A journalist's anthem

The magazine industry is a scary, scary business right now. Speculation has been mounting for years with the ever-increasing Internet presence in our lives that one day there will cease to be a need for these glossy little slices of heaven.

That will never be true for me. Seventeen and Teen Vogue were permanent fixtures on my bedside table from age 12-16 and those publications only whetted my appetite for the escape and inspiration that magazines had brought to me for years. Now I routinely can be found in Barnes & Noble scouring the magazine stands for InStyle, Lucky, Vogue, and Elle to get my monthly fashion cues.

As if I am not already influxed with Southern culture from my internship in the Homes and Garden department at Southern Living, I also get my "Soul of the New South" fix with my bi-monthly issues of Garden & Gun.

As I inch closer and closer to finally, maybe, hopefully, fingers-crossed, having my very own space--(whether it's an apartment, condominium, or a house...just not a dorm room), my fingers have been itching to start pulling paint chips, fabric swatches, and some dusty forgotten furniture under our house to make a space of my very own. I find myself truly enjoying and appreciating the home decor magazines, because I finally am seeing their relevance in my own life. Well, it seems to be too little, too late, because it is these magazines that have been hit the hardest by the recession.

Domino, Metropolitan Home, Southern Accents, Vogue Living, Cottage Living, Country Home, House and Garden are all the victims of the the current economic downturn. So, my options will be much more limited in my quest for inspiration for interior decoration when my turn comes. I better be taking as many notes at Southern Living before my internship ends.

The saddest part about the downfall of all these lovely, exquisitely produced magazines that have folded is that they were not dissolved due to a lack of readership or supportive fans, but due to a lack of advertisers.

This is how I know magazines will survive in the long run. No computer screen can ever replace the content feeling I get while opening up the mailbox to discover the newest, shiniest issue of Southern Living or of InStyle.

So, here's to you, magazines of the past.

You have given us the determination to fight even harder for magazines' future. Journalists will not ever give up.