magazines
At one point I subscribed to zero magazines. I went on an anti-junk mail crusade at home, and once my inbox got cleared out (the postal mailbox, the one that contains dead trees, the one we should worry about more than spam by the way) I was loathe to start up again.
Then the housemates came, bringing the wonders of a built-in social life, shared utilities, and magazines left lying around. Of course I read them - small compensation for ruining my postal address's clean reputation with the direct marketing association. If you can't reduce, then reuse.
Then the housemates left. The agony of missing Vanity Fair, but too much pride to subscribe! The moral quandry of having read the New Yorker, but not really enjoying it, every breakfast for a year! It all came down to: who was I, really, and was I willing to be cross-marketed based on my declaration of who I am, namely, my magazine subscriptions. Once I figured I could handle the junk mail again if I had to, I opened up my first subscriptions.
Year 1:
Vanity Fair
Wired
Oprah Magazine
Yeah, well it wasn't much of a statement. I was putting in so many techie hours at work, I needed a bit of a break. There's nothing like glossy pictures of one dish or another to make the day bearable (and I mean dish in the broadest possible way, whatshername on Titanic "wasn't I a dish?")
One aside - the only reason why I wasn't subscribed to the New Yorker was they sent one of those cards back to me in the mail. You know, those cards that you write your address on, check "bill me later," and then you're signed up? Well, the post office thought I was mailing myself. I figured it was fate.
Year 2:
Vanity Fair
Visual Studio Magazine
Wired
Sports Illustrated Women
Yes, Oprah finally wore me out. Plus, I was in a different spot career wise and needed to bone up on some skills - and not makeup skills! So out went Oprah and in came VS Magazine. My first issue I underlined practically every word, needing to look it up in order to understand the article. Now when I read it I don't need to underline hardly anything. Progress!
Sports Illustrated Women was a wonderful if butchy mag, until it folded and they converted me to Shape. This was a terrible magazine, full of "why I aborted 8 out of 12 fetuses during fertitlity treatments, and I still feel guilty" and "eat tuna: get stupid" type of horrors. If I had a shredder, I would have used it. However still too lazy to call anyone to cancel - I just let the subscription run out.
Year 3:
Vanity Fair
Visual Studio Magazine
Wired
Food and Wine
Now my least favorite in the pack is Wired. Seriously! How much more do we need about robots and military toys. I love (absolutely love) maybe one article every 3 issues, but the rest is too much. I'm still torn on cancelling, though.
Food and Wine is this year's experiment to see if there's something that gives me visual comfort food without the embarassment of the Oprah self help stuff. It's like self help without the packaging. Although I still buy the occasional Oprah off the rack - great interview by Bono this month. Maybe I'll review later.
What magazines do you read? Do you consider it an identity statement?