Ten minutes to write. Less time to read.

I’m always tearing interesting things from newspapers and magazines as I read them, and here is a sampling of what last night’s foraging found.

A small magazine that reviews new books had an even smaller ad on page seventeen for Fresh Yarn: The online salon for personal essays. I am a great devotee of the personal essay, but would probably never have found this site had I not spent the evening reading by the fire. This afternoon my visit to Fresh Yarn (www.freshyarn.com) rewarded me with a possible new source for my own work. But it all started with the printed word.

Next, a two-page spread about the “fastest, easiest weight loss ever” caught my eye. Now “ever” represents big territory. So does any promise of “unparalled loss of body weight” without counting calories, reducing one’s food intake, or purchasing dietetic prepackaged meals. Of course there was a web site to be directed to, and of course I visited it. Each page on the site blared in hot pink and white lettering “Order Now!” But I scrolled over those words trying to find the ingredients in the product, how it works, why it works; you know, the fine print you get when you order a prescription. There was none. I tossed the two-page spread in the trash and won’t glorify it here by listing the web site.

Food is rarely far from the front of my mind, so when I stumbled on a full page of 50-calorie snacks I ripped it out. I also searched for a web site in the hope of finding fifty more such snacks. No such luck. Nevertheless, I am now armed with some great information to stave my between-meals hunger. I can have 2 Hershey’s® kisses or two cups of light microwave popcorn or six ounces of Bud Lite® or half a wedge of honeydew melon with a thin slice of ham. I trimmed the rough edges and taped the page on the door to my office that doubles as a bulletin board.

I understand that interest in newspapers and magazines is declining and that the generations who follow mine are more interested in obtaining information through high-tech means rather than through low-tech print media. Personally, I’m not adverse to new ways of communication, but that doesn’t mean we have to completely abandon the old ones. I’ll grant today’s passion for emails sent to one’s cell phone, but if you don’t study a newspaper or a magazine occasionally, you’re bound to miss something interesting.