September 22, 2018 – Electronic subscription? Mistake or . . . .

         Obviously, something went kerflooey on my recent renewal of The Weekly Standard. It always comes due in September and I consider it a birthday present to myself that I pay for myself – my weekly intellectual gift to my mind.

         My last actual in-your-hand glossy paper magazine arrived September 3^rd and I’ve been waiting for my weekly dose of “conservatism” and have gone on wanting for weeks now.  HMMMMM – something is wrong.

         Not remembering it is actually Saturday, not a business day, I went to their web site to check out what issue was out and to snag the subscription phone number.  I was aghast – I’ve already missed three issues?

         Oh sure, I can catch up via electronic reading, but that just takes the sheer delight out of my weekly read arriving in the mail.  It is “excitement” when it comes in.  I clear off my desk, set the freshly arrived issue to the side on a bare surface.  Then, when my short To-Do list of usually no more than 3 or 4 items are done, I snag my magazine, grab a cocktail and curl up in my favorite easy chair with pen in hand.

         Yes, pen in hand.  I read it and shout at it in praise, agreement or disagreement with comments like, “on point” or “yes”  or “I don’t think so!”  I read the back page parody first then go immediately to the political cartoon in the first section, which, if you are unaware, is entitled “The Scrapbook”.  Is there anything better than a political cartoon?  Gosh, the imagination of Michael Ramirez never ceases to surprise and delight my funny bone.

         Next I read “The Scrapbook” which is so irreverent at times and amuses me.  It is the frosting before you get to the cake of the reading.  Often, I will read out portions to my just about “deaf” husband and we get a good chuckle out of it.

         If you want anything from me the rest of the day or into the evening, you are basically out of luck.  My nose is down and I might look up over the cover with my reading glasses if a crisis occurs. I might even take care of that crisis in short order, but I immediately return to The Weekly Standard.

        

         I find it amusing, enlightening, and it does expand my worldview.  I am never surprised when I say to myself – “article on _____” – I know nothing about this, let’s see what I can learn.  Some evenings turn out to be late into the night as I am reading not only the editorials and comments, but often lengthy in-depth articles, or features.  I am often surprised how many of the Books and Arts articles I read – some about archaic events or history. 

And, I made myself a rule early on when I subscribed to this magazine – if I start reading any article – I finish it and more often than not, I am delighted because I’ve acquired some knowledge out of my usual periphery.

         Pen in hand I marginalize – YUP, I write in the margin sassy comebacks or “Right on” or “What?”  I circle phrases or sentences – especially the zingers.  I am always wooed by the gorgeous writing – their wordsmith skills.  I think that is what I fell in love with it first – after the political cartoons.

         Then there is always some key topic addressed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which is most welcome in depth information.

         I started this subscription decades ago . . . when I realized I needed more than a 30 second sound bite from a news program.  At that time, the sound bites started to sound more like someone just reading a front-page headline with little substance.  The political climate was heating up – or maybe I just had more quality time to pay attention to it and I needed more meat and potatoes coverage to get a handle on what was ‘almost’ being discussed.

         How much do I enjoy it?  A few times a year I send off a KUDOS to the author of an article of “perfection”.  And, surprisingly, they all send back a little note.   YUP – the staff if professional and polite to a little nobody like me. 

Hopefully, my phone call Monday morning will solve the mystery of what happened to my paper issues.  I sure hope they haven’t gone completely electronic issues only like many other magazines have – or I shall weep.