Ladie's Home Journal... cuz it's better than news

Ladie’s Home Journal December 1957

                For my last blog post about a magazine issue I chose to write about an issue of Time magazine. This time, I wanted something a little more light-hearted. Ladie’s Home Journal seemed like a good choice. Growing up, my mom got countless issues of Better Homes and Gardens, and Good Housekeeping magazine, and I was just curious to see the kind of things her mother read and maybe passed on to mine. I also thought it would be interesting to see how gender roles have changed in the last fifty to sixty years.

                I selected an issue from December 1957 to see how Christmas was depicted in the 1950’s since it is my favorite holiday. I started off looking at the table of contents and it was immediately apparent who the target audience for the magazine is. In the contents there were two short stories, one of them a holiday story. There were “Special Features” which included a series of articles ranging from Christmas desserts to love and marriage and even an article about mentally ill people in the workplace. “General Features” was more articles about family and household living and included a section of letters from readers. There were also sections entitled “Fashion and Beauty”, “Gardening”, and “Food and Homemaking”.

                I began by flipping through the entire issue and looking at what pictures caught my eye. There were several pictures of various desserts, Christmas dinners, jello molds, and pies. Maybe it’s because I tend to think with my stomach and its 6:30 and I haven’t had dinner yet but I really like this magazine. One advertisement I found particularly intriguing for several reasons was an ad for BarcaLoungers. The picture depicts a man laying on a recliner in front of a Christmas tree and his wife and daughter standing over him admirably. They all have smiles on their faces and the little girl is holding a picket sign that says “Guess who wants you to live forever?” I began to read the ad and apparently 3 out of 4 men say they don’t have a comfortable chair to sit in and this contributes to great stress in the home. Certain words were italicized for emphasis. The chair was apparently designed by scientists and decorated by decorator stylists in order to offer the best looking natural relaxation for a working body. The caption under the picture obviously catered toward women around Christmas time because it said, “So give your husband a BarcaLounger”. The ad then talked about how in as little as fifteen minutes your husband’s bunched up muscles and nerves can be relaxed. This is kind of backward from our thinking today in which we think of a sedentary lifestyle as unhealthy. This ad also assumes a lot of households operate in the same way, which back then, they probably did. The man works all day and wants to come home and relax while the woman cooks and takes care of the kids. Everyone is happy and everyone has a specific role. This is also completely different from today. Lastly it said for a complete brochure and to find the dealer nearest you, to write the manufacturing company. This was obviously a sign of the times. How often do we turn to our computers or smartphones upon seeing something and wanting more information and needing to wait about thirty seconds to have that information, when people back then had to wait a week or more to get it by mail?

                One article that I found particularly interesting was the true story of a married couple who was having problems. The article was called “Can this Marriage Be Saved?” It started out with the wife telling her side of the story about how her husband always worked late, came home and complained he was tired, then, the previous Christmas, had arrived home two and a half hours late from his office Christmas party drunk and covered in lipstick. The husband then told his side about how he only worked late because he was trying to provide for his family and that the lipstick at the party was a one time mistake he made when he was drunk. The last segment of the article was by a marriage counselor who explained how he helped the couple and explained where they were at today. He said they managed to work through a lot of their problems by compromising. He would not stay so late at work and she would push dinner back half an hour to allow him to relax when he got home, stuff like that. He also wrote about how the majority of their problems stemmed from insecurities rooted in their childhoods. I thought this article was interesting because it had the premise of a modern day reality television program or radio phone in segment or even self help columns. The problems seemed relevant to today as well; drinking, cheating, a lack of interest, and unhappiness in marriage. The advice the counselor gave also seemed relevant and like it had not changed much. He interpreted their actions objectively and saw each problem for more than just what it was on the surface. He identified the root of the issue and gave the couple concrete steps to take in order to save the marriage. It ended up having a happy ending and it all tied back in to their plans for this coming Christmas (Christmas of 1957). This was real life stuff in this segment and I found myself actively engaged and wanting to read more. It wasn’t until I got to the counselor’s part when I wanted to know what happened next and if they eventually saved the marriage that I realized, this happened over 50 years ago. These people are really old right now if they are even still around. Their children from the article are probably my parents age or older. I wondered where all these people were today and if the couple was still together. It was a pretty surreal experience to think about that.

                Overall, for a Ladie’s magazine, I found the reading experience pretty enjoyable. I was given a great insight into the structure of the typical, middle class, magazine-subscribing home in the late 1950’s. It was definitely geared toward Christmas time which made me wish it was December already and also made me hungry looking at all the pictures of desserts. I would be interested to thumb through some issues of my mom’s magazines back at home to see how the two pair up and how they are different. And who knows, maybe I can convince her to bake something pictured on one of the pages… It can never hurt to ask.  

Conversation Partner meeting 3

Conversation Partner meeting 3 – 10/7/11

                Last Friday was the third official meeting with my conversation partner. I say official because I ran into him at the library sometime in the middle of the week. He was studying for the GMAT still and I for my Ecology test. I happened to be on my out and he on his way in but I had overheard him asking for directions to somewhere to study. I showed him to a quite place up by the music library where I am writing this post now then I took off, telling him I would see him Friday.

                He arrived a little late for our meeting because he was stuck in traffic on the interstate. Marcus, the student from Germany happened to be there again though and we got to talking a little bit. I told him Khedir was stuck in traffic and we started talking about cars. He drives a little Acura but said he always wanted an Audi. He told me he could have gotten a good deal on one but the parts were so expensive he chose the Acura instead. I could relate to this a lot because I drove a BMW. I know what you’re thinking… A BMW, that’s sweet! But it’s a 1992 with about 250,000 miles on it. Good ol’ Black Betty… she is kind of on her last leg. I told him I had put almost more money into repairing it as it was worth in the four years I have owned it and thought he was smart for not choosing the Audi.

                Khedir finally showed up while we were still talking about cars and he told us a little bit about his ride. He said he drives a really cheap car that was really small. I said that was good because he could save a lot on gas and repairs, not like some people who drive really nice, big trucks even though they probably never have to haul anything more than their backpacks or briefcases. They agreed it was stupid and thought guys just did it to look cool.

                We talked for a little bit about school and stuff that was going on. I had just seen Khedir recently so not much was new. We kind of just sat around shooting the breeze for a little bit in Rickel. We talked about sports a little bit; football, baseball, and soccer. We also talked about TCU’s football team and why we each thought they weren’t that good this season. There was one of the new cheerleading posters on the table in front of us and Khedir was slightly intrigued about the whole idea of it. I just explained that they just stand on the sideline and try to get the crown into the game and making lots of noise.

                One of Marcus’ economics professors approached us and Marcus asked him about a test they just had and was trying to figure out when they would be getting grades back and what the class average was. Pretty much all the typical post-test questions. The professor was being very vague and Marcus was getting a little frustrated. After the professor left we talked a little about bad teachers and professors we had in the past and had a couple good laughs. We then talked about fall break plans. They were both staying here, Khedir to study, Marcus to work on his car with a mechanic friend of his. I told them about my plans to go to a hunting ranch which they both thought was cool because they had never been hunting. The conversation wound down, I could tell everyone was tired and ready for the weekend. We never really talked about anything too deep, but just kind of hung out which was nice. Soon enough they both had places to be and I was ready for my traditional Friday nap.

Conversation partner meeting 2

Conversation Partner Meeting 2 – 9/30/11

                This meeting with my conversation partner was really interesting. Before meeting, I thought about some things I wanted to talk to Khedir about. Just in general, I wanted to learn about what Saudi Arabia is like and how the United States is viewed by both the Saudi government and everyday people in his country.

                First we caught up on things that happened since the last time we had met. He was still working toward taking the GMAT test to get in to a business school. I asked how he was studying for it and he said he had a tutor and bought a few test preparation books. I asked him what the hardest part of it was for him and he said the English portion. Nevertheless he was optimistic that he would be able to get a good score.

                A little ways into our conversation in Rickel, another student sat down with his laptop and some coffee next to us but spilled his coffee. Khedir and I got some paper towels from the bathroom and helped him mop it up. We all got to talking and it turned out, Marcus, the guy with the coffee was actually from Germany and was here to go to school also. Suddenly there were three different cultures represented in our conversation. Khedir seemed pretty interested in Germany and Marcus liked to hear about Colorado. We talked about how different all three places are from Texas. Khedir said he liked Texas because it was hot like he was used to back home. Marcus and I both agreed the heat was unbearable this year and that we both preferred the snow. I don’t think Khedir had ever seen snow before.

                I tried to move the conversation to understanding Saudi Arabia more and their opinions on the U.S. Khedir said we are viewed with a lot of respect both from the government and from the people of his country because we are a powerful nation and a valuable trade ally. I brought up the subject of oil and Khedir said he didn’t think we were that dependent on Saudi Arabia’s oil but rather, we imported more from our neighbors closer to home. Then we started talking a little bit about social issues. It is so different here than from Saudi Arabia because in our country we get to vote on issues and usually have the freedom to choose from a variety of options in the social sector. In Saudi Arabia, a single party state at best, the government picks for you and people don’t have nearly as much of a voice. We used the example of healthcare. Khedir said in the U.S. we have good healthcare, lots of doctors, and the best equipment. That is not the case in many places in Saudi Arabia, except in the big cities. We talked about how healthcare was a big national debate right now and that some people really want more government control over healthcare. Khedir thought this was weird because we have the best healthcare in the world. Marcus also said that government run healthcare is what he had back in Germany and the system was increasingly bankrupt and it was hard to find good doctors. I thought this was all really interesting as a pre-med student and a minor in political science. The social side of medicine is not one I really get to think about a lot in my classes so it was neat to hear some other perspectives.

                Eventually, Marcus had to get to class and Khedir said he had to get going too so we said goodbye. I wished him luck on the GMAT prep and he was off. It was about an hour and a half conversation but it felt like twenty minutes. It was great having Marcus there too.