Of progress and negative rulers

The crowd hushed as the photographer approached the
podium.  He wore a button down shirt, his going to
town pants, a blue tie with elephants and a pair of
very clean tennis shoes.  Charles Mason grinned and
introduced himself as "someone who worked in the
journalism department." 

I smiled to myself and thought about reindeers as photographer Jim
Barker sat next to me.    

Mason introduced the speaker of the evening and the
audience applauded as Joel Shurkin walked on stage.
With trembling hands he shuffled through his notes,
fumbled his water bottle and cleared his throat as he
said good evening to the audience. 

He then began. to. read. his. speech....nervously 

He spoke about the death of the newspaper.  He is
perturbed.

The lecture reminded me of something I heard once,
*progress can be measured with a negative ruler."

For every step forward we take, there is something
lost.  It's like the circle of life..  :) 

--Kaitlin Wilson