Building a Foundation

When I was growing up my Mom constantly emphasized that she did not want us camping out in front of the television.

She offered to buy us books, subscriptions to magazines, anything we wanted to read she promised to provide it to us. But she did not want us baking in front of the TV.

I remember in elementary school there was a little book club. We were given catalogs that we could pick out books from to order. We'd bring the order form back in to the teacher with a check from our parents and in a few weeks a box of books showed up for us. I always seemed to be ordering more books than anyone else. It was so exciting when those books showed up. I would scour through them all from front to back.

By middle school I started to feel a little left out. All the kids were talking about the Welcome Back Kotter or Charlie's Angels episode from the night before, and of course, I never saw them.

When it came to TV I pretty much only watched sports and Saturday morning cartoons. I have fond memories of my Dad making Saturday morning breakfast for us and then sitting down to watch a little Bugs Bunny with me.

I think this foundation that my Mom built for me was what really stoked my interest in publishing. I was fascinated by books and magazines and everything about them. The writing, the illustrations, the photography, the printing, how they were put together, everything about publishing I was very curious about.

Although my Mom probably would have preferred that I became a doctor. I do think she is greatly responsible for my career in publishing. Thanks Mom! It has worked out well for me!

I do remember that I had subscriptions to the Sporting News and Sports Illustrated. Back then the Sporting News was the bible of pro baseball. Sports Illustrated was the glossy show for all sports.

I also remember when I asked her if I could get a subscription to Mad magazine. Hey, I liked cartoons. She was so disappointed.

Like thousands of other young boys across America, one day I was stunned (and thrilled) to see the very first issue of Sports Illustrated's swimsuit issue show up in the mailbox.

My Mom wasn't quite so thrilled. I think she penned a nasty letter out to the magazine's editors about that one, as many other Moms likely did as well.

Unfortunately newspapers and magazines have really fallen in popularity. I guess there aren't many parents left who shut off the TV on their kids. Maybe they should?