Pass It On

August 30, 2010

As far as magazines go, “I have always relied on the kindness of strangers.” I love magazines. I study magazines. I read magazines in the bathtub. But, I don’t want to buy magazines.

I like free magazines, gently used, please. So, thank you to the person who left the edgy Women’s Health magazine in the break room (probably from some doctor’s office, but I’m not telling). And thanks again for those glossy issues of Cowboys and Indians with the turquoise-encrusted advertisements dropped off at the library.

My mom and I share a subscription to Rachael Ray’s magazine (she buys, I read), my sister saves me piles of old Martha Stewart Living, and I get stacks of Vanity Fair from my aunts. I’m a new issue snob, but I just quietly send the "oldies but goodies" on their way to the recycle bin or the thrift shop.

And, I never forget to leave a fresh magazine trail as I go along. I left a copy of Coastal Living in landlocked South Dakota. That’s my idea of a good cosmic joke. I left the new Glamour with hot husband Chris O’Donnell on the cover in Council Bluffs, Iowa, because those ladies need it. In fact, we all need a quick magazine fix especially in tough times when people are cutting their subscriptions every day. I read that flight attendants just go crazy when someone leaves a fresh copy of Glamour in the seat back holder (those in-flight magazines get pretty boring before the month is over). So, share the love. Gather your magazines, recycle, reuse and pass it on.

Kathleen N.
Smithville Branch