Fierce in Seattle: Cosmo in the Morning
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A blogumn by Kelli Bielema
While our fearless Fierce and Nerdy leader Ernessa encourages a new daily habit of reading 20 minutes a day. I’m going to assume she’s talking about reading books–those things with pages that have harder pages covering them. I do admit that I enjoy reading, but a certain kind of book—the instructional kind. This is peculiar considering I don’t like people telling me what to do. I also am, like most thirtysomething girls with a gaggle of gays in her life, a big David Sedaris fan. And cookbooks–most of which will never see the grease flying towards an open page. Otherwise, you can catch me reading a magazine.
Oh, how I love my sweet periodicals. I am not one to turn down a good subscription rate, so I have a stacks of issues of Vogue, Domino, Real Simple, Entertainment Weekly, Food & Wine, Seattle Metropolitan, and…I am stopping there to protect myself from further embarrassment of the increasingly massive list. I always take two mags with me every day on my bus trip to work (hey, it’s actually cool to ride the bus in Seattle, so suck it!). One for the ride to work, the other for the return.
Thrilled to be learning about the powers of seitan as I thumb through my comfort food issue of Vegetarian Times, I suddenly become overwhelmed with shame. Surrounding me are my fellow commuters engulfed in The Fountainhead, Harry Potter or the latest Cormac McCarthy or recent Oprah pick. Even those who choose to slum with a magazine are poring over The Economist or the Utne Reader. So, in the most literate city in the country (okay, 2nd since Minneapolis stole the title for 2007, don’t think there won’t be a throw down), does reading equal intellect? And what do the choices of the reader reflect? I can tell you what I have learned with my monthly page-turners after the jump…
• How to cook vegan mac & cheese (without expecting it to taste like actual the mac & cheese)
• 101 uses for vodka (not counting the 100 recipes in Modern Drunkard)
• How to lose a guy in 30 days (or was that was a crappy Kate Hudson movie? Wait…they are all crappy)
• The Best Places to work in Seattle (I apparently don’t work at one)
• The best jeans for my ever-evolving shape (and this advice is from Real Simple not an unrealistic Cosmo-style rag)
With this information in my noodle, I might not be able to have a conversation with you on the influence of Hemingway on American literature, but you can bet your sweet bippy I can tell you hundreds of uses for baking soda, where to find the tastiest poutine in the Emerald City, and which products give you the most texture and volume for that carefree hairdo. (Surf Spray, baby, Surf Spray.)
I love Real Simple. And I read it unapologetically in public all the time.
I love Real Simple. And I read it unapologetically in public all the time.
I confess to Entertainment Weekly (10 year subscriber no less) but also Ode Magazine–can’t get by without it! Finally, a magazine full of all good news. Girl, you don’t need to know anything about Hemingway except he drank too much. And we’re all smarter after a couple of drinks. :) :)
I confess to Entertainment Weekly (10 year subscriber no less) but also Ode Magazine–can’t get by without it! Finally, a magazine full of all good news. Girl, you don’t need to know anything about Hemingway except he drank too much. And we’re all smarter after a couple of drinks. :) :)
I used to love magazines, but then I HAD to start reading a lot of them for my job, so now I consider them work. When I want low-commitment that won’t feel like work I read (not kidding) Money and Black Enterprise for fun and sometimes fitness mags. I often feel guilty, b/c I have a ton of mags piling up around the house, but I’m on page 127 of The Carpet Makers right now.
Also, I wish L.A. public transportation system was even a little convenient. So jealous that you can just hop on a bus and read on the way to work. Lucky, lucky, lucky!
When I was growing up, my best friend Garry & I were really really into Dungeons & Dragons. Part of the whole experience was the reams & reams of written materials that went along with it: rule books, technical manuals (all those spells!), magazines, adventures, etc.
And while my mom would freak out, convinced we were involved in some kind of devil worship, my friend garry’s mom looked a little deeper: “The good part is…he’s reading,” she would say. She saw us huddled in his room with all those books as a good thing.
And Garry ended up teaching Latin at a Florida high school.
I’ve always held on to his mom’s attitude: that reading of any kind is beneficial. It builds memory, it forces you to hold an argument in your head, it increases the size of your world.
When I was growing up, my best friend Garry & I were really really into Dungeons & Dragons. Part of the whole experience was the reams & reams of written materials that went along with it: rule books, technical manuals (all those spells!), magazines, adventures, etc.
And while my mom would freak out, convinced we were involved in some kind of devil worship, my friend garry’s mom looked a little deeper: “The good part is…he’s reading,” she would say. She saw us huddled in his room with all those books as a good thing.
And Garry ended up teaching Latin at a Florida high school.
I’ve always held on to his mom’s attitude: that reading of any kind is beneficial. It builds memory, it forces you to hold an argument in your head, it increases the size of your world.
I also wish buses were doable in LA. I took the bus for a couple years here & had no car. And I loved all the time it freed up for reading books. But it got way too impractical after a while work wise.
I also wish buses were doable in LA. I took the bus for a couple years here & had no car. And I loved all the time it freed up for reading books. But it got way too impractical after a while work wise.
Just finished the new Domino. Is it wrong to hate Kelly Wearstler? How about as much as I hate Rachel Zoe?…or even Sarah Palin. I think they are WAY overrated. Anyway…
Just finished the new Domino. Is it wrong to hate Kelly Wearstler? How about as much as I hate Rachel Zoe?…or even Sarah Palin. I think they are WAY overrated. Anyway…
Nothing wrong with magazines, sista. While I do read books on the bus (I average about one book a week), I too have a love of magazines ranging from Money to Good Housekeeping (hey, I need to know how to use my panty hose for more than just covering my legs!). As for Vegetarian Times — hey, didn’t I give that one to you? Where’s my mac `n’ cheese then?!?
Nothing wrong with magazines, sista. While I do read books on the bus (I average about one book a week), I too have a love of magazines ranging from Money to Good Housekeeping (hey, I need to know how to use my panty hose for more than just covering my legs!). As for Vegetarian Times — hey, didn’t I give that one to you? Where’s my mac `n’ cheese then?!?
Ahh, magazines. I used to read them on my bus commute in Chicago. Now I’m part of the carbon-belching car commute posse. Tears roll down as I see my stack of Newsweeks and InStyles, and Selfs, growing on the front hall table. . . Whoa there, er, what? Of course those tears are for the environment.
Ahh, magazines. I used to read them on my bus commute in Chicago. Now I’m part of the carbon-belching car commute posse. Tears roll down as I see my stack of Newsweeks and InStyles, and Selfs, growing on the front hall table. . . Whoa there, er, what? Of course those tears are for the environment.