I always loved “Reader’s Digest,” except the day it came in and Poppaw read it cover to cover in the only bathroom at the old farm house he built and where he raised my mom and her five siblings. Poppaw also read the Bible cover to cover and in various versions on the throne which may have “give” him religion but “give” the rest of us constipation and an appreciation for the slop pot.
One thing I will always associate with RD is the table of contents on the back. For some reason, they stopped doing that. Now, it may have been some (or many) years back. I just know that they ALWAYS had the contents listed on the back. Then, they had some of the headlines pasted on front (like every other darn magazine) and art on the back.
The art now on the back of RD is by C.F. Payne “exclusively for Reader’s Digest.” I can’t lay the RD next to my bed with those paintings looking up. Payne makes a name by painting people with wide open mouths. All the heads are kind of strange and most (but not all) the subjects are showing expression with big old pieholes. The back cover that really jerked my chain was at a ballgame. That is an old one, but it had so many screaming people that I got nervous just looking. I do not like paintings where people look like funhouse mirror images, and every time I see those gaping mouths by Payne, I feel like I’m in some nightmare world. So, I do not like the cover redesign.
Content in RD is gathered from magazines and newspapers across the country. They try to pull the “best of the best” together along with fillers like Word Power and several categories of jokes or funny anecdotes.
When it comes to selecting the best stuff, they are pretty mainstream and lean to adventure and medical pieces. If someone gets stuck on a cliff, and if someone writes about it, RD will usually pick it up. They generally have some how-to articles as well. I find out what is wrong with me and how to fix it in RD. I don’t usually follow up, but I’m armed with information.
When I was a kid, I enjoyed Word Power and learned lots of new words that I never uttered as knowing too many words around these parts was a liability. This probably helped on the SAT, so I high five RD for expanding my vocabulary. These days, I mostly skip Word Power, since I know most of the words and don’t enjoy puzzles too easy.
As you’ll discover in the magazine, they offer pretty good bucks for the short funny stuff. Yippee-skippy. I know easy money when I see it. So, I’ve been sending them stuff off and on for years, and sadly they do not find me funny. Then, ironically my dad had my mom type up something for “Humor in Uniform,” sent it in, and he got the big money and the byline. Now, that is funny, since my dad is an engineer, a Republican and just all round not funny. But, what do I know? I guess I will have to climb a mountain, get trapped in an avalanche and chew my arm off to get in RD. Ah, such is life.
As far as the actual articles, I now find that I’ve often seen many of the pieces from reading way too much and too widely. Remember, these pieces are generally skimmed from other publications. Back when I had more limited access and read the back of the cereal boxes and toothpaste tubes, I did not run across familiar materials. Now that I can drive and have a library card in my name, I often find that I’ve seen a couple or even several of the key pieces other places. Hey, maybe I should be on staff and forget the “Laugher the Best Medicine” submissions. The editors seem to travel the same ground often, and I usually do think they make good selections.
When I think of RD, I remember Poppaw (maternal) and how he loved the magazine. I remember my Granny (paternal) saying she wanted to renew for a year before she died two days later. I thought certainly she wouldn’t die if she renewed Reader’s Digest, but she did anyway. I remember this magazine at my own home all my growing up years. I have a couple of issues beside my bed at the moment—with the art turned down. I let them back up now, and then but when I want to read short pieces rather than novels or non-fiction books, I always know I’ll enjoy RD. It’s kind of like putting on Levi jeans that have been worn for years. It just feels right.
Recommended:
Yes
Primary Reason for Buying: Articles Accepts Freelance Submissions: Yes
2009 National Magazine Award Winner for General Excellence! Reader's Digest is one of the most popular general interest magazines in publication today...More at Magazineline
Reader's Digest is America's most-popular magazine, with more than 50 million readers. Each issue of Reader's Digest magazine is packed with easy-to-r...More at Magazines.com
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