I’m so glad that my local library in Plymouth, Michigan has a free print newspaper that I can support and have mailed to my house. It has lots of local news, along with other fun bits like teenagers reviewing media they enjoy. Living in a suburb means that there really isn’t a local news source, other than the Detroit Free Press I guess, because all the other sources of local news like websites run by one or two folks and Facebook groups generally seem to be right wing and have a strong nimby influence as well. I’m not happy about the digital part being on Substack for many reasons but maybe I can nudge them away from that and towards something like Ghost. At least they offer a print subscription (here you go if you want very local news) where none of the revenue goes to Substack.
Even though it’s a Democrat run city, Plymouth has a big nimby problem and even a recent article in the library’s paper about a transit millage was seen by some folks in the local Democrat Facebook group as being too friendly to public transit because they don’t want to pay taxes on it and got mad. These same folks got mad about the possibility of more housing being built too. If you live in the metro Detroit area, please vote for better transit. I have been in Chicago recently and a better world is possible.
It’s probably for the best that my actual local library isn’t on social media I use because can you imagine how annoying I would be to them? I already ping other local libraries on bluesky too much to talk about how much I like them.
Anyway, newspapers can be neat and so are libraries. It’s such a relief having even one local newspaper that isn’t weird about the idea of people supporting LGBTQ folks. I wish libraries didn’t have to be such a load bearing pillar in having a bearable society but here we are.
The other print newsletter I subscribe to is The Floral Observer. While it is printed in Detroit, it’s not as hyper local and I think would appeal more to folks outside of the metro Detroit area. It’s just a nice newsletter about nature and plants and features writing and comics I enjoy. They’re also always taking free submissions for classified ads and have event had one printed for the game collective I run. Consider giving them a look and seeing who in your area is doing a newspaper or writing you can support.