I've subscribed to Newsweek for 16 years. But I've read it faithfully every week for 19. I began reading Newsweek during high school study hall. My choices were limited when it came to news magazines. Our school library carried only Time and Newsweek. It was the 1992/93 school year and their pages were filled with news relating to the presidential election. My preference for Newsweek was probably because I preferred the political funny page Perspectives in that magazine over whatever Time offered. That's right, I've always liked my politics and world news coverage to be devastatingly opinionated, mildly humorous, ironic and quick.
My main goal in keeping up with the events of the day was so I could win. I like a good competition. And every Friday Mr. Spangler, my high school American History teacher, offered that to me. It was a game centered around the news of the week. The class was divided into teams and Mr. Spangler would ask a world event related question and the first team to answer correctly got a point. There was no prize. No frilly accolades or celebration. Just competition for the sake of competition. And, more likely, so we could learn stuff. I loved this game. That's where Newsweek came in. A quick study could arm me with enough "what's goin' on in the world" knowledge to make the competition honest.
I continued reading it in college, taking a break from library studies to grab the plastic encased copy from the magazine shelf and spend an hour making myself familiar with the current events of the day. Eventually I tore one of the postcards out of the middle and subscribed. And even though my magazine was always addressed to May Lewellen, even after I called to correct them, I still read it faithfully. I looked forward to its weekly arrival and was mildly disappointed when an issue would be a special double issue, thus eliminating a whole week of news. Perspectives was always the first page I read, followed by the letters to the editor and then My Turn. I never wrote a letter to the editor, but enjoyed finding validation of my own thoughts or discovering a counterpoint opinion concerning previous articles by reading others comments.
Somewhere in the intervening years however, I've lost interest. My past subscription renewal notices were always promptly returned with the next several years paid for. Now, weeks go by and my pile of unread Newsweek's wait patiently until I have a spare three hours to devote to their perusal. And while I still enjoy opening a fresh copy of my magazine, it's way too easy to just turn on my phone and pick my favorite news aggregator app and open a world of diverse opinion and around the world news coverage, for free.
It seems my last issue is in the mail. I guess this is goodbye. Well, until I go to the dentist.
