If the label on the copy of Newsweek that arrived Wednesday is correct, it will be the last. Generally, I wouldn’t mention magazine subscriptions expiring but this one is kind of a milestone. You see, my subscription to Newsweek is was in or near its 30th year. But no more.
Newsweek didn’t do anything in particular to piss me off. It’s just that the end of this subscription term coincided with a never ending presidential campaign and caught up with the conclusions about politics I expressed nearly three years ago. I can’t take any more covers or articles on politics, the morass in Iraq or the latest bit of Washington incompetence. I simply don’t need a weekly reminder that the good of the people and the country shall always be outweighed by politics and striving for political advantage.
Over the last year or so, I found myself spending less time reading Newsweek than The Hockey News. I skipped or, at best, merely skimmed a significant percentage of the articles and columns in Newsweek. It appears that will not change with the last issue given the content that appears to be in it. While it will be different not seeing a copy of Newsweek around the house, I don’t anticipate any withdrawal pains whatsoever. That in itself gives insight into why this 30-year relationship is ending.
When you’re lookin’ for truth on the cover of a magazine
How does it feel when you find out what you’re not gonna be?
“What a Scene,” Goo Goo Dolls, Gutterflower
I often wonder at the fate of magazines. Will they all disappear in favor of an online version?