My Dad really doesn’t like the sound of Garrison Keillor’s voice. I guess it’s pretty much like me being scared out of my wits by Christopher Walken’s voice. Heck, the whole Christopher Walken, really. But I was headed somewhere….
This weekend I finished my National Geographic magazine. There is really only one way to read the magazine, and it goes like this:
1. Rip open the plastic bag it arrives in and think briefly about how much you miss the brown paper sleeve it used to come in.
2. Immediately find your son and give him the Geo Quiz on the mailing label. Watch his face as he nails answer after answer correctly.
3. Go through the magazine. Read the editor’s letter. Read the short articles in the front. Read all the captions on all the photos and maps.
4. Fold down the corners on the articles you plan to go back and read after perusing the entire magazine.
5. Go back and choose which articles to read in which order. It does not have to be in the order they appear in the magazine. Choose carefully the story you want to end with.
6. When finished, copy pages you want to keep for files and ideas.
7. Hand over the magazine to your son. Remind him of the really good articles that he should consider truly reading, knowing full well he only really participates or accomplishes steps two and three.
The last article I read today was a piece Garrison Keillor wrote about his personal geography of his beloved Minneapolis-St. Paul. I enjoy listening to him on A Prairie Home Companion – a treat I love sharing with my son and husband – and I’ve read many of his books. His style of memoir is very enjoyable. And, during every show and every book, I think of one thing I want to tell my Dad about.
Today was no different. The last five sentences of his article were absolute magic. I immediately wanted to call my Dad and read them to him.
I believe my Dad likes hearing these stories and things from me. Maybe because he hears a voice he loves, not Mr. Keillor’s.
p.s. I have been receiving National Geographic magazine since my grandmother gave me my first subscription when I had my first apartment. It was a Christmas present I received until the year she died. Purchasing it for myself has been a yearly reminder of how much I was loved. Still am, really.
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ahhhh, excuse me….what a way to leave us hangin’……oh wait, that is a live link there to the article.
never mind.
I have only gotten about 1/3 of the way through my copy. I just started the article on Brunelleschi’s dome. I had to skip right to it as I’ve seen the Duomo and it is mind-blowing. And to learn more about the history and construction of this wonder is to have one’s mind blown even further.
I remember walking out of the train station in Florence and going down the street, turning a corner, looking up and literally being frozen in my tracks. It was like I had stepped off the plane into Jurassic Park and there before me was a living, breathing T-Rex. Except that I wasn’t afraid for my life.
NatGeo is one of my favorite things in life. I only wish I had whole days to read and expand my research into many of the subjects of its stories. Thanks for sharing, as always.