Wakefield Daily Item:Birthday Assignment
The newspaper I chose was the Wakefield Daily Item. It is published weekly, except for Saturday, Sunday, and legal holidays. I was born on April 15, 1979. This day, in 1979, happened to be Easter. Since Easter is a legal holiday and on Sunday, I chose Friday, April 13, 1979 to write this essay.
The Wakefield Daily Item is published by the Wakefield Item Company-Item Press. Wakefield’s original printery is the Commercial Printing Department in 1872. On April 13, 1979, this newspaper sold for $.20. Today, the newspaper is sold for $.45-.50 depending on how you get it.
There are several sections to the newspaper. They include the front page (with the lead stories), Health, the Lynnfield section, Sports, What is happening that day, and This is Wakefield.
The front page shows pictures. The pictures are winners of the all school fair that was held at the Junior High School. To the left side of the pictures is the selectman’s summary. Some of the statements were to proclaim the week of May 13-20th National Nursing Home week (in Wakefield), The VFW was granted permission for the annual Memorial day parade and exercise on May 28th, and the Chamber of Commerence was given permission to hold the annual side walk bazaar. The right side of the paper was about the bus strike. The strike was about how the Fiore Bus Company got a pay cut and The Metropolitan Bus Company was getting paid more. Other titles included the police and fire calls and some ads. Near the bottom was the weather. On April 13, 1979, it was partly sunny, highs 50-55 degrees. Easter was predicted to be cloudy with a chance of showers. Highs in the 50’s.
The next page has Easter in medium size letters. It tells us about Easter and religion. Below that is the daily crossword puzzle. The rest of the page is about high gasoline prices. It has a huge lion with the words “Higher gasoline prices” on his shirt. Next to the lion President Carter is giving the lion a small person on a plate that says “Mr. Consumer”.
Health is the next topic. More than half of the page is on alcohol. It tells about the abuse nationally, state wide, town wide, the trends, and the legal drinking age (21). There is another write up about the abuse of Nursing Homes.
There is a section devoted to Lynnfeild. The Wakefield Daily Item, ever since I have known it, has been delivering the paper to both towns. This page is mostly filled with their towns school events and very little about the town.
The Sports page has a lot of pictures. Most of them having to do with the baseball games. The huge title “Edged by Winthrop 3-2 in Spring opener” is at the top of the page. Below that a picture of a male high school student. The title “WHS athlete’s to assist at marathon” is the title of that. There were 40 runners from Wakefield High School participating in the Boston Marathon.
“Attend Church” is the heading of the next page. On this page is a boy singing in church. All around the picture are churches listed. They are urging you to attend church on Easter.
The last page in big letters is “This Is Wakefield”. This is my favorite part of the newspaper. It shows the town, pictures of the different school activities and what they are doing, along with where they may be seen. It also describes holidays. On this day before Easter, there is a symbolic picture. It has people in what looks to me like a church window and a big heart around it. In even bigger letters below the picture is the word “Easter”. At the bottom a poem-saying:
“It’s Easter…the highest of Holy days. As members of His family we gather together to reflect the miracle of Christ. The memory of our Lord’s rebirth live each year in the coming of spring when the season blossoms with hope and love’s promise…celebrating this joyous occasion. Rejoice! He is in us and we are in Him”.
The newspaper today is not that much different from the one published in 1979. It still has the local news, meetings, sports, and health. I work and volunteer at Wakefield’s Cable Access Television station (WCAT). Some of the events I cover along with the town’s newspaper journalists. The Journalists are not only friendly but also willing to talk to the people, after certain meetings, personally. I think that that is a benefit to the newspaper. I think Wakefield does the best they can to give the town the best news they can.
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