Lost in a Magazine

I’m not much of a magazine reader. It isn’t for lack of wanting to lose myself in random articles as much as it is the inability to concentrate. But every now and again when the circumstances are right (such as when I am stuck waiting in the lobby of the dentist’s office), I find that a good magazine article becomes the sole life preserver in an ocean of complete mind-numbing boredom.

 

When given the choice, I try to avoid political articles or modern news. I get enough of that and then some in my daily life. Instead, I enjoy the escapes of things such as garden articles, cooking and crafty stuff. But what I really enjoy more than anything are those specific-focus articles that open a window into a particular thing, item, time, place or object of history that I may never otherwise understand.

 

Let’s face it – there are far, far, far, FAR too many things in life to learn. We have so many faiths, cultures, foods, hobbies, studies, skills, crafts, philosophies, etc. There is no way to ever learn it all, and not enough time to even try. Yet, if we apply ourselves, we can avoid ever becoming bored, and can always better our understanding of the world. And we do it one little chip at a time. Magazines provide a wonderful opportunity. I love flipping through the pages and seeing what I might find. Oooh… an article about an early form of a box camera and the technological breakthrough that it had been at the time. Huh… the discovery of a workshop near Tut’s tomb that contained extra linen strips prepared for use on his mummy. Ooooh… the story of the real murder in Salem that inspired Poe’s story of the Tell-Tale Heart.

 

Sadly, I just can no longer be the voracious reader that I was back in High School and College. Something changed in my brain chemistry that just will not allow me to remain focused through an entire book. But a quick one or two page article on the history of a piece of jewelry, or the design philosophy behind a beautiful garden can transport me into the very room or yard or passage where the story unfolds.

 

Are you a magazine fan? If so, which ones and why?