Convergence Brilliance

While mourning the passing of my two favorite sections of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, I come across this slice of absolute convergence journalism brilliance by Jay Grelen. His column, Sweet Tea, is a regular in the Little Rock edition. Usually, I won't see it as I have been (key word -- been) a NWA subscriber.

Grelen writes about the repair of his old Boy Scout Timex in the Sunday, March 8, edition. His column was a very nice mix of memory lane and modern day. The closer is the key. He gives us a great story that makes us want more, then provides it through a well-balanced mix of on-line extras -- a video of the Timex worker on the paper's website. TinyURLs to old vintage Timex watches. Then the digits to the Timex outlet. I was moved to use all three.

That's the essense of quality content, and how it can overcome the limits of both the paper and the economy.