Joan Didion once wrote that it is easy to see the beginnings of things and harder to see the ends. I have found this to be true in most cases, but not this time. The end was clear, the line had been drawn, and it was not in the sand but an email: ‘BREAKING: Bauer Media Australia to cease eight titles’. I clicked, scrolled, and read on. Harper’s BAZAAR. ELLE. InStyle. Women’s Health. The list went on. Gone. I messaged the screenshot to a friend with the words ‘Holy f***’ and I stand by that. The hardest part of this story, if you haven’t paid attention, is that Bauer bought its staunch rival, Pacific Magazines, and consolidated the country’s already dwindling portfolio into one before selling the entirety to a private equity group. It reached out and grabbed hold of its chief competitor to take the entire industry down with it. And maybe that purchase was another end, but an end still too hard to see.
I remember when magazines began for me. I am the eldest of three daughters so there was always an age limit on what I wanted to do, whether it was wearing a bikini or buying Dolly or using skincare. I wasn’t allowed to use skincare when I became an avid Dolly reader so I entered a competition the magazine was running to win some. I won and a week later, the cleanser, toner, and moisturizer arrived. It was pale blue, Garnier, and I felt like a real woman even though I was 12. This is what magazines did for young people around the country. They gave us access to a world we didn’t yet have access to. They answered questions we didn’t know how to ask and inspired us to become who we didn’t yet know we wanted to be. They entertained and informed all at once and delivered skincare when our mum wouldn’t.
Dolly has been gone for a while, but the news of eight more magazines closing has had me thinking about endings. While it’s devastating to see this era end, it also means the beginning of another. This is a conclusion I may not have drawn had I not been reading Untamed by Glennon Doyle but, nevertheless, we’re here. If you haven’t heard of Glennon Doyle, she is a New York Times bestselling author who has had a complicated life including alcoholism, bulimia, motherhood, a cheating husband, and true love eventually found with a famous female soccer player. Her fans include Oprah, Brené Brown and Elizabeth Gilbert, and Gilbert claims her latest book is the book she was born to write. Gilbert isn’t wrong. It’s good. Some may call it lame, but it’s not. It’s great. The book examines women’s social conditioning and explores ways in which we can unlearn how to be good, obedient women and, instead, listen to our own ambitions and desires.
A lot of it feels familiar, but the part that felt revelatory arrived in a chapter called ‘Let It Burn’. “Destruction is essential to construction,” Doyle wrote. “If we want to build the new, we must be willing to let the old burn.” She shares this advice after telling the reader to acknowledge what they feel, be still more often so they can connect better to what they know, and then take the time to imagine so they can work toward a life they aspire for,not a life handed to them. Finally, she urges the reader to let go of the parts of their current self that are holding them back from becoming who they want to be. “The building of the true and beautiful means the deconstruction of the good enough.” While Doyle speaks in an individual sense, this thinking translates to companies and entire industries. The departure of the Old Guard will always leave a gaping hole for the New Guard to step in. The end of a job means the opportunity to pivot. The decimation of an industry means the possibility of another rising.
I write about endings today because I think we’re all going to become better acquainted with them in some form. For you, maybe it’s the loss of a job or an unexpected move or the end of a relationship or a friendship. You may have ended it in order to move forward, or if it was ended for you, it has provided an opportunity to move in another direction. I don’t think knowing this makes endings any easier. They’re still difficult and painful, but this awareness leaves room for innovation. And, maybe, a greater sense of freedom during uncertainty. “We are alive only to the degree to which we are willing to be annihilated,” Doyle wrote. “Our next life will always cost us this one. If we are truly alive, we are constantly losing who we just were, what we just built, what we just believed, what we just knew to be true.”
For the magazine industry, the house had been on fire for a while. Young people weren’t buying magazines to the degree they once were which is part of the reason the house burnt down. They are listening to podcasts and scrolling Instagram and dancing on TikTok with the internet as their home base. Questionable management and COVID-19 were the fuel bringing this era to an end and, now, we wait for the seedlings to sprout through the ashes. Evolve and repeat. That is how we are here. That is what we are here to do. I’m not sure any company will have the clout of a magazine title again but maybe that is the advantage of the next era. You may read a newsletter and listen to a podcast and visit three websites a week and that equates to the magazine you once held in your hand. The title has been retro-fitted to the very nature of you. And maybe through this architecture, every human can find and experience the safe space Dolly once gave me; no matter what they look like, who they’re attracted to, what they believe in, and who they want to become. That might make the end of this era worth it, but let’s see what a new era brings. Hold on.
Some related (and unrelated) recommendations:
This New Yorker interview with Chance The Rapper about politics, Black liberation theology and learning from his mistakes.
If you haven't read this Good Weekend feature on the series of wild mistakes made at Bauer, bookmark this one to read on the weekend.
I enjoyed this interview with Pandora Sykes on the Shameless podcast. Pandora opens up about her career, friendship with Dolly Alderton, and her new book. Her book of essays, How Do We Know We're Doing It Right?, is also on my reading list.
U.S. Representative and civil rights legend, John Lewis, died on Friday. The New Yorker's Jelani Cobb wrote about his legacy and enduring strength.
This Atlantic article on the hostile workplace that is U.S. Congress. It was written after AOC was abused by a colleague this week.
If you're in need of a narrative-driven podcast to stop yourself from refreshing the news in some sort of anxiety spiral (no, just me?) Guru by Wondery is very good and explores the dark side of enlightenment.
Obviously, Untamed by Glennon Doyle. Her interview with Brené Brown is also great.
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