John Kennedy, Jr and George
Written: Jan 05 '01 (Updated Jan 06 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: John's Letters
Cons: The memorial edition was disappointing
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| Lark729_89's Full Review: George Magazine |
Without bringing my issues of personal political thoughts up, I can say that I did read George Magazine. An issue was sitting on my brother's kitchen table about a year before John Kennedy, Jr.'s passing. John Kennedy (as he preferred to be called) edited and devised this magazine.
In September of 1995 George was born with millions of dollars as a back-up from a French publishing company, Hachette-Filipacchi. This lighthearted lifestyle magazine was, in my own opinion, John's way of indirectly being associated with politics. After all, he was a president's son and couldn't just ignore his heritage altogether. As in some jobs, this was by no means an easy one. John's consisted of meetings with several different influential people within the country and other countries.
In my very first glimpse of George I noticed John's editorial of apology to Washington's attorney Vernon Jordan. It was pointed to Mr. Jordan's press conference during which he made some statements of his actions towards the Monica Lewinsky story. John Kennedy had discovered that a national well-known writer had taken it upon himself to sneak in false remarks and did it so skillfully that the story slipped through and got printed in George without anyone batting an eyelash.
After reading John's letter, I glanced through the magazine and truly didn't find much else of interest to me. However, another time when I visited my brother I did pick up another issue and again read John's editorial. I noticed it was a January 1996 issue with Robert DeNiro gracing the cover. I went right to John's editorial about some films that were to be released dealing with politics. He questions " What are these films besides entertaining and intelligent? John explained the different aspects of political culture.
He named the three movies "The American President" (one of my favorites) "Nixon" and "Casino." John mentioned that "Casino" raised a topic facing many state legislators to legalize gambling. Inside the magazine was an interview with Warren Beatty telling his version of why movie stars and politicians make good together. It actually was an article that was pretty boring to me and something I didn't know already.
From time to time, I managed to pick up a copy of George magazine and found some of the articles to be funny and entertaining. The letter from the editor-in-chief was always my favorite part though. I always wanted to know what he had to say and most times it was interesting.
Some of John's earlier editorials were signed John Kennedy, Jr. and later he went on to just John Kennedy. One of them was signed J.K. I believe that was the issue where the magazine had a list of the FBI's most-unsolved crimes. It spoke of mystery and conspiracy in American life. John ended his editorial "Believe it or not."
For the most part George was funny and witty with a few interesting stories and contests and it was not just geared towards adults but to teenagers as well pointing out that politics merge with fashion and entertainment. The stories sort of gave an insight into a lighter side of politics. Pictures of famous stars adorned the covers drawing most people to pick up the magazine. To name a few: Bruce Willis, Liam Neeson, Denzel Washington, Drew Barrymore all dressed in a costume of political attire.
The most interesting story that is my very favorite in George Magazine is about when John spent a year in New Dehli and witnessed that India is a male-dominated society where the birth of a son is more important than that of a daughter. A son can rule a village while a daughter will only be of expense such as weddings and dowries. John told of an Indian woman named Bhairavi Desai (I do hope the name is spelled right) written by a writer-friend of his, Gita Mehta.
Gita Mehta is the writer of many books such as A River Sutra, Snakes and Ladders, Karma Cola, Raj and many others. She writes seriously about her hometown in India in a few of the books.
Bhairavi Desai is a 25-year old Indian woman who was the head of New York's Taxi Workers Alliance who with many other fellow Indians, all male, fought mayor Rudy Giuliani's efforts to regulate their profession so they wouldn't go any further up the ladder. As John stated in his editorial..."all of them had to overcome obstacles to get where they are. They became what they are and who they are... not because it was easy--but because it was hard."
Then there's the George issue where John briefly mentions Bill Clinton's scandal. I don't recall him mentioning much at all about the events directly. He mentions Bill Gates can twaddle but we still buy his microsoft stock. Larry King can honeymoon with 6 wives but we still watch his shows. "Politics is an honorable profession" he says "but it's a combat." He explains that we are all mortal people, even though politicians sometimes don't realize it.
Yes, I guess you can determine from my review that it was John's letters that interested me the most about George. John Kennedy, Jr. had the gift of knowing what to say and how to say it no matter if it be on a letter, television or if you just met him on the street. After he passed on, I wasn't interested in George anymore.
I bought the next memorial issue which some (not all) advertisers of the magazine made a dedication to him. The memorial issue was big disappointment because I would have thought that someone would have written a nice review on him. Perhaps his family had a say in this, probably figuring John would not want a big deal made about it all. At the time of his passing, I knew that George was already in deep trouble and it should have ended there.
I'm surprised that this month's magazine will be the last issue... I'm surprised it took this long. In fact I'm very surprised because it should have ended in 1999. In 1995 John once said of George "My horizons are clear for the next 5 years." It has been 5 years and John's been gone over that horizon almost 2.
Recommended:
No
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Lark729_89
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Life's not about waiting for storms to pass...it's about dancing in the rain.
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