This weekend, I've been pawing through boxes of National Geographic Magazines accumulated by my parents over a decades-spanning period starting before I was born and ending sometime in the nineties. My goal was to set aside issues that had articles I might actually read, and jettison the rest. The bulk of the collection is now on the front step, just waiting for whatever Freecycler responds first. I've decided to keep somewhere between 20 and 30 issues, plus most of the maps and other foldouts. I couldn't convince Willow to hang up any of the maps in her room, so I might have to hang some of them myself. I might also use some at work, either as geography contest prizes or as teaching tools during the school year.
It actually pains me to get rid of so many magazines. The photos are exquisite, and there is so much interesting information in those thousands of pages. It occurred to me that much of the contents of those magazines probably isn't available anywhere else. Not on the internet, in other words. I remember sometime back reading or realizing that every time there is a big technological change (I think I read an article about a lot of movies on VHS not making the jump to DVD), a lot gets left in the dustbins of history. Of course, where National Geographics are concerned, a lot just gets left in closets and garages. Hopefully someone will be able to take the magazines put them to good use, perhaps in a classroom or some other similar place, because realistically, I'm never going to read decades worth of old magazines. Information overload.
Currently listening to: Pentangle "Cruel Sister"
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