Make Print Great Again

By Maria Martinez
Blog Content Contributor

Magazines are my obsession. Can I say I am a magazineholic?

When I was young, my parents would take my sister and I to a “puesto de revistas” or newsstand every weekend to get the latest kids’ magazine. It was my favorite thing to do; I would seriously look forward to it all week. As a little girl having thousands of magazines and comics around my tiny body was a magical experience. I wanted each and every one of them; they were endless worlds I could immerse myself in.

I blame these trips for being the originator of what is my dream job now: working in the magazine industry. I jokingly tell my parents that I don’t care if I am the one who gets everyone their coffees at the office, I am willing to do that just to be part of that world. And as you might have guessed, yes, “The Devil Wears Prada” is obviously my favorite movie.

It breaks my heart when people say print is dying. Why are we letting it die? I don’t own a Nook and owning one is not in my future plans. It will never be the same reading a book, newspaper or magazine physically, rather than reading it through a screen. We spend most hours of our day looking at our phones and computers, so reading from actual paper can be a nice break for our eyes. Plus, there is nothing that can beat the smell of a new book or magazine. Not even the smell of a Whataburger cheeseburger when we are starving.  

From National Geographic Kids to J-14 to Cosmo Girl to Teen Vogue to Seventeen to Glamour; I have read them all. When I moved to San Marcos, my mom wanted to throw all of my magazines away. I was dying. I don’t care if I already have millions or trillions, we are not throwing any of them away. I cannot do that, because they get pulled out again and again over the years; when I need inspiration, when I am bored or even when I feel nostalgic. These magazines really have a special place in my heart. So don’t ever dare to have scissors near them. If someone cuts my magazines, they’ll have to do it over my dead body. I don’t care if it is for a super important school project. 

I have to tell you I am not the only crazy one in my family; my dad loves magazines too. In fact, he is obsessed with one that is published in London so it is rare to get it here. If he is lucky, we sometimes find it in Barnes & Noble, but that is not always the case since they have only one issue in the whole store. He decided to subscribe to it instead, so the magazine is shipped from across the ocean. I am more normal than him, right?

I simply find excitement in thinking people spend a whole month or more crafting, printing and shipping these forms of art around the world. I call them art because they are just so well put together, especially the covers. I can spend hours and hours looking at different magazine covers. There is just something so special about them. There have been times when I just buy a magazine because I loved the cover, because who knows? It may become my new fave one.  

If you have the chance, you need to watch a documentary called “The September Issue“. The September issue is the magazine world’s equivalent of January, its very own new year since it is when the seasons change and we make the shift from Spring/Summer to Fall/Winter. The documentary follows “Vogue” editor-in-chief Anna Wintour’s preparations for the 2007 fall-fashion issue. It’s incredible to see how many things happen behind the scenes, just to have one issue.

Print media and online media are complimentary; they need to exist together. If we stop buying and reading magazines, we’re removing part of the equation. That is why we need to “Make Print Great Again.”

Featured image by Maria Martinez.