It’s no secret that I despise the culture of materialism, overconsumption, and wastefulness. So once again I shake my head at grown adults electing to spend their morning on the frigid side of an automatic door eagerly waiting as if Jesus himself might step out of Best Buy come 6am.

I took this photo last year when I did pop into Cherry Creek Mall on Black Friday. It just baffles me how much cheap plastic shit exists, and how people just lap it up. Rarely do I see quality merchandise available at a mall. It might be Norman Rockwellian to think of a grandfather hand carving a puzzle or game for his grandson 40 years ago, but I have that mental image when I see the amount of complete crap that’s available for purchase. Are you actually going to USE this “Shape Up” thing or whatever is pictured here? Why buy something for someone if you KNOW it will get five months of use, spend four years in the garage, and then be sold at a yard sale. Buy quality stuff, and you’ll buy it fewer times.

You can read up on the nonsense in the Rocky Mountain New’s Black Friday Blog. For today I’ll be participating in Buy Nothing Day, if only for my own convenience.

Speaking of newspaper blogs: Some of them are getting absurd. Each day the Rocky Mountain News features a list of stories where readers can discuss and comment on various articles (usually deteriorating into obscenities about immigration.) This is fine, I’ve like Mark Wolf’s list of selected articles, but as of late the daily blogs are becoming stuffed with mundane issues such as deals at various retailers and “how’s the weather today.” Basically back yard fence conversations having nothing to do with news. In a NEWSpaper. Unfortunately when you blog about nothing, it only turns into an exercise in the mundane wasting space and taking away from the real news that a NEWSpaper is supposed to offer. The Denver Post is doing the same. Wednesday’s front page blog was about going to the airport.

Yes, a diary of people going to the airport. Look – it’s Thanksgiving weekend. A lot of people are headed to the airport. It’s snowing lightly. This does not merit the coverage that a major snowstorm or massive freeway pile up would. Writing filler material like “no line getting coffee and muffins,” or “made it to gate A35 with a half hour to spare,” should remain in the blogosphere where titter users, photo bloggers, and the masses of bloggers like myself can write and read each others ramblings. They should NOT be front page of the city’s two largest newspapers.

Also the Denver Post features a “neighbors” section where people just like myself can post articles about all things important to them. Some of these article headlines are directly on the front page and until I actually open the article and read it there’s no way of knowing if “Pothole Patrol” is written by a pissed off curmudgeon or by an actual staff writer .

Being a local blogger I should think that’s great, but I don’t. I’m not a professional writer. I post commentary and biased opinion on subjects important to me and my interests. When I open a newspaper I expect to read stories written by journalistic professionals experienced in exploring all sides of an issue. Or editorials written by the roudtable of which political leanings and opinions I know.

I don’t think a newspaper should out-source their journalism to Dottie from Aurora, or James in Congress Park for that matter. It’s great to allow reader comments on stories, and provide space for reader discussion – but STOP incorporating it into the front page list of articles, and stop treating mundane activities in daily life as “news.” THAT’s what the blogosphere is for. Let’s keep them separate no?

James Van Dellen