Although Media City remains firm in its belief that the Big Apple is the center of the universe, every so often we wonder about life in other places. It seems, for example, that there are other options on the East Coast — as varied as Maine in the north and Philly to the south.
You’d think a magazine about Maine would be named after the state instead of going by the title Down East. The magazine has a lot to promote about this rugged vacation destination for fishing, hiking and other outdoor pursuits. The latest draw of Maine is featured in one of its cover stories — legalized marijuana. A new law there expands locals’ access to medical pot, and could boost tourism. Some towns, however, don’t want the state-run, medical pot dispensaries and are developing local bans. For hunger and thirst associated with cannabis use, two other cover stories offer help: Who serves the best fresh pasta in the state, and the ultimate guide to beer-drinking in the Pine Tree State.
Like many denizens of Beantown, Boston magazine frequently has trouble getting to the point. There’s a reasonably good profile of Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown, which highlights the Republican’s own difficulties in getting to the point about where he stands on key issues. But other features, like the one on Cambridge’s new schools superintendent, feel obliged to drone on with history lessons before getting to the controversy. A piece about a lawsuit that involves “the world’s largest medical device company” identifies the company as Medtronic only after three pages of illustrations and another three pages of text.
As New Yorkers, we can’t tell if Philadelphia is being serious or tongue-in-cheek in a story about two affluent enclaves — the Main Line on one side and Chestnut Hill, Blue Bell and their neighboring towns to the north — divided by the Schuylkill River and, oh, snobbery. The mag describes the rivalry as J. Crew vs. Lacoste, vodka vs. gin, tennis vs. lacrosse, and so on. “Chestnut/Blue Bell people don’t go to the Main Line unless forced to by a medical emergency,” the mag writes. Philly tries to put a different spin on its “top doctors” issue — typically among the most boring and self-serving issues a publisher can put out — by surveying how many physicians actually follow their own advice. Surprise! Doctors don’t like to visit the dentist, either.
New York‘s cover story lays out a 14-point case that basketball star LeBron James needs Gotham just as much as Gotham needs him. Certainly the woebegone Knicks need him — it’s just too bad basketball is a team game; it’s a fool’s bet that even LeBron couldn’t turn around that franchise. The pitches range from “If you want to make that first billion before you turn 30, this is the place to do it” to a Carnegie Deli creation named after him. A piece on the first foreigner to arrive at Ellis Island is overwritten, a particular shame with the issue of immigration in the news. Clothes shoppers should enjoy a look at Japanese retailer Uniqlo and founder Tadashi Yanai. In love with New York Harbor? Try stand-up paddleboarding, as depicted in a photo that includes the Statue of Liberty.
The New Yorker puts up its usual — but in this week’s case, low on the wow! factor — profiles and literary riffs. Check out the piece on eco-minded thinker Saul Griffith, “an extraordinarily innovative engineer who is trying to think his way around the limits of innovation,” and Ian Frazier’s recollection of a funny anecdote involving ex-Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens and a bee in the White House Rose Garden. In contrast to Stevens is Andrey Ternovskiy, a high school dropout from Moscow who created Chatroulette, a Web site that lets you encounter, then dismiss, hundreds of people a day. He says he got the idea while selling souvenirs to tourists. He enjoyed it so much he wanted to re-create the fun and randomness online.
Time opens with a brief but effective piece that says “Nashville is under water. Why is no one paying attention?” Articles in the rest of the mag help to answer that question, but with none of the originality. Time’s late-week deadlines worked against it on two of those blockbuster stories: the aftermath of the Times Square terror plot and the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It did, however, focus on the chance the catastrophe could provide impetus for a smarter, greener energy plan. Elsewhere, the mag explores the enduring appeal of gold, and takes a look at Shanghai as it hosts a world expo. Closer to home — your home, in fact — there’s a piece on the country’s addiction to salt.
Newsweek conducts a strong interview with Franklin Graham, who was recently disinvited to the Pentagon’s National Day of Prayer ceremony. A piece by Philip Mudd makes an intriguing comparison between terrorism and communism. “Like communism during the Cold War, this is an ideology to be contained, not defeated.” Then comes a useful piece profiling the new Taliban, “with ever-younger recruits joining the fight.” The new generation is also described as “more hot headed and less respectful of authority than their elders.” Finally, on consecutive pages, we find the wonderful juxtaposition of a picture of Mick Jagger and a review of C.K. Williams’ book on poet Walt Whitman.