Over the past week I've been looking at old editions of Fine WoodWorking magazine from Taunton Press, (which I'm putting up for sale on this link) and am struck by the "progress" over the 31 years it's been published.
The magazine was started "on a lark" by a group of people interested in writing about - and showing - what the title implies: Fine craftsmanship in wood.
Over the years the primary focus has stayed of course in woodworking, but many of the articles you see in current issues are just like any other magazine for DIY'ers. Now, while there's not necessarily anything wrong with the concept of a curio cabinet decorated with ducks in Tole-painted style, it's a bit far from the early days of the magazine.
The articles became less and less about those craftsmen and women who were truly fine at their work, and more and more about the products that are sold by the advertisers... product placement reared its head and features were written on the merits of this, that, or the other product or tool one could use in their work.
While this is not a big deal to many, I find it a little disheartening that almost every magazine out there these days has glossy articles that do little more than push shopping, consuming, and more shopping for the latest greatest product you can buy.
For a slightly tangential example, I recently began receiving (not at my request or as a gift, apparently I clicked some link on a website that generated the "subscription" without knowing!) the magazine called Real Simple.
Well.
When I received the magazine, I leafed through the pages to find the features on how to make my life "real simple" as the title implies. Did I find these articles? Not really. This magazine is apparently addressed to my demographic, which is women. It also is not really a magazine on simplifying ones' life. It IS, however, a fashion mag like just about any other. Full of short articles about the latest, greatest product meant to "simplify" my life.
Now, if I wanted to simplify my life I really don't think I'd be going out and shopping for more stuff. I definitely have enough STUFF as it is. Frankly, I have MORE stuff than I will ever need or use. Why would I need another doodad, appliance, chemical cleaner, cosmetic, "organization aid"... when all that would do is add complexity and more clutter to an already cluttered life?
Perhaps I'm missing the point, but I don't believe that I am. One article in the latest (and I'm not paying for the subscription, though they keep sending me invoices and issues... persistent in their unsolicited attempt to bring me into the "Real Simple" fold) issue is about procrastination, or how to solve it "for good."
Well. Not really.
The article goes through a little list of how the author herself procrastinates, has cute little graphics, and then takes you chronologically through a day where she and a "tough" buddy go on what she calls an "Unprocrastination Day" ... I was with the program until I realized that most of what the two women did on that day was ... stop me here if you are surprised ... SHOP.
I admit that I'm being a bit unfair to the author here, as there were some very good tips on how to curb procrastination. BUT... while many of the stops in her day were for tasks like altering of clothes and repurposing of some lamps with new lampshades, the writer manage to mention trips to four major retail outlets (she named them) in her day, where she bought "stuff she needed" to complete some tasks (decorating, mostly) ... and one of the stops was to deplete gift cards she'd received that were about to expire or deplete by attrition... you can NOT tell me that those retail store names weren't requested - or required - to be included in the story.
So... when product placement creeps in around the edges so blatantly in otherwise handy little articles, I lament the thing we call "Progress." We don't need more stuff. Most of us don't know what to do with the stuff we have, and have plenty that we could recycle, refurbish, repair, and re-use.
Not being all self-righteous or anything, I would prefer articles about how to recycle, refurbish, re-use, repurpose, or repair in a magazine that touts simplicity and calls itself "real simple." But perhaps that's too much to expect in a time when the idea of "real" is reality tv, and the idea of "simple" is the next great gadget you can buy to "simplify" your life.
Like I wrote earlier... my life isn't exactly simple, but I feel a bit justified in writing this after having spent the fall and winter building up a compost pile from reclaimed materials and lawn waste... after a spring and summer 2010 of nurturing a veggie garden - a good portion of which was from seed I sprouted - that yielded enough for a pantry full of tomatoes, pickles, and salsas I canned myself and in canning jars I bought off Craigslist for a quarter or less of their new retail value... and spent part of the past weekend repairing at a fraction of the cost of replacement a coffee grinder. Among other things that I try to do to keep my life TRULY a bit simpler, including the eBay sales of stuff that could be useful to others, at a fraction of the price of new.
I will say that I don't expect others to live like I do, but honestly feel that if people really thought about the trends in information you find in magazines like Fine WoodWorking and Real Simple, they might recognize that on some level the entire publication is working in a way contrary to both the philosophy behind the title, and in a way that chips away at the time and money we really ought to be putting away for the future, rather than in buying that latest tool, gadget, cosmetic, or whatever.
And that's how I see it.
Have a great April!
- Rosie
