A word, please

Lately I am getting a bit bored with the internet.  Or rather, with my stale internet habits - always visiting the same websites, too much facebook, not reading enough insightful-type stuff.  I realize the internet is an infinite wealth of information; however, it can also be a giant conflagration of spam, robo-sites, uninvited pornography and other such things.  It's a little tiresome sometimes, when all you really want is to read something interesting.

So, lately, I've begun a slow return to print media.  For those of you under 25, print media includes newspapers, magazines and other physically printed items such as books.  Now, I never left books - that's probably going to the biggest love of my life, but magazines and newspapers are making a serious comeback in my household. 

Right now on the kitchen table we have the Dominion - a cooperative grassroots newspaper that tells the stories the corporate media won't, the Walrus, Canada's most award winning magazine (think New Yorker, but Canadian), and my personal favourite, Maisonneuve.  Check out these publications - they are great.
There's also an issue of Scientific American kicking around here somewhere, but I haven't gotten around to that one yet. 

Mostly, I like that these magazines are written - by a real, thinking person with some devotion to the crafts of interviewing, thinking and writing, and that they are edited - allowing for the removal of sloppy thinking and needless words.  You also get to read about things beyond "Osama Bin Laden is dead" or the latest Harper scare tactics (and subsequent Liberal bumbling).  This I also like.

Finally, I like getting into bed with my magazine, away from the glowing screen that seems to suck as much time as I will give it.  I like putting it down when I've had enough and being able to find my place quickly and easily the next day.  But most of all, I like that the magazine contains stories I didn't go looking for - such as painted portraits of every Canadian killed in Afghanistan, or an article about Canada's newest sketch comedy group, now famous on the internet. 

It's interesting stuff, it's made in my neighbourhood, relatively speaking, and it doesn't require pushing buttons or a screen.  Sign me up.