machinery was beautiful to me in a way. I was watching the world at work back then that people today have forgotten or will never really appreciate. Anyway, I’m sure paper will never die no matter what you can do with your phone or computer. There will never be anything as dynamic or important to the world as paper.
I still like paper very much. My father was an offset pressman. I remember I went to his job ‘National Printing’ Which was located at 1655 W. Cortland in Chicago (what is now Jane’s) about 24 years ago. Seeing commercial printing as a kid and all the printing presses there was and still is very cool to me. Back then, offset printing was paramount for businesses, especially small businesses (All digital now). When the company moved to a bigger location, I remember they brought in a gigantic four color press that made thousands of giant pieces of blank paper into commercial works of art by the hour. The place was huge, and the noise from all the machinery was beautiful to me in a way. I was watching the world at work back then that people today have forgotten or will never really appreciate. Anyway, I’m sure paper will never die no matter what you can do with your phone or computer. There will never be anything as dynamic and important to the world as paper.