The New Yorker

I've let my New Yorker subscription lapse. How much of it did I read?

I did read one short story.

Several poems.

Most of the cartoons.

Entered the cartoon caption contest two or three times. But the winners usually weren't funny. (Kent was all excited about the thing until they'd print the finalists ...)

Realized how much the Talk of the Town political essays have been superceded by my blog reading.

It's not like I need to turn to the NYer for movie reviews. But I probably read a higher percentage of their movie reviews than any other department.

Why do I so often feel I'm wasting my time when I'm reading magazines?

This is from the July 4 issue, which happens to be on the floor near me, "Nearly every statement [Clothing designer] Kawakubo makes about herself is hedged or negated by a contradiction, and she resists being defined even by her own words. The desire to be unique and the sense of isolation that the feeling generates are a predicament common to artistic people." -- Judith Thurman

The first statement is true enough about me, I guess.

But the second annoys me. It may describe Kawakubo accurately but I know "the desire to be unique" is not the reason I hedge and speak slowly around what I mean. It's my not wanting to lie, it's my wanting to be precise, it's my following the travel of my thought. Do I feel a "sense of isolation"? I do. It's not because I want "to be unique". I also wonder about Thurman's "artistic people" ... does she mean "artists"?