This is a public confession that I enjoy reading Gala (equivalent of OK! or other celebrity magazines). I "came out" privately and to myself only a few years ago. I actually abstained from reading any such magazines until then. Why?
Until a few years ago, I had a strong (and perhaps silly) belief that so-called women's magazines numb down one's intellect and interest. For the simple reason that it's a bit of a zero-sum-game: you either spend your time leafing through such a magazine, or reading something else. My (simple) plan was to read magazines such as the Economist instead.
I am a huge fan of the Economist. But I confess that for a few years, after my first child was born and I was juggling children and studies / work, I did not have the energy to read anything very serious during my free time. I read novels and, horror of horrors, I started reading - or flipping through - women's magazines (I haven't quite gone far enough to actually buy any, though).
Maybe I have just overcome my extreme teen views, become more tolerant - or more lazy? Or, here's the naval grazing part, just accepted that it's ok that I am not keeping up to pace with the "serious" developments in the world - at all times.
I will discuss the issue of "interests" quite a few times in upcoming posts. This is just to ensure that I start with my feet on the ground, before getting too out-there-serious-worldly.
I would have to admit that though I don't read the interior of these magazines, I always browse the headlines when in line at the grocery stores here in the U.S. and I do usually check out a list of headlines on this kind of celebrity gossip on my daily trawl through various online news websites. My "serious" magazine subscription is to the New Yorker, which overwhelms me on a weekly basis and I haven't read one cover to cover in too long. At airports I try to buy The Economist or The Atlantic Monthly. I think I do that because the articles in them genuinely interest me and stimulate my mind, but I fear that they are my cursory way of engaging with the world and then moving on with the rest of my more mundane, self-centered life. Naja, a little bit is better than nothing, I suppose. Perhaps on both ends of the spectrum!
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