Poof! No more Print Media

Last fall, Conde Naste mailed me a postcard to inform me that Men's Vogue was being discontinued. They offered to fulfill my subscription with issues of Conde Naste Portfolio. Like all Hosers, I had just read Michael Lewis' The End of the Bull Run so I was very comfortable with this proposition. The fact that I was not in fact a subscriber to Men's Vogue seemed like a secondary concen. I was coming out ahead. Hooray.
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Alas, my euphoria was short lived. I received one issue before Conde Naste decided to shut down Portfolio. It did not include a Michael Lewis article. What now, you ask? Well, this subscription was in turn replaced with a subscription to Details Magazine.

Wow! Talk about a time machine. I was suddenly 14 again - a young Latino with hair down to his chin line living in the Black section of a Latino community with no sense of how to be cool aside from a hand full of overside shirts with poka dot and paisly patterns, incredibly think soled shoes and two black hoodies (one for the Miami Hurricanes and one for the LA Raiders). On Mondays and Wednesdays I was a half assed Kwame and Tuesday and Thursdays I was a chumpish version of Ice Cube. Details and a few other magazines helped me address the schizophrenia, self expression rut and cultural identity confusion that I was suffering from all at the same time. I was able to establish a physical identity for myself that I more or less still maintain.

Having said all that, I was 14 or 15 when this happened. I have no use for this magazine. More importantly, why does this magazine live when other magazines are shuttering? Did we really need Portfolio? Maybe not, but we certainly need it no less than we need Details. Right? I would much rather be reading that than reading some article about Jason Bateman or the learning disabled kid who went to vegas to get laid.

Meanwhile, its been like 7 months. No one's asked me for any money.