Good News and Bad News

A few days ago I read that National Geographic might be on its last legs. Walt Disney, the corporation that now owns the magazine, has fired pretty much everyone that works for National Geographic. Apparently there weren’t that many folks left to churn out the woke drivel that has replaced what used to be wonderful articles about our fascinating world. Although the magazine will still be published, at least for a little while, all future articles will be written by freelancers and then cobbled together by the few remaining editors. I don’t expect that to last too long, especially since their subscriptions are just a fraction of what they once were. At one point over 12 million people subscribed (including me), but now it’s down to 1.5 million (excluding me). I suspect most of these are long-time subscribers who just can’t give it up, despite the magazine’s current weirdness. 

Anyway, unless the Disney wokecrats (Did I just coin a new word?) convert and support the dreaded DeSantis campaign, the future of National Geographic is bleak indeed. I suppose that’s the good news. Sadly, it’s also the bad news. My parents began subscribing to National Geographic when they were married on July 4, 1935, and never threw out an issue. I read and reread all those magazines and turned to them whenever I wanted to learn something about a particular place in our world. It was a unique magazine, well-written, and wonderfully photographed by many true professionals. How wonderful that my folks kept every issue. Unfortunately when they moved from New York to Chatham on Cape Cod, I think all those mags were left behind. Of course by then I had left for college and soon enough had my own subscription. Yes, indeed, it was once a great publication.    

Then there were the maps! I’ve long been a cartaphile (Did I just coin another word?), probably from the age of seven. When NG arrived in the mail, the first thing I looked for was the map. No map, no joy. But if one of those wonderful maps were included, I would open it up and spread it out on the dining room table. Just to see it opened up was almost magical, as if I were right there in that other piece of our world. As a child I’d pore over each newly arrived map for hours, fascinated by it all, the cities, rivers, borders, mountains, lakes, and seas. I suppose those NG maps were the reason I became a geographic fanatic, something reflected even in my choice of hobbies: stamp collecting and ham radio. Like those detailed maps, both took me around the world, but in very different ways. 

And so, I am saddened hearing that National Geographic may not be with us much longer. It could, of course, be restored, but that’s unlikely. One thing about ideologues: they’re so wrapped up in their beliefs, they’re really unable to change. But nothing in this world lasts forever, but at least I and many other will still have the memories of this once great publication.