Chicklets, I just went down to my local newsstand to buy the April issue of Out magazine, which has Madonna on the cover and an interview with her inside. I browsed around for a while, looking at all the interesting and random magazines that there are in this universe. I couldn’t find what I was looking for so I went up to ask the clerk, a nice young girl.
“Do you have Out magazine?” I asked.
“Sorry, what magazine?”
“Out.”
“What kind of magazine is it?”
I was starting to get irritated because surely if you can buy 7 different knitting magazines at this giant store, which is part of a big national chain, you can buy Out.
“It’s a GAY magazine,” I said.
She shook her head. “Oh, no, we don’t have that.”
“Do you have THE ADVOCATE?” I asked. The Advocate does not, as far as I know, have Madonna on the cover of the April issue and I was not looking to buy it, but I was trying to make a point.
No, she did not have The Advocate either. So I took myself down the street to my local bookstore, where I should have gone to begin with, and bought the damned magazine.
This experience lingers, however. Is this editorial ommission the choice of a local franchise owner? Is it corporate policy?
I shall investigate and get back to you.