Why I read the NY Times

I have a hard time reconciling my Appalachian upbring and reading the NY Times, it seems like a yuppie exercise. But some pretty interesting folk have come from my area: Mary Lee Settle, Leon Sullivan, Breece D'J Pancake, and some others. So I read the paper anyway. The main impetus for reading it came from Randall Robinson. You may remember his hunger strike in the Clinton years; almost killing himself. He came to Marshall University while I was a junior and spoke. Afterwards I moseyed up to thank him and asked some kind of question about world news and current events. He stopped and implored me to keep informed and read the NY Times. Then in seminary, the director of Field Ed, told us the story about a preaching class Gardner Taylor taught. Rev. Taylor told the students to do two things: one, read the NY Times for sentence structure; two, watch me. Last Spring Rev. Taylor spoke at the Spring Convocation of CRCDS. He was amazing. So now all gentrified I read the NY Times. Plus I love the crossword puzzle.