Ridin' the Rapids

“Volume 47” appears on the top of the front page of this edition. Right beside it is “Issue 1.”

Those numbers mark the start of the forty-seventh year that River Reflections will be reporting on life along the McKenzie River. In the weeks and months to come, some of the stories are likely to continue to inform on things people may not have thought about, others could be sad, and some at times silly.

That last item got me thinking about what might have been lightening the mood of other publications. Here are a few samples.

In the early days of digital conversions, a newspaper worked on a story about an upcoming astronomy event. However, the autocorrect feature on their computer system changed “celestial” to “celery” throughout the article. The paper printed the piece, which mistakenly informed readers about the best time to view “celery objects” in the night sky and the “celery bodies” visible during the event. The editor apologized and assured readers that the only “celery” they needed to worry about was in their salads, not in the sky.

During an election year, another local newspaper meant to endorse a candidate. However, due to a last-minute change and a rushed print job, they mistakenly endorsed both candidates for the same office, with two editorials appearing side by side - each praising a different candidate. Readers were confused and amused, and some joked that the paper was trying to “please everyone.” The paper issued a correction, but by then, the dual endorsement had become a humorous anecdote shared around town.

Hereabouts, regular readers usually know when it’s getting close to a Spring holiday. Because Reflections is a weekly, the annual April Fool’s edition is often delivered a few days in advance of that date. Some, though, still phone to complain about an article that was “continued on a page that doesn’t exist.”

For future issues of Volume 47, I promise Silly will still appear here.