THE ECONOMIST

So I was talking to one of my new roomies and we got on the subject of magazine subscriptions. She asked what magazines I get so we could compare and see if any of our subscriptions overlap...

Me: "Oh, well I get Martha, House Beautiful, and I just got enough Coke rewards points to get Elle Decor. Sometimes I buy Dwell since I just really want to look at it."

Roomie: "What's Dwell?"

Me: "You know, like another design magazine."

Roomie: "What does that mean? What's a design magazine?"

Me: "You know, like how to decorate your house, interior design...stuff like that... (I trail off starting to realize how crafty and scrapbooky I sound - not that that's a bad thing, but I feel there's a difference between old crafts and new DIY scene - subtle differences, so I try to save the conversation)...What magazines do you get?"

Roomie: "Right now just the Economist."

Me: "Oh. (pause) You can't get that with Coke rewards."

Is it weird that sometimes I just want my magazines to be relaxing and visually satisfying? That after a day of talking about how-we-need-to-save-the-world-but-really-can't-save-the-world-but-everyone-has-ideas-of-how-to-save-the-world-and-they-all-mess-it-up-more-and-what-does-"the world"-mean-anyways... that I just want to read an article about how to find a great rug for my future house?

Don't judge.

And yes, if I could get People magazine with my Coke rewards I would be subscribing to that as well. My dirty secret is out. I like to think of it as a natural curiosity about the world around me.