Monday, October 8, 2012

Paperboys




'Paper, paper, get your paper!'


     Paperboys, newsboys, normally thought of as a shabby dressed 10-16 year old youth standing by the corner of a street exclaiming at the top of their lungs that a fresh batch of papers were just off the press and ready to be sold at a penny each. A popular job during its era because it was the first paying job available to young teenagers, sightings of paperboys now are becoming rarer and rarer. While the typical paper boy is almost non-existent in Malaysia, labor laws have now prevented many youngsters from taking up the romanticized role of a young boy standing in the morning cold with his vapor breath following every word he speaks.


     In the modern distribution of newspapers today, paperboys have now evolved into mostly vehicle equipped young adults. In reality the image is much more different. One does not need to brave stray dogs, or the bitter cold with only a sweater and a scarf.

     While the paperboys of today has changed with times and are no more as we imagine them to be, the image of a boy braving the cold by the corner of a street or on a bicycle will always have a place in popular culture.

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