Your Destiny Lies Beneath the Covers

Many moons ago, I was a Cosmopolitan girl.  I walked the walk and I talked the talk.  I was inspired, enticed and allured by each and every article that appeared.  Fashion trends, tips on hot hunks (is that word even used anymore?), monthly astrology forecasts, passion polls and helpful beauty tips, it was though each expose was written specifically for my friends and me.  We took what was written as gospel and tried to live our lives according to the word as dictated by “the book”.

Thank goodness I lived through that stage and am able to look back on (but never admit to anything) it with fondness and without regrets.  But it seems, somewhere between then and now I have passed through a time warp and have landed squarely in the land of Martha Stewart Living, Bon Appétit and Good Housekeeping.

Granted the journey to get here was through Business Week, Time, Newsweek, Bride and Parenting magazines, but how I got here so quickly is beyond me. I went through a long, mind-altering stretch with Travel and Leisure, House Beautiful, Sports Illustrated and National Geographic Adventurer.  And in my sophisticated and urbane days, Architectural Digest, Esquire and the New Yorker were my constant companions.  I will even admit to liking (the old) TV Guide, Rosie and McCall’s (I AM showing my age) before that.  As my Sunset years come to an end, AARP Magazine, Cooking Light and Prevention are waiting in the wings and ready to pounce into my mailbox, I feel it in my bones.

I am sad to say the company of pulp I keep can define the stages of my life.  I have been fickle and not true to any one cohort, except for perhaps People, which if it says it is true it must be and I will only be seen reading it in the privacy of my home (or at pool, beach, hair salon, newsstand or on an airplane headed for an exotic location – a girl needs good, unbiased fodder for her gossip fix once in a while).

In my defense, and even though I am a bona fide Internet junkie who religiously logs on to her magazines’ associated websites, there is nothing quite like holding a periodical in your hands.  The slick glossy paper with the lustrous photographs and fancy advertisements mesmerizes me into a trance and oh, the content can be pretty entertaining, too.  Although publications have slimmed down over the years, inflated to an unbelievable price, and (thanks to the web) the information they publish is old news before it hits the stands, I am still desirous of what they hold between their covers.

Although my taste seems to be heading towards more long-term relationships with novels, I will always be true to my subscriptions (and my one night stands), they got me to where I am today, of which I am sure Psychology Today would have a hay-day and a theory for my longings.  Once a supporter, always a supporter, I encourage you all to be proud magazine readers… Stand up and be counted!  Flip through a few pages when the urge overcomes you, you will not only feel better but also be better informed for it.

Cynthia A. McClelland, curious observer of the obvious with interpretations of the oddities of daily life.  Mother, wife and lover of the furry, resides in the north Lake Tahoe area.

Cynthia A. McClelland © 2003-