Damage control . . .

I'm reading a magazine right now. (It's a Royal Conservatory of Music concert brochure.)

That's good, Molly.

Is this a big girl book?

Yes. But I'm not a big fan of telling you what you can or can't read.  If you like it, that's good.

Grandma says little girls should read books for little girls.

Yes, well, as I told you yesterday, Grandma knows some things but I know more.

Indigestion

Fine. Sometimes, change is good.

Despite my earlier concerns, I find myself enjoying the new MacLean's. It truly isn't the same periodical and the maple leaf-instead-of-an-apostrophe on the front cover did signal more than a cosmetic change.

It's not stuffy and it's not tabloid. Politics and popular culture nest alongside each other if not in harmony then, at least, in a resigned state of mutual recognition.

Some might even say that the magazine has an earthy tone. In the most recent issue (Jan. 9-16), one article ("Murder by numbers") focuses on gun violence in Toronto and gun provenance in Canada, while another ("Jesus is our homey") addresses a "hip, bold take on Christianity" found in Geez magazine. In business? "Revenge of the geeks" discusses a comeback of the dot-com-ers in Ottawa. It's not news from concentrate. It's digging deeper and it's also opinion.

The new MacLean's makes me think of New York Magazine, or, at least, what I imagine New York Magazine might have been like in its earlier days of the late 1960s.

Is the new MacLean's hip? I don't know. I'm not hip.

Where Is My Mind?

This area of my life has been disorganized. While I've got a handle on homemaking, childrearing and working, sort of, I haven't been able to settle into a good book.

I attempted to read Trace by Patricia Cornwell because I knew that a copy of Predator (her most recent) was on its way to me. Unfortunately, as with Blowfly, I was completely disinterested by the time the narration shifted, this time, to the perspective of the psychopathic criminal.

I've drifted among middle reader and young adult and picture books. (My library books are now overdue). I've neglected to record any that I have read.

There have been several articles (sources: New Yorker, New York, The Walrus) that I have not, despite my earlier vow, recorded herein.

Anyway, I think that once the Christmas holiday is over, once the New Year begins, I will be able to find my book. A book. Any book.

Notes On An Article

I have to admit that I'm addicted to magazines, especially to The Walrus and to The New Yorker. In fact, the purpose of this blog has always been to catalogue my reading for future reference, etc. but, if you'll look at my list, the nonfiction component got away from me because that is how much I read. At any rate, in an attempt to put greater effort into recording my nonfiction reading, I want to note my reaction to an article by John Lahr.

The November 14, 2005 issue of The New Yorker is worth buying just for one particular article: "The Thin Man: How Steve Buscemi Became An Indie Icon." It traces the artist from his humble beginnings to his cult-status acting. It also discusses his quiet directorial prowess.

John Lahr's gift seems to be that he can place you so intimately before his subject that, at the end, you feel as if you have been welcomed into a warm and comfortable friendship. Reaching the end of the article feels like saying goodbye to the friends with the knowledge that you probably won't see them again.

(to be continued...)

Digesting Grief

They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself. - Andy Warhol

According to the Globe and Mail today, Maclean's magazine is undergoing a transformation:

...as of Nov. 14, the magazine will no longer carry that descriptor which has been on its cover by the nameplate since September, 1978, when Maclean's broke with the bi-monthly publishing schedule it had adopted in 1975.

Instead, the "new" Maclean's -- the premiere issue will be dated Nov. 21 -- will be called simply Maclean's, albeit with a stylized, swooping red maple leaf taking the place of the comma. (A preview of the maple leaf was included on the cover of the magazine's Oct. 10, 2005 "Centennial" issue. It's a return of sorts for the emblem which was a cover staple through the 1970s into the early eighties.)

This cosmetic change heralds a deep commitment by Kenneth Whyte (former National Post editor-in-chief) to create a different periodical:

[It]...will have a much more current-affairs thrust, with a determination to break stories and, instead of duplicating what has been heard on radio and TV or published in newspapers, to advance such stories with its own reportage and spin. a much more current-affairs thrust, with a determination to break stories and, instead of duplicating what has been heard on radio and TV or published in newspapers, to advance such stories with its own reportage and spin.

Frankly, I will miss Maclean's. It enabled me to catch up with the news of the week and it was also good bus reading material.