Dispatches from Arm's Length, Part 19

I assumed a while ago that mask mandates would be lifted on a gradual basis. For a certain part of the population, this is akin to liberation, a minor inconvenience interpreted as oppression. COVID cases are indeed tapering off after a volatile December and January, and as a result the mandates are beginning to waver. In my school districts, there were PTA and village council meetings where the hostility veered into the absurd, with anti-maskers coming out in full, buffoonish force. Some of the districts relented; masks have gone from mandatory to "highly encouraged." 

I subbed at Hinsdale Central High School on Monday, February 20th, the day their mandate was adjusted. I noticed about 70% of the faculty kept their masks on, but maybe 40% of the students the same. When I subbed again on Friday the 24th, the teachers were holding firm but about 25% of the student body had their noses and mouths covered. The mask mandate, as well as proof of vaccination in Chicago proper will be dropped Monday the 28th. 

Perhaps I'm in the minority, but I don't think we're ready yet. For almost two years now, we've seen every optimistic prediction come and go, variants rise and fall, and fight between precaution and denial. I am concerned that another variant is around the corner. Even if Omicron wasn't as life-threatening as its predecessor strains, and respiratory viruses often mutate and become less virulent and less of a serious health issue... it only feels safe now. Of course, the anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers are acting like they won the war. For them, I wish they would think about someone besides themselves. Somehow, serious illness won't get the point across. 

(689)

That's Entertainment

 In the early days of the pandemic, I dreamed up a series of essays called Reading Periodically. Based on some past blog posts, plus new material, it would focus on my appreciation for magazines. Progress has been slow, but it's allowed me to broaden the scope to include my late father's shared love for magazines, as well as lament the death of print journalism.

I mention this as the news broke yesterday that Entertainment Weekly (among other periodicals) will cease publishing a print edition in late March. The April 2022 issue will mark the end of just over 32 years of covering movies, TV, music, literature and occasionally video games and Broadway. It cut a niche as the gap between vapid celebrity rags like People or US Weekly and trade mags like Variety as a source of entertainment news and editorials. 

I first discovered EW in early 1997. My grandmother fell for one of those Publisher's Clearinghouse-type scams, and suddenly had a plethora of magazine subscriptions. One of those was EW; I was instantly hooked by the listicles, witty commentary, and paragraph-length reviews. She realized it wasn't for cup of tea, so I ended up taking home her issues until the one-year subscription lapsed the following winter. After that, I bought issues at the newsstand or at Blockbuster Video until I couldn't afford the $2.99 a week. (Bear in mind, I was 13.)

After reading EW on and off at my local library for a few months, my father stumbled into a subscription in Spring 1999. The first issue had a cover story on Star Wars Episode I, the second had a list of the 100 most important moments in pop music 1950 to 1999. My father was as unfazed as his mother-in-law, and EW permanently joined my cache of regular must-reads. I don't think I ever tossed out a single issue; my whole collection is in storage.

Compared to other magazines that once had circulation in the high seven figures, EW was the baby of the family. It was launched in Winter 1990, decades after rivals like Time and Reader's Digest. Following in the tradition of e.e. cummings and bell hooks, entertainment Weekly was lower-case and diagonal until 1992. It was an early beneficiary of the "infotainment" movement of the era, offering stimulating and colorful images along shorter articles on a vast array of pop culture topics. Most crucial of all, it was the first mainstream magazine to address how AIDS/HIV affected Hollywood, and always kept an ear for LGBTQ+ culture. 

Print journalism isn't quite dead yet, but it's cornered. EW only faded out of relevance when everything else in print did. Time magazine is now bi-weekly, Sports Illustrated quietly became a monthly in early 2020, and other "heritage" weeklies ranging from People to The New Yorker will someday follow suit. I fear it's just a matter of time before they all go all online as well. EW, that subtly progressive stalwart, will be missed.

(688)