Okay, maybe it is. Just a little.
Anyway, back in the dark days of no blogging (i.e., the past two months), I was extremely saddened to arrive home from a lovely weekend in Santa Barbara to find the following in my mailbox:
I knew this was coming, but actually having it delivered affected me more than I thought it would. I am a long-time subscriber to Bon Appétit, courtesy of a long ago Christmas gift from my sister that she generously continues to renew. I always felt Bon Appétit was more relevant for the home cook than other food magazines, with recipes that were fairly basic and thoroughly tested. However, some recent trends in the magazine’s coverage had me concerned that it was becoming less about food and more about style and celebrity. This confirmed it. Really, Bon Appétit, you never put people on your cover and you start with Gwyneth Paltrow?!?
And then I did it. I cancelled my subscription. With a grand, dramatic note that may have involved third-rate actresses* and lame women’s magazines.
And, either Bon Appétit really doesn’t care about their customers, or they were overwhelmed with people doing the exact same thing, because I received no response. Zero. To the point where I went back to the subscription site to make sure it had been done. It had. Although, apparently, they have chosen to deliver issues until my subscription runs out in January. So the magazine keeps showing up in my mailbox, effectively neutralizing my grand, dramatic gesture.
This is doubly frustrating because I really wanted to cut back on a few subscriptions and this was a good excuse to start. Especially since I really can’t think what else to cut out—aside from National Geographic, which I subscribed to accidently when I thought I was renewing my subscription to National Geographic Traveler (not that it’s not a good magazine too, it’s just less relevant for me). Even in the digital age, I really like getting all of these, even if, for my purposes, I would prefer Entertainment Weekly to be monthly.
Do you still buy magazines? If so, which ones do you feel are worth subscribing to? Do you read each issue right away, or only when they pile up? (Except for Entertainment Weekly, I have a tendency to read mine only when the next one arrives and I need to make room for it on the coffee table. And then I clip and file recipes and articles for future reference.)
Speaking of making room and overflowing mailboxes, please sign the email charter now and be part of the solution. Only you can prevent the virtual forest fires that I want to set when I see a clogged inbox.
*Even though she totally deserves her Emmy nomination for her role as Holly Holliday on Glee.
3 comments:
We currently, as a household, get The New Yorker for the adults and Ladybug and Spider for the children. I got Vogue for maybe 15 years but gave up my subscription a decade ago; I subscribed to Bazaar during the Liz Tilberis years. I got Gourmet for about 5 years in the middle 2000s but gave it up because I never actually cooked anything from it, and it made me feel guilty. mr. flea got Scientific American as a gift for a few years, but unfortunately I found a large percentage of the articles to be over my level.
I find I read most journalism/short form stuff online these days, but I do keep up with the New Yorker (though I almost never read the fiction and poetry).
The New Yorker's good. Although that's another one that would be way more appealing to me as a monthly. I know that back when I subscribed I could never keep up.
We don't get any magazines, except for the above maligned BA which I am beginning to find boring. Cookbooks are much better. For a while I had a free subscription to Wired, which I never read, and I have given American Girl to my niece.
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