Celebrating the Printing Press During the Holidays
Like sailing, the holidays are a good time to take a deep breath and slow down. It’s a time when we’re reminded of the difference between the digital and the tangible, as we value the tradespeople who work the printing press creating beautiful greeting cards, wrapping paper, great sailing books, and Latitude 38.
By slowing down, you can send out holiday cards, open holiday cards from friends, or sign up a friend for a holiday gift subscription to Latitude 38. Your lucky friend will then receive a gift from you every month for a year.
It’s one of the best things about getting the mail at the office this time of year. Many people who received gift subscriptions in years past send in renewals, while other folks send nice Christmas cards. It warmed our hearts to receive cards from Club Nautique, Owl Harbor Marina, Doris Kalin of Comp Graphic, and Margaret and Fred Fago.
You can find almost any information you want with your browser, but you can’t capture the feeling of relaxing and reading a book like the coffee table book Windward Passage. The collection of stories from crew and owners, and of how the legend was created, would be hard to capture any other way.
It would be an odd Christmas if there were no books wrapped in colorful wrapping paper with a printed card and ribbons under the tree, but that’s what a digital future portends. For our family, a magazine in our morning stockings was a family, holiday tradition.
Fast is fun, but it’s also nice to take a lazy reach across the Bay — or any bay. Monterey Bay, Banderas Bay and San Diego Bay are all good places to unwind and get some fresh air during the holiday season. We won’t say it compares exactly, but putting your feet up and relaxing with a good book or a copy of Latitude 38 is another way to enjoy a “lazy reach” at home. When you open Latitude 38 you’ll find stories from your friends inside and be transported back into your world of sailing. Or you might find your own story that you sent in.
If you want your kids to grow up loving reading, you can show them how it’s done by putting down the devices, picking up a copy of Latitude 38, and inspiring them to read about adventures on the high seas. It also helps when you put a magazine into a stocking, or a nicely wrapped book under the Christmas tree. It’s those books and magazines, created by the tradespeople who work their craft on the printing press, that have inspired generations of sailors.
If you’re looking for sailing book ideas for the holidays, you can find dozens of the books recommended by our Good JIbes podcast guests in the Latitude 38 online bookstore, where proceeds help Latitude 38 and independent booksellers.