You Can't Curl Up with a Cup of Coffee and a Mac

I love the web for all it's obvious great qualities, but I am starting to worry that magazines and newspapers will become obsolete sooner that I ever thought. One of my favorite hometown newspapers The Seattle Post-Intelligencer and one of my favorite magazines Domino both folded earlier this year. There's a website now called Magazine DeathPool that documents all the magazines going under. And most horrifying: when New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. was asked at a conference in October of last year whether the New York Times would still be a print product in ten years he answered "The heart of the answer must be (that) we can't care." Sounds pretty vague to me. Am I going to have to read the Style section online in ten years at www.graylady.com? No thanks.

I love everything about magazines and newspapers, especially the artisanship that goes into the creation of them. I think printed matter forces a standard of journalism that's sometimes lacking online. I like the ritual of sitting down with a cup of coffee and a magazine. I love the way the pages smell and feel in my hands. I love big pretty pictures. And pretty pictures printed on heavy paper -- even better.

Apart from all that, though, magazines and newspapers are a very big part of my decorating strategy in my house, and I'm very worried about what I'll do if they are no longer at my disposal whenever I need them:

Magazines are great space fillers in book cases and once you put them away, they need very little maintenance. Perfect for a working mom with very little time.


A stack of magazines on the coffee table looks great and doesn't break when knocked over by the family dog when he executes a sliding stop at the end of the hall and crashes into the coffee table. Just an example of what goes on in my family room.


All the books collected over the years by adults and children alike can also be great space fillers, and that one book with the weird cover can blend right in when covered in newspaper.


Magazines and newspapers have been my signature gift wrap for as long as I've had kids.

If I have to start shopping for and stocking wrapping paper, something else is going to have to come off my to do list.

And last, but certainly not least, having print all over the house reminds my kids to read. Everywhere they look there's a magazine, a newspaper or a book that they can pick up anytime. The quiet moments when Andie, Jack and I to curl up with our magazines (Domino for me, Seventeen for Andie, Sports Illustrated for Jack) and read with the TV off may be rare, but they're memorable. I don't quite see that happening with the Kindle or selections from the Internet Public Library.

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