Two things were in the news this week that, while not necessarily effecting me immediately today, nevertheless represent things that had a large influence on who I am as a person. The first was the decision that Newsweek will no longer produce its print magazine, ending almost 80 years of print editions. The second, announced just today, is that George McGovern has died. Both had much influence at a time, including influence on me, but nothing lasts forever, and these are no exception.
I grew up reading Newsweek. Back before the internet and cable news channels, it was one of the best long-format news magazines around. It was in this magazine that I first read of politics, foreign policy, pop culture, sometimes even science (although I then, and still do today, subscribe to Discover and Popular Science for my science news). I remember first reading about the internet in there, the 1996 presidential race, and other big issues of the day. Especially growing up in St. Cloud, where the local paper was atrocious when it came to non-local news, this was my outlet to the larger world.
However, as technology changed, and most importantly serious blogs started to arise, Newsweek lost its importance. In an attempt, I believe, to maintain relevancy, they made several changes to the format a few years ago. They hired several more conservative writers, and frankly, I think the quality suffered (I have no interest at all in hearing what Karl Rove thinks about anything, nor do I want to pay for that privilege). I bought a five-year subscription in 2007 with the intent of it tiding me over through law school; when I let it lapse in 2012, I hadn’t bothered reading it in years. It just didn’t have anything of value to say anymore.
Still, it’s a bit sad to see something that you grew up with just disappear, even if it was a shell of its former self. I’m sure this is not the last magazine that will close up shop.
As for George McGovern, I’ve already written a lot about how he influenced my life before. I went to see him speak at a Minneapolis church around 2004 about his work on global hunger issues. I still occasionally buy McGovern/Eagleton bumper stickers on eBay to put on my car, if for no other reason than to make it easier to pick out of a crowd of other teal-colored Corollas out there.
It’s hard to imagine that there was a time when McGovern’s liberalism would be embraced by anybody, or be the subject of a national debate. At a time when both presidential candidates are falling over themselves to be more pro-energy and global warming has disappeared from the discussion, or when one ticket wants to undo the FDR/Johnson safety net legacy, it’s quaint to hear about plans like McGovern’s “thousand-dollar-a-person” guaranteed income (although Milton Friedman, conservative economist icon, endorsed the same thing). It was definitely a different time.
Time only runs forward on a macro scale, and I don’t think I will ever go back to a time where I got most of my information from news magazines and could remember arcane trivia about the 1972 presidential campaign from memory (a skill that amazed one of my college instructors when I still had it). At the same time, like unearthing bits of ancient pottery in a field outside of Athens, it’s good to remember from time to time where you once were.