People Who Need People

Every Friday I engage in my guilty pleasure. It isn’t sordid or something I hide from others. (At least not consciously.) I peer into the mailbox and there it is! This week’s People magazine. I can enjoy the next 60 minutes or so in my form of escapism. Forget reality TV or video games. My way to unwind after a long week is to gawk at celebrity pictures and read snippets about their lives.

The way-too-smart-for-her-own-good part of my brain says I should feed my mind. Maybe I should aspire for higher-minded fare. Aww screw it! I spend Monday through Friday working for ‘the man’. Friday nights are for my People.

And what people they are. Frolicking on beaches and far-flung foreign lands. Playing with their kids in NYC and LA. It’s not that their lives are more fascinating than mine. (Hello, Delusional, table for one) My attraction to People is pure and simple – I like the pictures and brevity of the articles. It’s a children’s picture book for adults. It’s pretty and shiny and easy to read. No jargon; nothing to memorize and learn; don’t need to create a PowerPoint and report its contents to management.

Granted there isn’t much new I learn in People. What I like is the celebrity news I may have already picked up online during the week. But there’s something about the presentation and layout that make it candy for my eyes. Plus People isn’t mean-spirited like some other celebrity mags. If I’m in a grouchy mood I can pick one of those up at the grocery store with my pint of Ben & Jerrys and bottle of Pinot Grigio.

A friend of mine said she switched to another mag because the feel-good articles about regular people irritated her. I guess when you’ve had a bad week warm and fuzzy can be annoying.

The guilty pleasure magazine of college and my 20s was Cosmopolitan. I recently glanced at the cover and realized how much of a prude I’ve become. I guess that goes to show that guilty pleasures change over time.

So it’s off into People-land where everyone is attractive, rich and happy. That will be followed by my Wii bowling tournament. I broke 100 the other day!