Still Life with Robin: Still Life with WaPo

 by Peggy Robin

Let me start with a quick list of some well-known Washington Post reporters and staffers who have departed, just in the past few weeks. (This is by no means a comprehensive list)

• Sally Jenkins, sportswriter
• Jonathan Capehart, columnist
• Glenn Kessler, "The Fact Checker"
• Joe Yonen, food and dining writer
• Ann Marimow, Supreme Court beat
• Dan Steinberg, sports columnist
• Erik Wemple, media critic
• Dan Balz, political correspondent
• David Von Drehle, Deputy Opinion Editor
• Drew Goins, newsletter writer & opinion editor (and a pretty darn impressive Jeopardy champion, too):
• Phillip Bump, writer of "How to Read This Chart"
• Dave Jorgenson, "The TikTok Guy"

So depressing. I will miss them all.

People have been asking me, (usually in a tone of incredulity), “Why do you still get the Post? What’s good about it?”

I have an answer (actually THREE answers) to that question. I’ve kept my WaPo subscription, in spite of everything, because I really do need a print newspaper, for three important psychological reasons: 

1. I can’t help myself: I am addicted to the combination of coffee and newsprint, first thing in the morning. I know I'd have some  serious withdrawal pangs if I had to give it up. In fact, I'm so hooked, I need a double dose. So I start with the New York Times and move on to the Washington Post. At least the New York Times has kept its reputation more or less intact.
2. It’s part of who I am. I’m a boomer, with a pre-internet sense of time. I find reading news articles online confusing. You're never sure whether you are reading something that appeared in print a week ago or has yet to appear. Nothing is really real to me until it’s on physical paper using black & white smearable ink, Also, I find the Post's online algorithm keeps feeding me articles I've already read...and I hate that.
3. It’s not all bad. Despite its present state of near-collapse, I still derive enough benefit from the good stuff I find in its pages -- just enough to keep me going. There’s the newspaper archive, for one thing, and for another, it serves as a unified source of news; otherwise, it would mean turning to 6-12 different news sources per day. I figure it's better to have everything in one admittedly mediocre-to-poor place than have to go hopping from site to site in search of my fix of local news, national and international news, weather, sports, arts & entertainment, etc. (Yes, I’m that lazy…)

To expand upon Item #3, here are the top ten features of the Post I'm still able to enjoy. I have presented them in backwards order, Letterman-style:

 10.  Book World. It’s back! The Sunday section was axed back in 2009, and one of the very few improvements that Bezos’s crew have made to the paper was to bring it back. So what if the quality of reviews is seldom up to NYT Book Review standards? Though the cachet of snagging the front page of the Book World section will never come close to that of making the cover of the NYT Book Review section, it’s still something for writers to shoot for. When there are always too many new books for anyone to keep up with, we can use more book review sources to help us cope. 

Kathleen Wood, Peggy Robin & Rives Carroll
in The Washington Post, Apri 13, 1991

9.  Local Living. I’m not a DIY person but that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate columns about how to fix up things around the house and garden. Though I’m never going to live in one of those multi-million dollar mansions that get written up by talented real estate writers, a girl can dream, can’t she? And I definitely can appreciate the neighborhoods all over the DMV that are lovingly described in the weekly “Where We Live” eature. Cleveland Park has been written up multiple times – and I expect it will be done again. I want to be there  for that. (See me in the April 13,1991 Cleveland Park write-up by  Molly Sinclair: "Where We Live: Cleveland Park is rich in history, diversity)

8.  End of the year specials. It’s only once a year, but that” In/Out” list forces me to keep up with trends, while having a laugh at them at the same time. I’m also a sucker for the "Ten Best of the Year" list for movies, books, plays, museum shows, what-have-you. And so far,  Dave Barry’s satirical month-by-month recap of theyear is back each December to remind us that even the worst bit of news can be told in a way that brings a rueful smile – and often an outright belly laugh. (That alone should be enough to put it on Jeff Bezos’s chopping block….and we’ll find out in December, won’t we?) 

7.  Post photographers. Whether it’s for travel, sports, news, or portraits for Arts & Style, the Post photographers keep giving us extraordinary shots. Video, too, which often gets me to go from the print paper to the online version to see even more captured images of the events of the day. 

6.  Robin Givhan. She started out as the Post’s fashion critic in 1995, left the Post in 2010, and came back in 2014 with the imprimatur to write about culture, ethics, economics, art – and so many other non-trivial matters that can be dissected through the lens of the fashion choices people make. Most remarkable was her 2005 piece about the ceremony marking the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz – focused on Vice President Dick Cheney who attended in an olive green hooded parka, when virtually all the other world leaders were in  sombre black overcoats -- her main point being that  the clothing we choose is an expression of the seriousness we assign to an event. While her voice is still guiding us on how to better understand our times through our clothing, I want to keep getting the paper that brings me her thoughts. 

5. Dining Out critic Tom Sietsema. My favorite restaurant critic used to be Pete Wells of the New York Times. He stepped down from the role in 2024. No one was better at skewering bad food and mocking  pretentious menus than Pete. By way of contrast, Tom Sietsema's most distinguishing characteristic is his kindness. He's never mean in pursuit of a laugh. But he's no pushover, either. Fairness to all appears to be his goal. He looks out for the customer, but he will present the restaurant servers’ and chefs' perspectives, too. I paprticularly love his regular Wednesday Q&A chats with his readers. 

4. Comics (now in color). A few favorites: Pearls Before Swine; Rhymes with Orange; Non Sequitur; Speed Bump; and yes, we still have Doonesbury! Though the editorial pages may have been stripped cartoonists of their political bite, Gary Trudeau still keeps his characters' teeth sharp and on target. But for how much longer? I think I'll need to stick with the paper to show him my support. 

3. Advice columns. So many to choose from – and in these fraught times, we need them more than ever. There’s the old stand-by, Miss Manners (a multi-generational enterprise), to help us in any sticky social situation; there's Carolyn Hax for comprehensive, empathetic relationship advice; and I like the new guy on the block, Eric Thomas, for a refreshing male voice in a female-dominated field. I've also been imporessed with the Ask Sahaj column -- she's a practicing therapist who’s especially focused on relations between first and second generation Americans – and helps them navigate the often treacherous gap between their worlds. 

2. ScrabbleGram. The NY Times had Wordle, Spelling Bee, Letter Boxed, and without question, the finest crossword puzzles in the world -- but for my money the most fun daily game is the ScrabbleGram in the Washington Post. It's challenging and it can really help you build up your Scrabble skills. And unlike so many of the NYT games (I’m looking at you, Beeatrice Bee!), it’s quick! 

1. Capital Weather Gang. Consistently the greatest single feature in the paper, CWG makes this most commonplace of  subjects seem fresh and exciting every day. Photo galleries posted by both professional and community photographers make this section the go-to spot after any big weather event – and especially after a rainbow. If the Post ever dropped this feature, I'd say that would likely be the thing to make me finally abandon ship!

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The Still Life with Robin column is posted on the ClevelandPark Listserv and on All Life Is Local, usually on Saturdays, but occasionally (like today), it’s a day late