May 16, 2011 issue, completed April 30, 2012

OK, this is just not fair. How is ANYONE expected to get through an issue like this in just one week? Much less get ahead in back issues when faced with a doozy like this? I know, I know, it covered a major world event -- the demise of Osama bin Laden -- but I would be interested to know how much content this issue would have had anyway. Certainly it was hard to choose articles to skip, although I did decide that an exploration of whether the US should remain in Afghanistan was good for a pass, considering the decisions that have been made since it was published. However I pretty much read everything else. The article about PepsiCo was interesting, if predictable -- although I'm not sure if edible drinks and drinkable snacks are going to catch on, at least not in my house and circle of friends. As usual, Malcolm Gladwell did not disappoint in his article about innovations and people who had the vision to take inventions to practical use; the article was probably even more poignant given that Steve Jobs' legacy has been so thoroughly discussed in the media since his death (five months after this article appeared) .

But my favourite article -- especially since my kids are huge fans -- was Anthony Lane's profile of Pixar. I have been watching a lot of "Cars" and "Cars 2" these days, and hearing about the perfectionist attention to detail that is given to every scene in those movies gave me a whole new appreciation of them. While the article covered the craft of animation quite a bit, I found it paid short shrift to the movies' writers, whom I think deserve commendation for creating movies that are at once entertaining for kids and adults alike -- from little kids to parents to grandparents and everyone in between. I never fully appreciated this until I experienced some of the truly bad children's programs and movies out there. Pixar movies really are in a league of their own, and not just in terms of animation. You inspire me, Pixar movie writers.  

May 9, 2011 issue, completed April 20, 2012

This issue was kind of a fast read...I read with amusement the article about "The Pioneer Woman" blog, because the irony of blogging one's lifestyle for profit is that if you're successful at doing so, that very lifestyle ultimately seems to disappear. I also really enjoyed the profile on Jane Fonda, who is exactly one week older than my dad. Because of this, I always know how old she is - and am therefore amazed by how great she looks and how modern many of her attitudes are. I mean, not only is she 74 and awesome, but she didn't even create the famous Jane Fonda workout until she was 44! Somehow, because I feel that by being born a week away from my dad she has some kind of affinity with him, she thereby has some kind of affinity with me - which makes no sense logically. It makes me think that at 40, maybe my greatest successes lie ahead of me as well. Or that - even though I'm dealing with a totally different set of genes here! - I could look that good and be that healthy and strong at 74, and beyond.

I had hoped that the article on reality TV would help me gain some understanding of how this genre can possibly appeal to so many and why the most asinine reality TV shows continue to be produced and bought by the networks. Unfortunately, it didn't.

Glad I got this issue wrapped up fairly quickly because I took a glance at the next one and it's gonna be a biggie.

May 2, 2011 issue, completed April 18, 2012

It took me 8 days to read the May 2, 2011 issue, which means, again, that I am not keeping up with the schedule I will need to maintain if I am to achieve my goal. I'm counting on catching up during some future vacation or road trip. This issue, with its cover and inside story about last year's Royal Wedding, reminded me of how busy and stressed out I was at that time. On the date of the Royal Wedding I was traveling for work, away yet again from my young family and leaving my husband to deal with no end of stress. I'm so glad we decided to change the way we live since then, and things have improved immeasurably. Note to Will and Kate: marriage is hard - even for people as fortunate as yourselves. It's work. But ideally, you love the work!

Anyway, in terms of the issue, I skipped a few articles but the one that really stuck with me was the one about building a quantum computer. I really appreciate the way that the New Yorker can sometimes convey the most complex concepts and arguments in a cogent, understandable way. Such was the case here. After years of watching "The Big Bang Theory" and listening to them refer to Schrodinger's Cat and other physics-related theories, I now "get" what quantum physicists are trying to do. It was a fascinating article that got me thinking that there is a fine line between really, really brilliant and completely nuts. Also, I wondered what makes some kids (mostly boys, truth be told) go into physics and/or advanced math and obtain Ph.D.s in quantum mechanics and the like, spending their lives in universities trying to prove theories or build conceptual computers, while others think, "what geeks" and go into something else, perhaps something more practical and likely to get them a good job, never realizing that quantum mechanics would have been something that they loved. In a way, I think it must take enormous strength of character and certainty about what you want to do in life to go into such a field of study, given the societal pressures to be well-rounded and useful. I have to envy that kind of certainty and the satisfaction of having found your passion, especially at a young age. Not that I'm sure I would have wanted to be a quantum physicist, but how would I have known if I did?

Not off to a great start - April 25, 2011 issue, completed April 10, 2012

Well, it's been over a week and I've just finished the April 25, 2011 issue. Seeing as how I should be averaging 2 issues per week, I am not off to a great start. However, considering the long holiday weekend with visiting family staying in our home, the busy work schedule I've had this past week, and the mundane obligations of every day, I think it's a wonder I got through it at all.

In fact, the only reason that I did is that I have become adept at reading the New Yorker while on the treadmill at the gym, running at a steady pace (ie., doesn't work with speed intervals). This has the twin benefits of advancing me in my quest to get caught up on the New Yorker while distracting me from the length and monotony of a treadmill training run. I should mention that this example of multitasking is only possible with the New Yorker -- the binding of most other magazines make them susceptible to falling over or off the machine, and the slow rate of page turnover means you're not always flipping through ads to get to the copy you want to read. Plus, it's so easy to get lost in an article or story, you don't notice that twenty minutes at 6 miles an hour have gone by!

While I appreciated that I was reading last year's issue with the Easter cover during this year's Easter week - thereby appearing completely normal and up to date to anyone with nothing more than a passing interest in what I was reading - I realized as soon as I flipped through it that there were no major articles that I wanted to skip. At first I thought I would not care about fracking for oil in North Dakota, but since fracking has been in the news lately, I thought reading the article would be a good way to learn what fracking actually is. And it was. Normally, I would skip an article about professional basketball, but the one in this issue was really about a team's female coach, so I read that too -- fascinating. However, the most interesting article for me was the one about the scientist studying the variability of our perception of time. The fiction story was good too.

I swore it would never happen again...and now it has.

I guess I knew it was coming for some time now. I was falling farther and farther behind...between commitments with kids, work projects, volunteering, and the everyday stuff that makes up life, I'm hopelessly backlogged.

It is now April 2012 and I am still reading a New Yorker from April 2011. I am officially a year behind on the New Yorker.

If we are going to be precise about it, I'm not technically a full year behind. This morning I just finished reading the "Journeys" issue of April 18, 2011 - a special issue which is always daunting because it's packed with more stories and articles that usual, almost all of which are unfortunately fascinating. I say "unfortunately" because I know when I get an issue like "Journeys," it will take me more than a week to get through it, and I will fall even further behind on my New Yorkers. It has taken me nearly a month to get through the issue of April 18, 2011.

I'm sure I'm not the only subscriber who has to live with the guilt and the suffering of this problem on an ongoing basis. Certainly there must be a significant percentage of subscribers who, like me, are chronically behind on their reading of their beloved magazine, not for any want of interest, but just because it is so difficult to find the time to read each issue to the degree we would like to in the short week before the next issue arrives.

Most of us, I'm sure, are a month or two behind in their reading. Nothing that a couple of weeks' vacation at the cottage or on the beach couldn't take care of. But how many of us are a full YEAR behind? And is there any hope of catching up at that point?

I have been a New Yorker subscriber since graduating from university, in 1993. There were times where I was one of those subscribers who was two, maybe three, months behind in reading the issues - a small backlog characterized by a short stack of magazines beside the bedside table. I had a rule to read every issue cover to cover, even if I thought an article might be boring, with the reasoning that I would learn something interesting from each story. Over the years, busy jobs, home improvement projects, events to plan, and later, children, got in the way of my enjoyment of the New Yorkers. I felt like they were another chore to get through, a sentencing away of my free time. I had also fallen more than a year behind.

So I relaxed my rule: I could skip some articles if they were a) about something that was really of no interest to me, or b) if they covered current world events that, by the time I got around to reading them, were of course no longer current. Who needs to read about the Democratic leadership race when Obama is already ensconced in the White House?

This new perspective allowed me to catch up a little on the backlog. More importantly, it restored my love and enjoyment of reading the New Yorker. Within a few months I was down to about nine months of back issues and I swore I would never allow myself to get more than a year behind ever again. If I did, I would throw out the now-towering pile of unread, unloved New Yorkers and start fresh.

But when it happened -- or when I could tell it was going to happen soon -- I knew I couldn't go through with it. Just as I could never throw out perfectly nutritious food, I could not throw out the pages of insightful, and often witty, articles and stories that nourished my intellect and understanding of our world. And so I came up with the idea of dedicating a year to getting through the backlog, to getting caught up on the issues that will continue to come in over the next year. By making it a project, a cause, with a blog holding me to account, perhaps I will once and for all conquer the pile of magazines beside the bed.

This blog is about my one-year effort to try to catch up on the New Yorker. I am giving myself one year to catch up on a year's worth of issues and be fully up-to-date; in other words, I'll be reading two years' worth of New Yorkers in the span of 12 months. By April 1, 2013, I will be happily reading the current issue.

I'll be posting random thoughts and comments on what I'm reading, as well as regular updates on my progress.

Kim Darlington
Montreal, Quebec, April 1, 2012