ever wondered?

I write a column every week -- it might sound classy, but it's not when you could potentially fill a paper with any crap you want (though, of course, I don't, or not intentionally). This week is National Newspaper Week, so let me share with you part of my submission this week on the issue. The column is called "Ever Wondered?"

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Maybe you haven’t been wondering about it, but here is some newspaper knowledge that might leave you a little better off, anyway.

Anatomy of a newspaper

Take a look back at the front page. See at the top where it says “Two Rivers Times” in huge letters? That’s called our newspaper’s flag.

Now, look down at the bottom right-hand corner of this page. See the box that starts off with “Two Rivers Times”? That’s called our newspaper’s masthead. It contains information about where we are published and when, and by whom. Our masthead also includes information on how you can contact us and what organizations we belong to.

The Two Rivers Times is a tabloid. Wait, wait – we’re obviously not full of Hollywood gossip or anything like that. Tabloid actually has two meanings, only one of which includes sensational stories. The other meaning is simply the size of a paper – about 11 inch by 17 inches per page. The larger sized newspaper is called a broadsheet. I like that tabloids are easier to hold than broadsheets.

Papers in history

The oldest newspaper still in circulation is called the Post-och Inrikes Tidningar. It is Swedish, and was first printed in 1645!

The first daily was a German paper that began in 1650.

The first newspaper to be printed in the colonies was “Publick Occurrences Both Foreign and Domestick.” The first and only issue was printed in Boston in 1690.

Other fun facts

Among those we don’t think of as journalists who were: Presidents William Harding, Benjamin Harrison and John F. Kennedy, Jr., and Dr. Seuss (an editorial cartoonist).

You may have heard about the Dutch and French resistance movements during World War II with their “underground” presses that printed illegal newspapers. Something I’d never heard before: The prisoners of war had their own newspaper, too, called the Pow wow.

Got some old newspapers around? The Old Farmers’ Almanac offers one tip for putting them to use: “Tape several sheets of newspaper together and lay them on the floor. Arrange your frames on the newspaper until you like the grouping. Outline the pictures, then gently affix the newspaper to the wall. Drive your nails right through the paper where your outline indicates. Remove the newspaper and hang the pictures.”