Thursday, March 12, 2020

Reading: Magazines



One day not long ago, I noticed these magazines all over the floor beside my bed, and I thought, “I should clean those up.”  Then I remembered I was writing about my daily reading, and I thought, “I should write about reading magazines.”  So I did that instead.

In my pile of magazines there is a December 2015 edition of National Geographic, three more recent editions of Alive magazines which I collect monthly from natural health food stores (the Corn Crib in Saint John or Aura in Fredericton), two recent editions of Eating Well, the latest Vogue Knitting magazine, the latest ECO Parent magazine, two editions of Saltscapes from last fall, and the winter 2019-2020 edition of Edit.  Missing from this list - I suppose because they are in my car or further under the bed - are Mother Earth, Sage and Knit Simple.

Actually, this is starting to sound less like daily reading, and more like an obsession.  What is it about magazines?

I’ve always enjoyed magazine reading.  I grew up on Highlights magazine and Young Miss.  I remember how exciting it was to receive a magazine in the mail.  Wanting to pass on that excitement, I made sure all my children got their own Chirp, Owl or Highlights magazine in the mail.

My reading habits changed when I had children.  Life before kids meant two or three novels a week.  Life after meant re-reading Dr. Suess and Spot the dog.  What bridged these two worlds was reading magazines.  I could finish an adult article, or at least an interesting article, in a short period of time, and feel semi-productive intellectually.  I remember reading a lot of Mothering magazines, editions of Today’s Parent and, later, the magazine Rethinking Schools.

When I was a young adult, I loved spending time with my grandmother.  I remember her telling me a story about how she and my grandfather read magazines.  They used to purchase all the magazines available to them each month, read the whole lot, and then “talk” (discuss, debate, argue, rant) about the articles.  I remember thinking how wonderful it was that my grandfather, a real man’s man, would read the ladies’ magazines.

But why wouldn't he?  Magazines are so enjoyable!  I love when they have a local flavour.  I was delighted to read about Saint John’s own Santa (Vern Garnett) in the December 2019 Saltscapes.  What a lovely article – yay Vern!  As well, this winter’s edition of Edit features Jenn Carson, physical literacy guru and library director of the L.P. Fisher Public Library in Woodstock.  Yay New Brunswick!

I also love those magazines that come cleverly disguised as journals.  They’re the same size and shape, give you good up-to-date information and allow for quick, profitable reading.  They also have a lot fewer advertisements, and sometimes you can get away with reading them at work.  (For my workplace, I get Childcare Exchange in the mail.)

Finally, I love magazines as a kind of collective memory.  Libraries bind and preserve magazines for good reason - for the same reason I am not sure I can part with my Mothering collection, or my Mother Earth mags.  I still have all my Hallowe'en magazines, including many of Martha Stewart's, and, I'm sure, every Christmas magazine I have ever purchased.  I don’t even want to try to list or count my knitting magazines!  Is this obsessive?  No, it's not.  Not really.  It's a sensible and effective way to ensure I can share an article, refresh my own memory, or reach back for a needed recipe or pattern.

Anyway, I love reading magazines.

Photo by Britta Jackson from Pexels
Cheryl Brown (@CherylAnneBrown) is co-creator of the Storytent and Bookwagon programs, QLNB's Community Literacy Coordinator, and long-time advocate for and facilitator of a variety of family literacy initiatives.  In these posts, she has been documenting and sharing snap-shots of some of her daily reading.